As the 2024 cricket season draws to a close, it’s time to reflect on all things on and off the field at Marlborough Cricket Club. In so many ways it has been a season of milestones and a milestone season.

Seniors

On the playing side, the club continues to run 4 senior teams and successfully fulfilled every fixture throughout the season. Many clubs forfeit one or multiple matches during the season, so this is no mean feat.

There have been several notable cricketing milestones this year, and we’d like to acknowledge these fantastic achievements:

100 Caps - Zak Tunmore
200 Caps - Steve Jones, Paul Smith and David Slater
100 West of England Premier League Wickets - Paul Smith
100 Club Wickets - Harry Glenn
400 Club Wickets – Paul Smith
700 Club Wickets – Ben Head
5,000 Club Runs – Andy Crabbe
8,000 Club Runs – Pete Day
10,000 Club Runs – Nick Crabbe

Congratulations to each one of them and let’s hope for many more to come!

We’ve seen 50’s, 100’s and 5 wicket hauls, great catches, run outs and thrilling results, none more so than the 1 run victory by our 3rd's team on the last ball of the season – what a finish!

Other notable achievements include Will Miller (14) and Zach Collister (15) making several appearances for our senior 1st team. Both joined the club as juniors and it’s with great pride that the club sees them doing so well in their cricketing endeavours.

Juniors

Speaking of Juniors, it has been a ‘re-build’ season for this section of the club. We’ve brought cricket into the community via free cricket sessions in schools and the community centre. It has been great to see the positive response and level of interest in cricket. We’ve seen the number of juniors members growing and will have junior teams back in the league once again next year.

It’s also been wonderful to see the positive response to the club’s efforts to attract more girls into the game, which is something we are very passionate about.

There was a great take-up of our 2-day girls cricket camp in the summer, which was enjoyed by everyone and thanks to Wiltshire Cricket for their support in helping make this happen.

We are so pleased to see so many girls register as junior members and for the first time in our history, Marlborough will field a girls' team next season – a wonderful milestone for the club. The girls are already bringing an energy, enthusiasm and positivity to the club and we are excited to embark on this significant new chapter together.

We also ran the ECB’s All Stars (ages 5-8) and Dynamos (ages 8-11) programme over the summer and will be doing so again in 2025.

Please visit the club website at www.marlboroughcricketclub.co.uk if you’d like to find out more about our junior teams or All Stars and Dynamos.

Off the Field

It’s been busy off the field too, with continued improvements being made to the pavilion, grounds, equipment and facilities. Thanks to all our sponsors, both old and new, for their support of the club.

It has made a huge difference, not only financially, but having the support and enthusiasm of our local businesses helps us continue to grow the club and offerings for our community. Thank you.

We’ve enjoyed several socials during the season too, the highlight of which was our ‘Big Cricket Picnic’. It was wonderful to see the community support for this event. Juniors enjoyed free cricket sessions during the day and enjoyed training with the seniors too. Everyone enjoyed both the on-field cricket and off-field activities, food and entertainment. We aim to run it again in 2025, so do join us!

Don’t forget too that the club is open to all on every match day, and we’d love to welcome you. Bring a picnic or enjoy some hot food from our BBQ. Relax in your favourite camping chair and enjoy the cricket, a drink or two from our pavilion bar or an ice cream, all with beautiful views of the Wessex Downs as the backdrop. It really is a beautiful spot right on your doorstep.

Looking Ahead to 2025

The 2024 season may have come to a close, but we've already started preparing for 2025! It promises to be another exciting season. We'll be adding both boys and girls teams, running All Stars and Dynamos, offering holiday cricket camps, continuing our free cricket in the community sessions, further investing in the club and planning more socials too.

We look forward to welcoming you and wish you all a wonderful off-season. In the meantime, we’d like to finish with some thank you’s.

The Big Thank You!

The Club Committee would like to express our huge thanks to everyone who has played their role during the season - the captains, grounds team, umpires, scorers, administrators, coaches, volunteers, sponsors, parents, supporters and Wiltshire Cricket. We couldn’t run the club successfully without you.

A special shout out goes to our current Chairman, Jamie Tunmore who, after several successful years in the role is passing on the baton. Jamie’s unwavering commitment to the club stands as a shining example to us all. We hope to continue to build on the strong foundations he has laid and a huge thank you goes out to Jamie from everyone at the club.

Thanks also to our friends at Marlborough.News for their support in keeping our community updated with activities on and off the field. It is hugely appreciated.

We want to be at the heart of our community and are always looking for more help to improve our offering. If you’d like to join the team in a playing, volunteering or sponsorship capacity, we’d love to hear from you. Please contact us at marlboroughcc@gmail.com

Here's to next season – we can’t wait!