The purpose of a match manager is to ensure that the match is a success from the logistical perspective. If you have been nominated as the match manager when being selected for a game, please read this text. There are two aspects to good match management.
Preparation
Thanks to the website and the clever availability system, the competitive matches do not require much preparation, as:
- the players are automatically notified when they are selected
- the players are automatically notified what tea offering they need to bring
- umpires are allocated through a separate organisation.
However, for friendly matches and weekends, the preparation is the most important part. If you are match manager for a friendly game, you must prepare several weeks in advance. Some of those preparation tasks are:
- contact opposition and make sure that directions to the ground are known
- begin canvassing likely players in particular for away weekends
- find out if umpires will be available
- for teams visiting for a whole weekend, you will need to organise an evening meal or activity (Schueberfuer, if it's the right time of the year).
- (ball and scorebook can be allocated as a duty for the day on the availability system in the same way as tea offering)
Execution
On the day of a home game, the match manager's main task is not to actually do all the logistical work, but to make sure that all the players contribute in some way or another to setting things up. Some of the tasks on the day are:
- boundary flags
- chairs and benches
- sightscreens
- tea tables
- collect match fee
- fill the urn
- check that the toilet is in order
- stumps and bails
NB: all this has to be put away after, so don't let the players slope off after the game without contibuting in some way to the clear up effort.
Finally, a couple of post-match duties, would be to make sure that the match fee reaches the OCC bank account. Please contact the treasurer for the options here. And to arrange for someone to write a match report and send it promptly to the webmaster.