A Captains View of the Year ahead

Life as a skipper of a cricket club is an unusual one - You never really turn off in the off-season. From the minute the last ball was bowled in our final match, a little bit of you is already thinking about the following April and what the forthcoming season will bring. Other captains may say that they don’t have the same thought process, but deep down I think we all do. If you want to improve your team and club’s performance, you never really turn off. 

Playing in Division 3 brings its own unique challenges as cricketers who play at this level tend to have differing objectives. Everyone plays for the enjoyment, but how each individual draws enjoyment differs from player to player. Some achieve this by winning games of cricket, for others, winning is less important and the enjoyment comes from being in a team environment regardless of the result. My role as captain is to get us all aligned in terms of our objectives and ambitions which is arguably the toughest part of the job.

I am personally very ambitious for my team and have objectives of achieving promotion for this team and taking the club to Division 2 which is unknown territory to date. With this current group of players, achieving this objective could quite easily become reality if we are all bought into doing so.

We proved our potential in the last two games of the season where we had to win both to stay in the division. As a side we had availability problems throughout the season, but more than that perhaps a lack of belief or drive. We found ourselves at the bottom of the league with these two games to go and the way we came together and dug ourselves out of that position made me extremely proud and very excited about our potential. The fight and determination shown by the boys is a shining example of what OWCC is about as a club; we overcame both the 2nd and 5th placed teams in the league to stay up. Not only are we the friendliest club in London, but when our backs are to the wall we will run through walls for each other. Never have I been a part of a club with such camaraderie and a desire to support each other, both on and off the field! 

We need to take that feeling of togetherness into this season and have a fast start. With some new additions we have a much healthier looking squad and I am genuinely excited about the season to come.

This will be an exciting season for Old Wimbledonians Cricket Club - I’m sure of it!