Sport In Profile UK Issue 15 | Page 32

East Grinstead FOLLOW US ONLINE twitter.com/sportinprofile SIP: Regarding your facility, are you happy with what you currently have? Are you keen to expand/improve in any areas? GB: Being part of a very large Sports Club we have little say in the running of the pavilion. However, we are totally responsible for our two cricket pitches. At the end of last season we re-laid the squares removing the top 40mm, replacing with Surrey Loam and re-seeding at a cost of £10,000 all raised through grants, donations and fundraising. This has proved extremely successful but was helped by a very supportive winter enabling the grass to develop and giving plenty of time for rolling early in the year. The outfield has a tendency to flood/puddle following heavy rain. After the 2016 season we discovered the drains fractured on the eastern side of the outfield which suffered badly with flooding. These were repaired and jet flushed which appears to have been successful as we have not experienced any problems this season. It is planned to install new drains in the western side as soon as sufficient funds are available, foreseen in the next 12 months. SIP: What do you believe could be some of the biggest challenges the club may face in the next 5 years? GB: Keeping up the standards to meet premier league requirements, we cannot stand still and facilitating almost 100 matches per season on the main ground puts immense pressure on the groundsman and more importantly the volunteers who assist and make sure everything is in place for a match. There is a lot of wear and tear on the pitches and an immense amount of effort has to be put in just to stand still. Like all clubs we have a loyal band of volunteers who could now be classified in the older range, but we are always seeking others following on to give the same commitment. What will be the format of club cricket in five years’ time? If this takes the form of T/20 matches possibly played in midweek we will have a problem as a large percentage of our seniors commute daily to London which means they will not get back in time to participate in a match. Sussex Cricket is presently consulting on a forward plan, which we sincerely hope that East Grinstead Cricket Club will be able to contribute at the forefront of the changes moving forward. It is impossible to show a profit from Community sport and cricket falls into that category. We are a not for profit club but would like to have a healthy sinking fund to ensure we can replace/improve our facilities for future generations. This will be a major challenge in the next five years unless some of the riches at the very top end of the game can begin to cascade down in greater quantities. 32 Issue 15 SIP: What are the clubs ambitions for the next 5 years? GB: More of the same; to remain financially stable in a period of increasing costs, to enable us to continue to provide facilities for the community whilst continuing to compete at the very top of the league structures in Sussex/Surrey. At this very moment the first team is third in the Premier League, one of four teams within nine points of the leaders and are in the draw for the last 16 of the national Royal London Cup. We have already won the county T20 competition at both first and second team level in 2015, yet EGCC has never been better than Sussex Premier League runners-up finishing a frustrating four points behind the champions in 2015. It would be fitting for Will Adkin and his team to finally win the Sussex Premier League this season, they have put themselves in pole position and I very much hope they can complete the job. They deserve the title of champions for the consistently high standard of cricket they have played over the last few years with a young side mainly consisting of our locally developed talent. The committee’s challenge is to continue to raise funds to provide this facility. We are currently supported by one good sponsor plus many generous secondary boundary board sponsors and advertisers around the ground, through our website as well as in our Fixture Card and Newsletters. It is our continuing aim to add to this list to enable us to prepare for any eventuality, the proverbial rainy day- the curse of any level of cricket.