Help support The Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice and grassroots cricket whilst enjoying an excellent day of entertainment at one of the UK’s most picturesque grounds in the heart of Surrey.

HG Cricket Development is offering a fantastic opportunity to watch and socialise with some of the best players England has produced.

Gain an insight into the world of international cricket over a superb 3 course meal before enjoying high quality cricket entertainment as the PCA England Masters XI take on the HGCD XI.

Guests will also enjoy Q & A sessions with some of the England stars on the day as they share their amusing stories, memories of playing for England and opinions on cricket.

A silent auction will also run in the Masters Marquee providing an opportunity to bid on some great sporting memorabilia.

The PCA England Masters XI will be selected from the likes ofDarren Gough, Dominic Cork, Devon Malcolm, Paul Nixon, Gladstone Small and Phil DeFreitas

Will Banner has joined the cub in the offseason from Leigh CC in Liverpool, Luke Patchet, is following in the footsteps of a number of former Windsor overseas in joining from the Maitland / Newcastle area (Australia),Will Harris promoted from the Windsor development structure and Marvin Care, Nick Borland and Harmeet Chana forcing their way back into the team following very strong preseasons.

Weston won the toss and sent North Maidenhead in on what looked like an unpredictable wicket. Wes Nichols soon had the home side in trouble as he knocked back the middle stump of North Maids opener and number 3 bats early doors. Nichols was very well supported by Nick Borland at the other end whom after bowling 6 overs at the same batsmen for a miserly 6 runs was rewarded with his first wicket which was aptly caught behind by Care.

At 39/3 Windsor were well on top but Khan set about rebuilding the North Maids innings with some very sensible batting. His partner was briefly able to match his patience until the introduction of 2011 leading wicket taker, Razor Mohindru. Despite some off season surgery and the fact he was still recovering from his first Jaeger bombs of his life following a preseason trip to Devon, Razor immediately found his areas and was able to break a crucial North Maids partnership when he enticed a rash shot from the North Maids # 4 that Chana caught after bundling his feeble skipper out of the way.

North maids were 69/4. That dismissal set the game up for Windsor as some superb bowling from Allen-Turner and Mohindru made short work on the long North Maids tail which saw them all out for 108.

Windsor started the chase in what is becoming a typical Patchet fashion, the first ball dispatched for a boundary and the opposition captain out of the attack after just one over. Patchet and Harris proved to be a more than perfect odd couple as Patchet continued to punish the North Maids bowling and Harris ticking the score over and being an absolute rock at the other end.

The 50 was brought up without loss, no easy achievement given the wicket and quality of the North Maids bowling, and it wasn’t until the game was pretty well set up for a Windsor victory that Patchet (43) wholed out to long off with less than 40 to get. Mark Huggins (16) struck some lusty blows against his former club and after a slight wobble, a cracking Will Harris (29*) pull shot saw Windsor home with 6 wickets to spare. It was a solid all round performance from Windsor as the side turns its attention a game with a very competitive Eversley X1 next week.

Windsor 51 all out

A bright sunny day was a million miles away from the torrential rainfall that has cancelled all but one of Windsor’s pre season friendlies as they took on long term rivals OMT 1st XI on a damp green outer square as their main square was declared unplayable the day before.

Windsor won the toss and chose to bat and chose unsurprisingly to bowl as Mike Peacock and Mike Chambers looked to make inroads.  It certainly looked in the scorebook that they had as OMT slumped to 52-5 with Chambers claiming  4 wickets, however neither never really exploited the very friendly conditions and with a 4 chances being spilled in the outfield it could have been even better.  Some lusty blows and watchful batting saw Chris Nockles reach a 50 as OMT went past 100 and onwards onto what was an over par 150 considering the conditions.  Spin of Sim Mangat and Mark Lines steadied the flow of runs but it wasn’t until Chris Edge took 2 wickets with his first two balls that the OMT innings wrapped up on 162.  13 No Balls, and 13 Wides from the Windsor bowling and the dropped chances meant that this was probably 50 or 60 more than what they should have been chasing.

