I’m sure many of you would have seen the brilliant news last week that the UK Government has given the green light for recreational cricket in England to return from Saturday.

To celebrate we’ve got an action-packed weekend planned for you at Graburn Way

Friday – There has been a wonderful atmosphere down at the club over the last few Friday evenings. A bit of drizzle last Friday didn’t stop our U10 & U11 boys from practicing hard. Neither did it dampen the spirits of those of us enjoying a drink from the bar alongside delicious ‘Fish n Chips’ from our friends at ‘The Frying Squad’. This Friday (tomorrow!) will be even better… Dale and Jo from ‘Miss Polly – Riverside’ (coming soon!) will be operating a pop-up food stand serving Bratwurst, Sauerkraut & all the trimmings with hot dogs for the kids. With the sun due to be shining, Dale & Jo have also arranged an outside DJ allowing everyone to stay entertained whilst being outside & socially distant. See you on Friday evening from 5pm!

Saturday – Cricket cricket cricket. We have a busy schedule planned starting with our U5s & U8 boys in the morning followed by back-to-back senior fixtures (12pm - 1st XI 40 over game vs Ashtead & 5:30pm – 3rd XI 20 over game vs Twickenham). If cricket alone wasn’t enough to entice you down to the ground, then ‘The Frying Squad’ are back by popular demand and they will be serving up ‘Fish n Chips’ from 3pm! In addition to the two home fixtures we have three other senior fixtures being held at away venues. Fielding five XI’s at such short notice is a remarkable effort and shows what is achievable when our older juniors combine with our senior section.

Sunday – Following the usual junior training schedule in the morning (9am – 11:30am) some of our juniors will also have their first opportunity to play games on the main square. There will be back to back interclub fixtures all day from 1pm to 9am for our U10 (1pm), U11 (3.30pm) & U12-U13 (6pm). The BBQ will be fired up… the forecast is great…. Howzat!

Junior cricket update

Since Jamie announced the start of our small group training program last month it has been an absolute joy to see our young cricketers back at Graburn Way having so much fun. Thank you so much to all our volunteer coaches who have given their time to make this possible.

Our aim for the remainder of the summer is to provide as much cricket as possible for everyone of our playing members. Where possible, this will include organising fixtures (inter-club & nearby clubs) alongside our coaching program which will continue until the end of August. Jamie is already working with our team of volunteer age group managers to put a plan in place to arrange fixtures so please bear with us!

Keeping everyone safe

Whilst it’s incredibly exciting to finally see the return of cricket at Graburn Way it’s critical that we all do our best to protect each other and that we all enjoy our time at the club responsibly in accordance with the latest UK government concerning social distancing. The club will be putting all the possible measures in place to make the club as safe as possible, but we ask all visitors to Graburn Way to adhere to consider the following before, during & after their visit to EMCC.

Do not come to the club if you or an individual in your household is symptomatic with a possible COVID19 infection.
Wash hands thoroughly before leaving home. Bring your own hand sanitiser and maintain strict and frequent hand hygiene measures.
Remain socially distanced at all times and refrain from all contact with cricket balls e.g. returning it to the field of play.
In the event of rain, please seek shelter under trees or in your own vehicle.

I very much look forward to seeing many of you down at the club over the weekend and for the remainder of the summer.

Thanks

Sam