Dear Parents,

On behalf of the Junior Committee and all the age group managers we want to thank you for making 2022 another very successful and enjoyable cricket season at PNCC. This season the weather was definitely on the side of cricket, with very few matches being cancelled in stark contrast to 2021.

As has become a custom our junior teams continue to be successful which we hope bodes well for the future of cricket at Nomads.

It’s been great to see so many people at the Wednesday and Friday night training sessions, not just watching your children train but enjoying the bar and food. When the sun is shining its a wonderful place to be. All that hard work at training meant that we saw nearly 200 juniors participate in League, Cup and Festival matches, with many joining the adults in the senior teams. Also our emerging and successful Ladies team is providing an excellent platform for Nomads girls to progress onto.

So in the words of the managers this is what happened in junior cricket in 2022 at Nomads:-

U9s
A great season for our U9s, we’re a pretty young team, a mixture of U7/8/9s and a few U10s here and there, we’ve had our share of wins and losses but overall we’ve all had a fun time and played some great cricket.
David Dale

U10s
Onwards and upwards: the u10s had 26 players represent the club this season. In the Saturday league we won all but one match with some close games including a thrilling last ball victory against St Andrew’s. In the u11 Sussex Shield the boys had their first experience of “formal” hard ball cricket and performed creditably including a win against Seaford.
Adam Rowland and George Close-Brooks

U11s
An amazing season winning 9 out of 10 league matches, and only missing out on the festival final by half a point. Huge progress has been made, and if we can continue this, next season can be even better!
Ralph Scrase

U11 Girls.
A season that ended with only 1 defeat showed that the determination of all the players to improve during the summer would elicit positive results. Well done girls.
Simon Murie

U12s
Looking back at the season I am extremely proud of the dedication, commitment and aptitude the boy’s have expressed. Fielding two teams every week and finishing the league table in strong positions gives me enormous pride and confidence moving forward to next season. Thank you to all the coaching staff, scorers and dedicated support throughout the season.
Peter Forsythe

U13s
Incredible season for the U13’s 3 trophies won, the league the plate and the Sussex ECB cup. A lot of fun had .
Phil Standen

U13 Girls
We are fortunate to have a very talented group of U13 players who really enjoy their cricket at Nomads. The girls played 6, won 4 lost 2 (but conceded 3 due to availability). Finished 4th in the league. This group will move up to U15s and to adult cricket in 2023.
Rupert Corney

U14s
26 U14 players playing the beautiful game of cricket this year; we came second in the League and 9th in the Festival. 4 squad members represented Sussex, several knocking on the door! Year highlight was Rudy Northcott’s ton in the Festival.
Tom Hutchinson

U15s
Fantastic season the U15s winning the ECB T20 county cup – and very narrowly losing regional tie to the eventual winners Wimbledon – and winning the league with 2 games to spare.
Rob Kusel

U16s
Starting our truncated season after the end of GCSEs, we won the 3 games we played and finished the league in second place. Most games were conceding by the opposition. We had availability issues during the Festival and our team was predominately 15s and under We still managed to finish mid table.
Individual achievements of note were a century each in the festival for Archie Eaton and Fin Coburn, and 51 NO in 20 balls for Joe Musto in a league game at Scaynes Hill. Thanks to Rob K for his help throughout the season.
Julian Musto

U18s
With no U18 League we looked forward to regaining our 2020 Festival title. Unfortunately we didn’t manage that but we had some great performances and the team enjoyed their cricket. We’ll be back in 2023.
Kash Ibrahim

THE EVENTS:
As ever Nav’s cricket camps were very successful. We ran four this year starting in the Easter holidays. There were at least 30 children participating each day and during the first August camp we averaged 60 children a day. They came from all over and for some of them it was their first introduction to cricket. They all benefited from Nomads expert coaching led by Nav Patel and supported by Dan B from the First XI plus Mal Short and several of our U18s. The feedback was extremely positive and we aim to repeat those 4 camps in 2023, again starting in the Easter Holidays.

Both the Funday and the End of Season Celebration were well attended and enjoyed by all. The Funday raffle was again very popular and we had some brilliant prizes donated. Amongst the top prizes were a hand crafted bat and a complete bat refurbishment by our own Dan Birrel.

The proceeds from these events contribute to the upkeep and running costs of the club and its facilities. The new nets being a good example and something that all juniors benefited from this season.

PLAYING SHIRTS
This year all players received a playing shirt which is for the duration of two seasons reflecting the tenure of the new Club sponsor. For the 2023 season each player will receive a piece of training kit. This will be decided by the Board and communicated to you later in the year.

SECOND HAND KIT and EQUIPMENT:
We did try to run a ‘second hand shop’ this year, but the donations were sparse. We will try again next year, so please keep anything that your children have outgrown or no longer need that you can donate. Arrangements for dropping off etc will be communicated nearer the time.

SAFEGUARDING:
We appreciate everyone’s help on filing in the ‘in /out’ sheets at training. Although cumbersome it is required. A reminder that Andy Smith is the safeguarding lead, supported by Zuni Ibrahim.
A copy of the Junior Cricket Policy can be found on the club’s website.

THANK YOU:
As well as thanking you all for bringing your children to the club and for supporting them and to the parents who coach and manage teams, we’d like to thank Phil Brown and Maggie for managing the bar and Jan and Sam for Friday suppers.

A particular big thank you goes to Nav Patel for his excellent guidance and coaching of all the juniors from U8 to U18s over the last few years. Sadly Nav is stepping down as Director of Junior Cricket, but will remain Captain of the First XI and is still available for 1-1 coaching.

Our next communication will be early 2023 with the dates for the Winter nets, information re signing up, subs and the social events that we are planning.

As ever with a club like Nomads it is run by volunteers. If you can help in any way please contact the PNCC Chair, Paul Hird, paul-hird@outlook.com

With thanks,
The Junior Committee.
Huw Cahill, Rosalind Eaton, Ralph Scrase.