The less said of Windsor’s batting the better although there was some encouraging signs from Sim Mangat who put the bad ball away when given.  OMT bowler Sohan Modi by his own admission an occasional bowler, showed exactly how to exploit the conditions.  Medium pace, back of a length, and let the conditions jag the ball around caused havoc with the Windsor batting with an embarassing 7 players being bowled as Modi finished with sensational figures of 7.1-5-6-8 to bowl Windsor out for a paltry 51. It’s back to the nets this week with a lot of hard work to ensure that this performance doesn’t happen again.

Windsor 147 a/o

Windsor 2′s blew the cobwebs of the winter off with what is now  the annual curtain raiser against our near neighbours Egham with the Mangat brothers Sim and Kurrnan and Vishal Strivastava all making their Windsor CC debuts.

A 45 over (9 overs maximum bowler) game was agreed and on winning the toss, Egham elected to bat on a green, but good looking wicket for time of the season.  Chris Edge opened up with Usman Ahmed and although both were putting it in the right area’s, they soon found out anything short would be put away.  Eghams openers gave little away apart from a sharp chance off his own bowling from Edge and Egham survived the opening spell to set up their innings.  Sim Mangat was brought into the attack and he immediatly brought some control with a probing length and guile in the flight and he was joined by the 6ft 5inch Strivastava, who once his limbs were warmed up put through some testing deliveries and Egham found it hard to score and despite a Mangat brother bowled and caught combination, they ultimately kept their wickets intact which would be the foundation to build on.  Kevin Das showed what a very good prospect he is with the ball and his off-spin actually complimented Windsor’s No#1 all rounder Paul Huggins as they bowled out the overs against an increasingly aggressive Egham attack that closed the 45 overs on 173-6 .

It’s not often a tea gets any lines in a match report but it would be remiss of me not to mention Egham’s.  Their tea lady’s went above and beyond and I may even go as far as saying they could be giving our own teas at Windsor a run for their money.

Doye and Noble opened up for Windsor and both were cautious against the new ball although runs were at a premium.  As the Innings progressed Windsor were always behind the rate and it wasn’t helped by Ray Borg playing possibly the worst shot of his life to be followed up by Richard Noble getting the best ball of his life and Windsor faced an uphill battle.  The Mangat brothers looked very solid (and classy) getting Windsor needing 5 an over off the last 10 overs with 5 wickets in hand, but when the collapse came it was sudden and fatal as Windsor ended up all out considerably short of the target.

This was a good opening game of the season against a great set of lads and hopefully for both sides a start to a successful season.

Time for another piece from me, bit shorter this time

Pre-season tidy up day – SAT 14^th April

Please come along this Saturday from around 10am to tidy up before the season starts.

We’ve got a few jobs to do and some stuff to throw out.

Please do come along and help with the tidy up – many hands make light work.

 The bar

We have an opportunity to change the drinks we offer and a couple of ideas….

1.     Should we become a bottle & can only bar?

2.     Should we always have a barrel of real ale from the Windsor & Eton brewery?

3.     Should we only have 3 beers on tap?

a.     Fosters or equivalent

b.    Stella or equivalent premium lager

c.     Strongbow cider

Would really welcome your comments on this and any other ideas you may have.

 Social Events

Ritchie Noble is working on a number of ideas for social events this season.

Please do support him when these get advertised.

 Summer training – a reminder

Starts week commencing 16^th April

The schedule this year is:

Monday – One to one coaching with Howard and Windsor Junior Academy training

Tuesday – Whole club, 3^rd/4^th/5^th teams in the nets, 1^st & 2^nd teams fielding/middle practice

Wednesday – u15s and any u13s who wish to play up

Thursday – 1^st/2^nd teams in the nets, 3^rd/4^th/5^th teams fielding practice

Friday – u9s/u11/u13s

The bar will be open after training on Tuesdays & Thursday – please do stop for an isotonic beer or three!!

