One more winter has passed and it’s time of the year again which we all wait throughout the harsh winter with the hope to be out on the cricket field in summer.

Winter has always been really busy for Slough CC as we provide opportunities to play cricket throughout the year unlike most of the other clubs. Some of the key highlights of our winter season are as follows.

- Our winter camp this year from October to December had been delivered in partnership with Aaarray Sports, led by Deep Das Gupta, ex-Indian test cricketer and famous broadcaster. Around 100 kids attended the camp which was very well organised and received lot of appreciation from our junior members. This is the second year in a row where we have provided a year round cricket for our junior members. We will continue to provide it as long as we have such a strong, dedicated volunteers who have enabled this to happen.

- Continuing the momentum of the camp, we had our winter training sessions started in January. Girls and women were mainly in Ditton and boys and men were in Herschel. The focus across all sessions were to improve our overall fitness and fielding standards as a club. Our lead coaches Arsalan, Pav and Saqlain made it possible with their planning and execution with the support of other coaches, junior assistants and parents volunteers. Even senior sessions at Herschel, we had nearly one hour of warm up and fielding drills which received positive feedback from members. We will have dedicated Strength and Conditioning for first 20 mins on Mondays, Wednedays, Thursdays and Fridays training sessions from Kevin. On top of improving health and overall fitness, should bring some positive results across our youth and senior members' performance and reduce injury risks

- We have registered our U15 girls and U13 boys team to Bucks youth league on top of being part of Berkshire youth cricket league(BYCL) on a trial basis. This will give opportunity to compete with different set of clubs and also increases visibility of our youth talent. We have also registered additional teams in U9 and U11 age groups in BYCL which means more matches for our kids. The total youth teams we have this year is 37, with over 250 fixtures to be booked by coordinating with other clubs. This is a massive undertaking as you can imagine. Asif and Nitesh have worked diligently with all parent volunteers to conquer this feet and booked most of the fixtures before the season starts. We are also continuing with internal leagues where necessary to support additional match based practice.

- Trying to move away from members not wearing club kits, we had a massive push to make sure every member is able to get their match and training kits ordered in winter at an affordable price. We have received a massive support across all sections with more than 300 orders placed. Massive thanks to Shubhes for managing the orders and working with all members to ensure their queries are answered and Ritesh for coordinating with our offshore delivery vendor. If you haven’t yet ordered, you can continue to order through GN shop from our website.

- The Committee has taken a decision to introduce teas for all our senior home matches, we believe this is key to be known for our hospitality and re-introduce the culture of teams coming together during break to have teas. Hope you will all enjoy this positive change.

- As per the tradition, our women’s team won softball tournament again this year winter, congratulations to the whole team. We have also added an extra women’s team as part of Home Counties Women's Premier League to transition more girls and ladies to play senior hardball cricket.

- Upgrading 3rd ground facilities has been a key priority for us. We have already ordered a pair of sight screens and with all donations we have received from many members, looking to order the right digital scoreboard. If you haven't donated yet, please do so and support this worthy cause.

- We have secured the ground in Maidenhead for our academy team which will continue to provide pathway to bring more youth cricketers into senior cricket.

- We have had good April so far and managed to play some friendlies, thanks to Jon and Max to ensure our grounds are looking great.

- You might have seen the news about our overseas, Vishnu Solanki who has arrived last Friday.. please join me in wishing him a great season.

- Helixr has agreed to continue as our main sponsor, thanks Gopesh for ensuring we secure this with our sponsorship team
Who says cricket club is busy only during summer after seeing so many activities happening in the winter months. It’s all to prepare ourselves for summer season and to have an amazing summer, which will give energy and motivation to go through challenging winter months. Let’s all make sure we enjoy the upcoming season to the fullest. There will always be issues related selection, performance, injury etc. but let’s all think about how much we look forward to the summer to be on the ground to play some great cricket with our teammates. May this spirit continue and raise above all obstacles we may face this summer.

I just want to request you all to work hard, play positive and fair and remember every actions of ours on the cricket field will reflect either positively or negatively of Slough Cricket Club. Hence let’s be mindful of our actions and ensure we always conduct ourselves in a manner which will reflect positively of our club.

Have a great cricket season everyone.

Best Regards,
Goutham Shrikrishna
Chair, Slough Cricket Club