The annual golf tournament is being held this year on Wednesday 10th September at the Abbey Hotel Golf Course.

The cost to play will be £39.50 per person which will include bacon rolls and coffee on arrival, followed by 18 holes of golf and after that a 2 course dinner with prize giving ceremony.

The golf will be played in four balls playing Stableford format. There will be prizes for both the winning team and individual player.

Anyone interested should contact either Andy Thomas on 07989700779, Mark Brind on 07917037288 or Tim Haslam on 01527893817.

Everyone is welcome to play, you don't need to be a member of the cricket club and you don't even need to be good at golf. Hope to see you there.

Sadly, the Under 11's were defeated last night in their Worcestershire quarter final against Himley. Well done to the lads for getting this far in the competition and doing so well in the East Worcestershire section of the league. Himley were a very strong side and are likely to progress further in the competition. It was a very good experience for the lads as it showed them the level to which they should be aiming to compete on a regular basis. Good luck to Himley in the next round.

You may have noticed the Times Fantasy Football thing on the home page. If you fancy having a bit of fun then join up and play.

There are 20 spaces in the league, of which there are about 15 left. You need to be signed up by 4th August. To join the league, just click on the link on the home page, sign in and when it asks what league you want to play in join the ABCC Premier League.

The league works a little differently to the normal fantasy football leagues that you may be familiar with. Nobody is allowed to pick the same player in their team. When you sign up you need to choose your wish list of players and then when the deadline day comes, the players will be automatically allocated to each team accordingly, similar to the NFL drafts they do in the States. After this, you have a transfer fund where you can buy players from other teams in the league.

It should be a bit of fun and i'm sure we can find some way of spicing things up. Maybe £5 to play (winner £80 runner up £20) and £1 a month for manager of the month.

All

Over the recent weeks there has been some confusion over the use of the ground and this has caused some frustration to hard working people at the cricket club and in addition has cost the club additional monies where extra work has had to be undertaken to repair damage caused to the square. To eliminate this in the future we have develped a policy for the ground which is as follows:

(i) Use of the ground for matches can only be authorised through the Secretary (Mike Yapp) and Junior Chairman (Mike James).

(ii) On Match days the Captains and Junior Coaches make the decision on weather the ground is fit for play. The ultimate decision, however, is made by the Groundsman.

(iii) For practice, the best efforts will be made to make the ground available at all times.

(iv) In the information board on the entrance to the Clubhouse there will be a sign clearly indicating what activities the ground can be used for.

(v) If the ground is misused by a member or members the club discipline procedure will apply.

(vi) The Playing Chairman along with the Grounds man has the ultimate decision.

MB

Congratulations to the Under 11's A team who have won their league this year and now progress to the knockout stage of the tournament. They will play Himley, who were runners up in the north division, at the Ridgeway next Wednesday (23rd July) in the quarter finals. Well done and good luck in the next round.

Ashley has asked us not to train on the square tonight due to the severe damage it received over the weekend. Please can i remind everyone that training night is a tuesday and that training is supposed to start at 6pm. Obviously, a lot of people will have difficulties arriving at 6 but please could you try to be there as soon as you can. Cheers

Bank hosted a Festival of Cricket on Sunday, which involved a junior tournament in the morning and a senior tournament in the afternoon, with various bits of food thrown in at regular intervals.

I was sleeping off a hangover from the previous evening and missed the vast majority of the junior tournament but managed to catch the end. The turnout was superb and Mr Whippy was doing a roaring trade. The Under 9's tournament was won by the home side, beating Barnt Green in the final. Barnt Green took the Under 10's title.

The afternoon tournament saw two ABCC sponsors, Faurecia and Triangle Recruitment battle it out in a game over two legs to see who would compete against the ABCC legends team in the final. The matches were all played with 10 overs per side. The two teams, which consisted of employees, then had the opportunity to bid, IPL auction style, for two ABCC players to play for them in each match. The Bankers up for auction were Jock, Spud, Statto, AJ, Pest, Meaty, Johnno, Diesel and Smelliard. For the first match Faurecia bought AJ and Diesel, whilst Triangle recruited (can you see what i've done there??) Jock and Pest. For the second match, Faurecia went for the explosive Johnno and Meaty, whilst Triangle went for Mr Reliable Melliard and double centurion Spud. Poor old Statto had to settle for a free transfer to the legends XI. Sadly for me, he made a serious impact in the final!!

The first match was a topsey turvey match. Faurecia batted first with Diesel and AJ opening the batting. They made slow progress against the Triangle bowlers. Diesel eventually retired on 25 having dispatched a towering 6 over the car park. AJ perished when he failed trying one of his 'inventive' shots usually seen at pre season nets. With some decent batting from the Faurecia boys, the total crept up to a competitive 75 from their 10 overs. Triangle started with Jock opening with Dev. Diesel, who opened the bowling for Faurecia was soon dispatched by Dev and Triangle were off to a flyer. The 2nd over saw Jock dispatch a few boundaries and race to 25. The scoring then slowed up and Trianlge were struggling to meet the required run rate. Off the final over, Triangle needed 8 to win. Fortunately, Pest was next to bat, so we weren't too worried. A wide and a few singles got us to within 4 runs of victory with 3 balls remaining. A wicket then fell and Pest strode out needing 4 from 2 balls. Pest's batting ability is not exactly world class but surely he could manage a boundary to bring us over the victory line. He couldn't, in fact he was cleaned up from his first delivery. Money well spent! Captain Carl was forced to face the last ball of the match needing 4 for victory or 3 runs to tie the game. The final ball was bowled and was very very wide. The wide, unbelievably, was not given by the fuming Statto. The ball was gathered by Diesel who was keeping wicket. The batsmen then started running as a bit of a token gesture to get nearer the oppositions score. What followed was a complete shambles. Rather than holding the ball and running to the stumps to end the game the ball was being flung at the stumps right, left and centre. All throws were missing and the batsmen somehow managed to get home for a third run. The match was tied.

