South Road Cricket Club

South Road Cricket Club

2015-2016 Presidents Report

May 2015 seems like at short time ago since our last AGM and I was elected Presi-dent, however a whole season has come and gone and the club is gearing up to-wards another AGM and Presentation night.
At that meeting the following members were elected on to the executive of our Club Matt Potts Vice President, Poul Petersen Secretary, Darren Williams Treasurer, the following were elected to the committee, Kristin Potts, Stefan Potts, Graham Hart-lett, Adrian Woolman, Luke Woolman, Anthony May and Shaun Krutli. Subsequent-ly our captains were named, A grade and club Matt Potts (later resigned) and Stef Potts appointed. B grade Jason Norrish. C grade Luke Slattery. D grade Roger Nunn.
I would like to thank all of our committee and captains for the help and hard work during the past seasons. At times this past season has thrown many new challeng-es and issues but with your help and support the club has survived another season and continued to provide members a game of cricket each and every week of the season.
We are fortunate to have Councillor Tim Pfeiffer as the Patron of our Club, Tim is a true and loyal friend of the South Road Cricket Club and a tireless worker for our local community as evidence by the new developments at Edwardstown Oval Com-plex. Tim along with others has been instrumental in the development of the Grant Application to Federal Government for funding the upgrade of Clubrooms and Facil-ities at the Oval. Thanks Tim for all your support and guidance.
Our club has two sponsors who have supported us through this last season to Brightspace Homes and Luke Woolman. Potts Brothers Ceilings and Matt Potts thank you. Members if you are thinking of building a house or know of someone who may be please give Luke a call. If you are requiring ceiling or blue board work give Matt a call.
Our pre-season got off to a cracking start with the annual golf day at the Vines Golf Day as arranged by Luke Woolman and his band of helpers, there was a field of thousands or at least 60 players and a great day was had by all.
Other club highlights during the season included the Annual Maetze/Bradbrook Cup played between Keswick and SRCC unfortunately we lost a very close game, the highlight was getting Brian Maetze back to the club to present the trophy and the ensuing night of stories and beers.
One of the important Key Performance Indicators that I and the committee were looking for the club to achieve this past season was to be able to field four sides each and every match. A task that was going to be challenging considering the number of players who had left the club previously or were unavailable due to inju-ry, work or family commitments. I believe we only forfeited one game throughout the season. Made possible by the many phone calls on Wednesday and Thursday nights from all Captains but Roger had the hardest job of all being the captain of our D grade but every week he managed to scramble a side together and more re-markable was they were able to win two games.
Overall our playing performances were as expected considering the aforemen-tioned loss of players. Our A grade finished 7th. with several close losses, B grade finished 9th. C grade finished 3rd. and lost to ICC Sharks in semi-final. D grade finished 11th. The A grade were unfortunate to lose some close matches that could have cost them a finals chance, from the games I saw the batting and bowling was generally O/K however fielding was poor and continually dropping catches won’t get the job done. At least fielding is something that can be worked on for next sea-son. The B grade was one of two B grade side in Section 2 largely made up of A grade teams, the club tried to play players in this side who we thought could play A grade cricket, however due to injuries and work commitments Jason was picking young players who at time struggled at this level. After Christmas the club made a decision due to circumstances that the C grade had a chance to play finals that any players performing in C grade would stay there and not be promoted to B grade which would have helped Jason and his side. Jason you were on a hiding to nothing but you stuck at it all season and in my opinion did a great job under diffi-cult circumstances.
The C grade was the stand out team of our club for the past season finishing third at the end of the minor round and narrowly losing their Semi Final in a tight fought contest. Luke and his team are to be congratulated on their performance for the whole season and should be mindful they were only a few runs away from playing in a Grand Final.
Several individual players achieved significant milestone this past season Darren (Percy) Percival played his 250th.game for our club and also will receive Playing Life Membership from the Adelaide and Suburban Cricket Association what can I say except you are a “Club Legend Perc”. Graham Hartlett and Shaun Krutli both played their 100th.game for our club, well done to both of you.
Even though cricket is a team game there were some outstanding individual per-formances throughout last season. Starting with Shaun Krutli who made 3 centu-ries almost 4, highest score 135, he went on to win Adelaide and Suburban Cricket Association Batting Trophy for Section 1. Luke Slattery scored his maiden century for the club and Dave Ewers scored 115 in the D grade versus Morphettville Park. Darren (Barney) Williams claimed his 500 wicket for the club and had 3 bags of 5 for. Poul Petersen claimed a Hat Trick. Shaun and Brett Baldey both represented the Adelaide and Suburban Cricket Association in inter association games. Con-gratulations to all of you.
I understand it is not always possible to attend after match or club functions due to family and work commitments. To all those that made the effort a big thank you and I hope you were able to see the benefits in the comradeship between team mates and club members whilst sharing a after match drink to celebrate or com-miserate Saturdays efforts. Clubs that have strong off field relationships between players and members are usually strong and successful clubs onfield.
The future of the South Road Cricket Club? The present committee has done sig-nificant work to ensure that South Road Cricket Club has a substantial future. We as a club are in for some exciting times if the Edwardstown Oval upgrade is funded by Federal Government and Marion Council. This would see the cricket club with access to Club Rooms, Club Lounge, Meeting Rooms, Change Rooms and nets located on the Oval Precinct rather than across the road. We should know by July 2016 if the Council has been successful with its grant application. I would personal-ly like to thank Shaun Krutli, Councillor Tim Pfeiffer, all of Marion Council both elected members and council staff, Local Member Matt Williams for their help and support to date. The grant application was a truly professional undertaking and I see no reason why it should not succeed.
As a community sports club we experience highs and lows both on and off field something you may expect from clubs largely run by volunteers. Several seasons ago the club embarked on a Strategic Plan instigated by Shaun when he was last President. This is a valuable document to all within the club. It has been reinstated and renewed as part of the requirement of the grant application. However I com-mend this document to all within the club as it shows a direction forward for our club and can help even out the highs and lows of a community club. It contains sound structural advice on how to run successful community sports clubs based on proven models and may be a useful tool for the incoming committee.
It has been over twenty years since I have last been involved with our great club. I have been privileged this last season to be the President. I have known some of you for years, many I have only met this past season. To all members of our com-mittee and players my gratitude for accepting Vicki and I back. The club has not changed in that it continues to strive for success and sustainability both on and off field. Originally I ex-pected to be President for several seasons however due to a family member having a significant medical issue I will not seek re- election at the next AGM. Thank you to the South Road Cricket Club I believe the club has once again given me much more than I have given back. In closing I wish the club every suc-cess in the future.
Steve Mitchell