Optimists Cricket Club News story


Message from the Selection Committee

09 Jun 2015


For many years this Committee has been badly named. Its main role had become to run around trying to find and persuade players to play so that the Club could fulfil its fixtures. This was not a fun task but we are very happy to say that this is no longer the case and now the Committee is faced with the difficult but enjoyable task of ‘selecting’ teams from a growing list of available and keen players. This turnaround is due to the hard work of many people but mostly due to the enthusiasm of new players having joined the club which itself has triggered a new wave of effort and energy from the more established players. This is most visible every Tuesday and Thursday evenings at training sessions when the growing numbers have made the job of coaches also more fun and rewarding. We would like to thank all players for making this effort and therefore re-creating the true role of the ‘Selection Committee’.

 

This coming weekend is an important one. Our first team plays away at Brugge CC in the second game of our Belgian League Division 2 campaign. Due to the strength of our playing community, and following on from our first win at Hasselt CC, we have had to think long and hard about what is the best team to select as we clearly have ambitions for promotion this season. A second away win would put us in a very strong position with 4 home games yet to come. For those that don’t know, the Selection Committee comprises of 3 people – 1st team captain Will Heath; Club Captain Timmy Andrews and lead Coach Graham Cope. The Committee tries to be involved in or watch every match and training session in order to make the decisions in the most informed way we can. From this, we discuss in detail on Tuesday evenings the list of available players, and make selection decisions. For this weekend, we believe we have picked a very strong 12, and many others were considered. These 12 players represent our wider club and we wish them well for Sunday. You can see the selected 12 under Teamsheets.

To show our support for the team, for the first time (possibly) ever, we are considering taking supporters on our trip to Brugge in cars or a mini-bus. If you are interested to take the trip, please contact Graham Cope directly. It will be a long day, but your support would be welcomed. If you can’t join us, score updates will be posted on our facebook page.

Lastly, we are lucky to have a full and varied fixture list (thanks to Richie Neale) that gives the opportunity for many players to play. The Selection Committee also knows it has a duty to ensure players get games and we saw this last weekend against Deutsche Welle CC with a large number of players playing across the two days. Let’s all keep this positive momentum going together.