MPA 1st XI

It wont go away the MPA 1st XI. Through work I've met a bloke (Steve Newman) who works in a different dept and it somehow got round to talking about sports and eventually cricket and it turns out that he plays a bit of cricket. I mentioned the MPA 1st XI and he came back with the suggestion that we re-formed and played the blokes in his dept. I know from the feeble response back in Sept that there's no way that the MPA 1st XI could re-form in it's original line up (see http://mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com/2007/05/0830-sunday-morning-day-of-match.html ) but there's definite possibility that combination of the Great Berry Boys (see http://mpafirsteleven.blogspot.com/2007/06/sunday-june-3rd-practice-new-team.html ) and Steve Newman and his mates that we could be talking about a line up of 12 blokes that do seem to be up for a game and there's the peripheral members of the MPA 1st XI that might turn up if we were a man or two down?

I'd have said that the idea was pretty dead in the water before it started if you'd have asked me last Friday, but at the weekend I bumped into Badger in Basildon and he said that he was still interested and that he was looking to buy some new kit (bats and pads etc), so he's still up for a game. Then this morning without any prompting Simon approached me and said.... "I saw Alex Wood at the weekend and him and I were talking about cricket and were saying that we should get in the nets again this winter - so what do you reckon"?

So that means of the original team -

1. Badger, 2. Alex wood, 3. Simon Grainge, 4. Dave Thompson (Me) Are all up for it and are willing to do nets over the winter. I'm fairly certain that 5. Mark Soye would be interested? Then if Steve's got some other blokes and I'm sure he said that he could get 4 including him interested that brings us up to 9. I'm not sure whether the youth contingent would be up for nets as they've got lives, but they were the only people that turned up in the summer for the game and they definitely should be a core part of the team as they're all pretty handy bowlers and bats.

So going on the info I have at the minute it might look like this -

1.Dave Thompson
2.Simon Grainge
3.Badger
4.Alex wood
5.Mark Soye
6.Nakul Handa
7.Jack Hawthorn
8.Chris Eggleton
9.Alex C
10. Steve Newman
11. Steve Newman's mate No.1
12. Steve Newman's mate No.2
13. Steve Newman's mate No.3

In addition there's a load of people that may turn up for nets and may want to play in the summer including

14. Richard Sainsbury
15. Suhail
16. Carl Hodegson
17. Terry The Bloke
18. Nick Naughty
19. Rod the Aussie
20. Thomas Slater
21. Badger mate from Customs and Excise
22. Alex's Brother

With regards opposition if we choose to play at Welstead there's the Aussies & Kiwi's of Southend who I'd love to have another go at. Tilbury's MCCC (Modlife Crisis Cricket Club) and possibly Grays & Chadwell's 2nd & 3rd XI's and of course the Sports Dept at college.

In the short term though I'm interested in who would be up for nets over the winter, how often, where, how much are we prepared to pay, have we got the commitment from the players and how are we going to pay for kit (Balls, stumps etc)?

How many nominations have we for the position of Captain and treasurer if we're going to paying for kit and the rent of hall etc. I don't mind doing one or the other or both. But if anyone else fancies the captain job I'll be vice captain.

That then brings up the situation of potentially 22 blokes chasing 11 places. How's that going to be resolved? This needs to be discussed at an early point because the ethos of the team needs to be decided. Are we doing it for a laugh and we don't care if we put out a crap team and get smashed for 300 and bowled out for 60? Or when it comes to the match - do we try and put out a team that will make a good fist of it? This is the contentious area, because some of the players in the team may have naturally ability on their side and athleticism and may not be in the nets all winter and therefore making no financial commitment to the team and then may be seen to simply turn up on the day of a match and get a game and take all the glory? But it might mean the difference between winning and losing and the game lasting an hour after so much organisation e.g. they put us in to bat with a side full of Bunnies we get bowled out for 60 they come in and hit 61 in a few overs - that kind of scenario.

But this could be got round by having a fixtures Officer who's sole job is to arrange the fixtures and all the details therein. If several fixtures could be arranged it might mean that players that don't get a game one week play the next time and so on? So that's something to discuss/think about?

Just to make it clear where I stand on this. I play to win and will put in the hours and commitment to ensure that I'm up to a standard where I'll be selected. I'll also be integral to the whole setting up and organising of the thing - again just to make sure I gain a place on the team by virtue of deserving it through sheer hard work and involvement in the team.

So - who's up for nets then?

One last thing on the nets issue. When we did this in 2007 we used James Hornsby school in Basildon because of it's availability - but it was 80 quid for 2 hours. We charged everyone 10 quid each for nets and if more turned up that went towards the cost of balls and stumps etc. I know that there are a couple of places in Thurrock (Tilbury & Grays) that are potentially cheaper (A lot cheaper) so I would suggest that we look into that as an option, but it means that people will have to travel and maybe share cars. The suggestion is that we do this Saturday mornings?