Also on Fridays the bar will be open so all the parents can come along and hopefully some of the senior players as well to see the budding talent in the club and have a few more beers.

Windsor CC website    www.windsorcc.com

Just a reminder to have a look at the website.

Windsor CC is also on Facebook & Twitter, find us, follow us and get involved.

Howard Grice – England Masters game

Howard and his team are hosting a game against a PCA England Masters XI at Normandy Cricket Club on Thursday 14^th June.

I am sure that Windsor CC will be able to support this day and between us we should be able to get a table or maybe 2 together.

Sounds like it should be a super day, if you’re interested, I’ll co-ordinate our table.

I’ve had a few takers so far but would be great to have a few more.

I can send you some more info in you would like it.

And finally……

As always please get in touch if there’s anything you want to talk about or get involved in.

Remember, it’s your club and it needs your help in many ways.

Cheers

James

Chairman Windsor CC

07798 797 446

Spread the word ..

Winter nets – Seniors

I hear there’s been some new players along on a Sunday, welcome to Windsor CC and look forward to meeting you during the summer.

Winter nets – Juniors

We’ve been a bit short on numbers this winter especially in the older age groups, u14 & u15. If you know anyone of this age group who wants to play please do put them in touch.

We need a manager for the u9s and for the u15s this season, please do think about getting involved in this. The juniors are the future of the club and especially at u15 is the age we start them playing in the senior sides.

Pre-Season friendlies

These are coming together and we’re hopeful of the first game being on 7th April – if we can persuade the council to let us use Home Park.

Summer training

Starts week commencing 16th April

The schedule this year is:

Monday – One to one coaching with Howard and Windsor Junior Academy training
Tuesday – Whole club, 3rd/4th/5th teams in the nets, 1st & 2nd teams fielding/middle practice
Wednesday – u15s and any u13s who wish to play up
Thursday – 1st/2nd teams in the nets, 3rd/4th/5th teams fielding practice
Friday – u9s/u11/u13s

The bar will be open after training on Tuesdays & Thursday – please do stop for an isotonic beer or three!!

Also on Fridays the bar will be open so all the parents can come along and hopefully some of the senior players as well to see the budding talent in the club and have a few more beers.

Windsor CC website www.windsorcc.com

This has been updated over the winter – great job Edgey, many thanks.
Tim Hale is now putting in a lot of time getting more content on the site and keeping it up to date – thanks Tim.

This seasons fixtures have been loaded and we’re hoping that this year will finally be the year we get loads of match reports for ALL sides posted.
It’s a great advert for the club so please help make it even better!!!

Windsor CC is also on Facebook & Twitter, find us, follow us and get involved.

Selection policy
As I committed to at the AGM, all the captains are making progress on this and we aim to publish before the first league games.

Pre-season tidy up day

The council have booked us a skip for the weekend of 14th/15th April
Please do come along and help with the tidy up – many hands make light work.

Congratulations
To Ritchie Noble & Mel who got engaged recently – I hear they had a great engagement party at the clubhouse a couple of weekends back.

Social Events
Thinking of Ritchie, I also hear that he’s working hard on the first social of the season to be held hopefully before the first league game – no pressure Ritchie!!!!

Presidents Game
This year on Mon 27th August (public holiday) we’re playing the MCC – should be a great game.
More details from Tony Monk.

Howard Grice – England Masters game

Howard and his team are hosting a game against a PCA England Masters XI at Normandy Cricket Club on Thursday 14th June.
I am sure that Windsor CC will be able to support this day and between us we should be able to get a table or maybe 2 together.
Sounds like it should be a super day, if you’re interested, I’ll co-ordinate our table.
Full details on the attached poster.

And finally……

As always please get in touch if there’s anything you want to talk about or get involved in.

Remember, it’s your club and it needs your help in many ways.

Cheers

James
Chairman Windsor CC