Order of Annual Report Chairman’s Report Administration & Community Development Officers Report South Canterbury Umpires & Scorers Report Senior Representative Season Averages South Canterbury Representative Honours Board All Grades End of Season Awards Team Awards Sponsorship Chairman's Annual Report 2011/2012 It is my pleasure to present the Chairman’s report for the 2011/2012 season. Season 2011/2012 marked the first full season with the new administration team at the helm, David Fisher as Executive Officer and Shane Gilkison as Development Officer. David has worked tirelessly off the field to ensure the position of the Association is sound. In particular he has sought new income streams and has developed sound relationships with the various local funding trusts. This has given us some real comfort in terms of the ongoing financial stability of the Association and has allowed the board to pursue further strategic objectives to deliver cricket within the region. With the retirement of Richard Davidson from a role that he held for 10 years, Shane Gilkison has made the Development Officer position his own working hard to achieve the development targets set by Canterbury Cricket. The role is a crucial one in terms of growing the game not just within this region but also beyond. His friendly and easy going manner is ensuring that as many youth as possible are exposed to the game and I am sure that Shane will be able to grow his role further in the season to come. On field the Association hosted a HRV 20/20 game (The Canterbury Wizards vs The Otago Volts) on 27 December and a Ford Trophy 50 over game (Canterbury vs Wellington) on 13 December. Unfortunately the 50 over game struggled to draw a significant crowd perhaps due to the time of year or perhaps more likely due to the poor weather conditions on the day, however, the HRV 20/20 game was a real success with a crowd of in excess of 2,000 people. The 20/20 game is a phenomenon and is revolutionalising the game of cricket. With the support the community showed for that fixture Aorangi is sure to be hosting a further fixture in the season to come. The Senior Men’s Representative side saw a new coaching and management structure with Bruce Carlaw taking over as Coach, Robin Beeby as Assistant Coach and John Davies as Manager. This was the first time in some years that this level of support had been invested in our flagship side. The season started strongly with a dominant win over North Otago and then Mid Canterbury but quickly faltered as a consequence of match scheduling and the unavailability of key players. The Association were fortunate to have the services of English cricketers Edward Kilbee and Tahir Afridi (both playing for Roncalli) as well as Christchurch based players Bill Walsh and Ben McCord. The side was the strongest we have seen for some years and leaving aside the availability issues I am confident the team can build on the successes of the season. I wish to thank Bruce, Robin and John and I hope that we can maintain some continuity in this structure in the season to come. Turning to club cricket this season we saw real dominance from the Celtic Club. They won all trophies in the senior club competition as well as the Senior A Second Grade A competition. The Club’s success is a testament to many years of sound administration. Their dominance exposed other club’s fragility and has identified a real issue in Club cricket within the region. This is an issue that your Board is looking to resolve in the coming season. There is, however, no “quick fix” cure. Time and effort needs to be directed toward development and it is necessary for the Association to work closely with clubs to ensure they are providing an environment that is attractive to their players. It is also important that we listen to our stakeholders to ensure that we offer the right formats of the game. To that end, at the conclusion of the season a survey was conducted asking all participants key questions to improve the quality of cricket within this region. There was a sound uptake and the survey results have assisted the board to make changes for the coming season. On a positive note Timaru Girls High School made it three titles in a row when they comfortably took out the senior women’s cricket final against Ashburton College. The end of season prizegiving was a fitting time to reflect upon and recognise the service of a number of key individuals within the association who were retiring; John Threlkeld for all of his service to youth cricket, Graeme Lowrie for his services to umpiring and Richard Davidson for his services to the association for 10 years. I mentioned Richard’s contribution in last year’s Annual Report. John Threlkeld started with Star in 1980 and took over from Lindsay Nixon in coaching and selecting the Primary A team in 1985. He held that role for a further 26 years until 2011. During his tenure his team won three South Island tournaments and he chaired the JAB for four years. He was an umpire of distinction for the Association and a member of the Association’s Board. He has won the prestigious Sir Jack Newman award for his contribution to Junior Cricket in New Zealand which is presented by New Zealand Cricket each year to an outstanding junior cricket administrator for past and present services to the game. He has a passion for cricket and has helped hundreds of South Canterbury children enjoy the game. His retirement is certainly deserved, however his contribution is irreplaceable. Graeme Lowrie is well known nationally (and even internationally) for his work in developing and training umpires. He has written many books on the topic including “An introduction to umpiring”, “Cricket Umpiring – Getting Started”, “Player Umpire’s Companion”, “Limited Over Matches”, “Assessment of Officials”, “Turf Manager’s Companion” and “Scoring – Getting started”. He has not just limited himself to books on cricket and umpiring/scoring. He has also authored the History of Cricket in South Canterbury and each season compiled both the Junior Association and Senior Cricket Association Handbooks. Graeme had a significant involvement in developing and policing the laws of the game both here and internationally and has an enormous knowledge of the game. In short Graeme has been the local “go to” person for all things cricket related. Graeme has introduced many new umpires to the game and we are very grateful for all he has done for cricket within this region. We wish him all the best in his retirement. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Glen Drake in being selected on the prestigious Willows tour to Sri Lanka and Kuala Lumpur. Glen is a real up and coming talent within the region and his selection was richly deserved. The tour is as much about the life experience as it is about the game of cricket but Glen did very well in often trying conditions. Finally, thank you to all of the coaches and managers who have given up their time once again this year. Your commitment and enthusiasm is greatly appreciated by all. Without volunteers cricket simply can’t survive. I would also like to thank our pool of umpires who have again given us stirling service in tough times. We do appreciate your time and experience and never take your services for granted. A further thank you to Mike Davies and the Green team for their magnificent work in preparing Aorangi Oval. We are playing more cricket up there and the consequence is more work for Mike and his team. Despite the increased traffic there has been no let up in the quality of surfaces produced and for that the Association is grateful. To our loyal group of sponsors, there are many and all are listed on the website, they all give generously to the Association, money, time, equipment and knowledge please accept our continued thanks – without you all cricket in this region would be severely hamstrung. Thank you also to all of my Board. It has been a busy season and one that we can certainly build on for the season to come. Andrew McRae Chairman 30 August 2012 South Canterbury Cricket Association Annual Report The 2011-12 season was a season of change for South Canterbury, as in June we lost the services of our Cricket Development Officer Richard Davison after 11 years of dedicated service. He was replaced by Shane Gilkison in August and with a late lead in to the 2011-12 season he had a real challenge in setting up our coaching in schools programme as well as overseeing a very full representative season and junior cricket development. With the assistance of all our representative coaches and Ed and Tahir (most of the time) Shane was able to deliver coaching to over 4000 school children and also strengthen, and in some cases, renew SC Crickets relationship with local Schools. REPRESENTATIVE Our Senior rep side competed in the Southern zone of the Hawke Cup again this season. New coach Bruce Carlaw, his assistant Robin Beeby and Manager John Davies started the season with high hopes of achieving a Hawke Cup challenge and with a comprehensive outright win over North Otago we got off to the best possible start. Unfortunately we couldn’t match Southland on their home track and lost outright by 10 wickets. A good win over Mid Canterbury and a disappointing loss to Otago Country epitomised our season.