I am sure you are all waiting for rain to give a break and sun shines so that playing cricket becomes more joyful event this summer. On a positive side, we have had friendlies in April, which wasn't possible last year and played the league game only by mid-may.

Whilst you are all busy training for the season, the committee has been busy ensuring we get everything(I mean main things) ready for you to have a great summer season.

1. For the first time, we had hosted pre-Christmas camp for our boys and girls from October to December, which was well attended by more than 100 kids and made it a grand success. This is a step forward in our vision to enable 365 days cricket for our colt members who wants to train and develop their skills through out the year. I was pleased that the investment we made to get our parents as certified coaches paid dividends with overwhelming participation and support in running the session. This massively improved the coach to players ratio with focus on specific skills development in smaller groups. We continued this approach to our winter training in January. We might be one of the best cricket clubs in the region providing coaching and facilities for our kids, I am well aware we need to do lot more to be best club which has training standards at the highest level. This will develop more kids to compete at the highest level and the committee has taken decisive step to increase our annual budget by more than 50% this year for Colts coaching and development. We are also setting up an internal league for certain age groups to enable more match based training this year.

2. We also have changed our grounds care partner to MB Turf Ltd, who will be able to scale up to our needs of 3 grounds preparation every week. I am sure you have noticed the hard work put by Max and his team along with Jon in enabling all grounds to look great in the current challenging conditions. Please welcome and extend your support to Max and his team for a long term partnership with us.

3. 3rd ground is coming together nicely, though still work required to make it fully ready for the season, we have also managed to get Astro turf installed in winter to enable more matches for our colts. For the first time on the 20th April, we had all 3 grounds hosted the matches. We are really grateful to all of you who supported this by lending your hard earned money to support this new asset for the club.

4. As part of our 175th year celebration this year, there are many events being planned throughout the summer. We are hosting Berkshire Vs Sussex Men's game on the 23rd of July which will bring major county club like Sussex to enjoy our facilities. We will keep you updated on all events and your participation and support is very much required to make it a grand success.

5. As mentioned during the AGM, we have re-tendered the Bar and Clubhouse. Though it has been a painful and tedious process, it's all worth it to find a partner, Kric Events who shares our vision to be the best in hospitality for our members and guests. I am sure you will also notice positive change and uplift to the club atmosphere in coming days by having Varun Sharma(Managing Director Kric Events). Varun comes with 20 years of experience and an MBA in hospitality. Please read his bio to know more about him and your support is valuable in making this partnership a long standing one.

6. Our Women's team has won Berkshire indoor competition already and looking to continue their winning streek outdoor. We have registered more teams and many are transitioning into hardball cricket as well.

7. We have our overseas Siddharth arrived last week and has been really enjoying the UK weather. You will notice him with a red beanie all the time, just so that he doesn't miss Bengaluru. We will wish him well and hope he enjoys his time playing for us.

Whilst the season starts, it important we focus on cricket and compete fairly and fiercely on the cricket field. Every action from you either will improve or damage the brand of Slough Cricket Club. So let's all take accountability for our actions and overall bring positive change to Slough Cricket Club.

I also request all of you to be proud of playing for Slough Cricket Club and respect the facilities and infrastructure we have. We are one of the very few clubs across the country who have such a great facility and it's our responsibility to pass it safely to future generations. Also if we see anyone misusing our facilities, please don't hesitate to stop them as it's our collective responsibility to protect this and keep it clean and tidy for our members and guests.

I congratulate all of you on the 175th year of the Club and wish you all a great success this summer.

Best Regards,
Goutham Shrikrishna
Chair, Slough Cricket Club