AGM Meeting - News

At the East Keswick AGM on the 9th October a proposal was made to give Faheem Malik (in his absence) until the 1st November 2009 to state his and the 1st teams intentions regarding playing in the Wetherby League 1st Division for the 2010 season. Several people had tried to contact him in order to try and clarify the situation, but their phone calls had gone unanswered and no replies were forthcoming.

Further attempts to speak to him have been made since the meeting, but there has still been no reply. However it would appear from speaking to other players in the first team that they, and Faheem, have no intention of returning to the club. Whilst this is by no means a definitive answer it means that East Keswick CC would have only one team for the 2010 season, and in accordance with league rules it would have to play in Wetherby League Division 1. Should this be confirmed then it would obviously raise a series of issues that would have to be discussed with everyone involved at the club.


As the current second team captain my own thoughts are that if we are reduced to one team then it would mean:

1) Bringing in a dozen or so new players to make up a new 1st team – and therefore keeping the two teams.
2) Have the current 2nd team play in the 1st Division and have just the one team.
3) Bring in enough new players to enable the club to keep a 1st and 2nd team whilst perhaps having some current 2nd team players play for the first team.

I’d say that option 1 is extremely unlikely as players are hard enough to find at the best of times, never mind finding a dozen who want and are able to play in the top division for the same side! Option 2 would be a the worst outcome as the quality of players in the second team is (with all the will in the world) not sufficient to play in Division 1 to the required standard. Also, having just the one team and picking purely on ability (as you might have to do for Division 1 cricket) could mean that some people would face not getting a game all season.

Each player would also have to decide for themselves as to whether they want and feel able to play in the first division, as the quality of bowling is generally way above the pie chucking qualitiy of Division 6! My own preference would be to avoid the club going down to one team by finding 4-6 new players who are of sufficient quality to play in Division 1 - indeed some ex-players have expressed an early interest in returning to the club.

That way we can keep two teams but with the prospect that the 2nd team would perhaps lose the players the club thinks are best suited to playing Division 1 cricket. Anyhow, that's just my two penneth....

Unless Faheem and the first team have a change of heart then at some point there will most likely be an Extraordinary General Meeting to determine the next course of action. No date has been set but everyone who plays for the club would be encouraged to attend or at least give their point of view in advance if they cannot attend. Of course feel free to use the blog if you feel the need....