The first thing to say is that we were unable to have an AGM or presentation night in 2020 due to the coronavirus. No trophies were presented for the first time since the Second World War.
There was a Secretary’s report published on the website for 2020 and a copy is with the AGM minutes. Officials remained in position for 2 years and together with Elza and her staff were instrumental in managing the Club through a challenging period due to the covid crisis.
Had the pandemic happened 5 years earlier when the Club had no savings it could have been more serious. Over the last 2 years since the 2019 AGM the Club was completely locked down for around 8 months. It was also affected by restricted openings, cancellations and restricted numbers.
However, successful bar and financial management by the officials and staff enabled us to avoid the financial problems of the closures. This included many plans and work to cope with the new guidelines when the Clubhouse was allowed to open. The obtaining of government grants and a business interruption insurance claim enabled the Club to avoid any losses over the period. The Club remains in a strong financial position thanks to the officials, manager and staff.
Many plans were affected with the cancellation of events such as the marquee ball and suggested celebrations of the 150 years of the Club, 25 years of the new Clubhouse and 20 years since Norman was awarded his MBE for services to cricket. Hopefully things will get back to normal for these kind of events soon.
Sadly, during the last year some of our regular supporters have passed away with the loss of Jack England, Mary Wood and Rob Morris and a popular ex player Steve Wilson. All sadly missed.

On the playing side, the York Senior League were able to organise a full season of cricket in 2021 following a restricted 8 match season in 2020.
A disappointing season for the 1st team with relegation to the YSL division 1. It is fair to say that the batting struggled to get going and too many times low scores led to quite heavy defeats. In 2020 the team could only play 8 matches but won 7 of them to finish joint top of the reduced league programme. This year produced only 2 wins.
There were centuries for Oscar Sugden and Guy Richardson and the best partnership was 151 between Oscar and Neil Foster. Ben Lamb was highest wicket taker while the evergreen Dave England won the bowling trophy. The best bowling performances were Richard Mann’s 6 for 58 and youngster Thomas Marritt took 5 for 52 for the 1sts against Pickering.

The 2nd team had a reasonable season with 8 wins and finished in 7th place in division 3. The stand out performances came from father and son Simon and Thomas Franks with over 700 runs between them. Thomas scoring 375 and Simon 333. Thomas’s best innings being 82 n.o.
Best bowling came from Thomas Marritt with 25 wickets including 4 for 10 against Carlton. Best individual performance was 7 for 18 for Kev Murphy against Acomb.

Goole’s Sunday 3rd team achieved a creditable 6th place with 8 wins and a tie. Thomas Franks was star batsman for the 3rds as well as the 2nds with over 400 runs.
Edward Hasdell and Calum Woodcock scored over 200. Antony Gibbins’s 83 was the highest score while for the juniors Thomas’s 66 v Sutton was highest individual score with Calum 64 n.o. V Drax and Harjit Singh scored 63. This came in a partnership of 137 with Thomas Franks in the September match V Carlton.
Oliver Chappell was the highest wicket taker with 23 while Thomas Marritt had 20 and Thomas franks 17. Oliver’s best performance was 5 for 24 while Harjit Singh took 5 for just 6 runs against Hull Zingari. The best game was a tie with Welton with both teams 99 all out.

So, disappointment for the 1st team but more success for the juniors with some fine performances and good progress being made. Thomas Franks and Thomas Marritt shared 9 of the senior trophies between them. All details of matches and performances can be found on the Club’s and the Leagues websites.
The Club remains a focus club and renewed its Clubmark status this year.

It just remains to say thanks to Neil, Stewart, Steve, Simon, Antony and the rest of the committee for help in a quite exceptional set of circumstances. Also to Elza and her staff who had to cope with all the new ways of working and new guidelines. Thanks to all those who helped with teas, scoring and umpiring and getting games played. A very demanding and strange couple of years. My thanks to all.

David Caldicott
Secretary
Goole Town Cricket Club