The second match was the decider, the winner of which would play the veterans in the final. Again, it was Faurecia to bat first. Johnno Gordon opened, partnered by one of the Faurecia lads. The very first ball of the innings was carted for six by Johnno, who, by the looks of his half hour warm up prior to the game, looked to be taking the game rather seriously. Meaty eventually joined Johnno at the crease and set about upping the run rate with some impressive hitting. Johnno was eventually dismissed with an impressive catch by Dev at deep mid on. The batsman began to walk off and then suddenly turned to the umpire to protest that it was in fact a bump ball. This was clearly a last ditch attempt to save face after being dismissed by a part timer. I cant help but still feel a little embarrassed about that whole sherade. From then on the Faurecia innings grinded to a complete standstill with Dev taking a stack of wickets, including a 3 wicket maiden. Faurecia ended with 55 runs, well below par.

When triangle took to the field it looked a foregone conclusion that victory was theirs and that a meeting with the legends was ensured. I had had a few to drink by this point and my memories of the Triangle innings are a bit hazy. I think that Spud managed to get to 25 without any trouble. I think Bry came in later in the innings to help ease the team to victory. The game was won with about 4 overs to spare.

Curries were served between the conclusion of that match and the beginning of the final. Very nice it was too. Well done Andy/Sue Thomas.

An impromptu 6 a-side match was organised for the curry interval. What a waste of time that turned out to be.

On to the final. The legends side was made up of surprisingly few actual Bank legends. There were actually only two fully qualified legends on display. Simon 'Tiger' Daws and Jimmy 'The Power' Pownall. A few others on the brink of legendary status, Yorky and Jessy were present along with Mr Chairman and junior coaches Andy Thomas, Mike James and Mike Harris. Wonka, Statto and Gimp filled the remaining places. Representing Triangle were Jock, Spud, Smelly and Pest.

The legends batted first and opened with the sprightly pair of Jessy and Mr Chairman. The chairman was the first to go, after making a steady start. Jessy soon followed after being cleaned up by the Pest. Tiger Daws and Mike James batted well along with Andy Thomas who was striking the ball very cleanly. The Gimp also managed to put bat on ball for once. At the close of the innings, the legends had managed to score 76. Although i'm still convinced that this score was doctored to make the game more competitive. They were on about 50 after 9 overs!

Jock once again opened the Triangle innings and again it didn't take him long to get going smashing Wonka for a couple of pretty large sixes. Yorky bowled a splendid 2 over spell, collecting 3 quick wickets. You aren't getting on the legends page yet with bowling like that! Statto replaced Yorky from the pavillion end. You may remember i mentioned how big an impact Statto would have in the final. Sadly for me, the big impact was not on the outcome of the game, it was on my downstairs region. After a couple of minutes being completely poll-axed on the floor i managed to get up and get the 25 runs so that i could retire and have a lie down. Spud and Smelly were both dismissed before reaching 25 leaving the team to rely on the Pest for runs. This time Dennis batted well and played the shot of the day off Tigers bowling. The wickets were falling regularly though at the other end and with the team needing more than a run a ball off the final over we were always looking like we would fall short. Lord Lucan bowled a competent final over and the match was won for the (not particularly legendary) legends XI.

The day was a huge success from start to finish, with a very impressive turnout from people of all ages. A big thank you must go to all of the clubs who put out teams in the junior tournament and to the two sponsors, Faurecia and Triangle who brought so many people along to support the event. Also a big thank you to the people who helped to organise and run the event on the day.

Birmingham University have hired out the ground this Friday afternoon for a match. The bar will be open pretty much all day as myself, Meaty and my mum will be there running the bar. If anyone fancies popping along for a drink or, even better, to help out then your help will be much appreciated.

P.S. Please can whoever uses the clubhouse tonight try to leave it in a reasonable state before you go. I don't mind doing a spot of tidying in the morning but i don't want it left a total tip. Cheers.

The ECB has approved the new nets. They will make the largest financial contribution with the remainder coming from Landfill Tax Credit scheme and the FLOSS scheme. The installation is currently planned for the end of the season but all the provisional dates need to be reconfirmed now that we have formal approval.

Thanks are due to the Junior Committee, and helpers, for their perseverance with the Club Development Plan, which led to Clubmark and finally Focus Club status, without which ECB funding would not have been granted.

Thanks are also due to Tom Harris for the initiative he showed in raising the FLOSS monies.

Finally, thanks are due to Stuart Lampitt for highlighting the Landfill Tax Credit scheme and to Bob Shaw of Evesham for acting as our agent with Severn Waste.

On a related subject the Committee has approved the levelling of the outfield and the installation of a new ring drain round the square at the end of the season. This will be funded by the club.

So, I look forward to next season when we will have excellent practice facilities and a flat outfield. This can only improve performances all round.

If you have any detailed questions I will be at the Festival of Cricket on Sunday or drop me an email on ja@his.co.uk.

JA

This months draw took place on Friday at the cricket club. The draw was made by Turbo Tom Watson. This weeks prizes were as follows:

1. Chris Hancox (£50)
2. Pete Alexander (£10)
   

Bank's Paul boycott is becoming agitated at the lack of latest news being posted on the website. I can assure you that absolutely nothing has happened in the last few weeks to make me want to update the latest news page. If anything does happen then i will post it when it happens.