The 2003/2004 season was another outstanding success at The Willows, fostering those ideals which we hold dear in playing the “greatest game of all”.
I first must pay tribute to my predecessor John Mitchell. John was the founding president of the club and his dedication, determination and passion, both for cricket and youth were major contributing factors in the early success of The Willows. His efforts were also responsible for the strong position the club finds itself in today.
The second half of the season was unfortunately hampered by inclement weather, but there were many titanic struggles at the ground over the course of the season. The club is grateful to Vincent Cusack and Peter Devlin for their sterling work at the ground. Week in week out the ground was presented immaculately. The runs scored testify to the quality of the wicket. I must also pay tribute to the weekly work of Peter Nancarrow in his role as match manager and organizer, assisted by the ground staff.
The membership position remains strong, and we are fortunate to have so many fine young cricketers amongst that membership list. There are plenty of youngsters coming through to replace those of us who Mike increasingly refers to as “the geriatrics”. The club and the ground remains under pressure from the large number of games played and we are constantly receiving requests from schools and clubs to obtain a fixture at The Willows. lt is clearly one of the most sought after fixtures in New Zealand cricket.
We congratulate club members Chris Harris for his return to the Black Caps and Peter Fulton on his selection for New Zealand A. We are grateful to New Zealand Cricket, Canterbury Cricket and Canterbury Country Cricket for their continuing support, as we have a strong relationship with them. Their CEO’s have played at The Willows in the course of the season. I am sure all club members have revelled in the success of the Black Caps and the obvious gains that have been achieved through the activities of the high performance centre at Lincoln.
A notable feature of t h e season was the weekend of the 2nd of April. On the Friday evening The Willows hosted a highly successful charity dinner for the Mark Parker Trust. A substantial sum was raised for the trust which was created in memory of the son of club member Murray Parker who was tragically killed in Bali. On the Sunday of that weekend a team representing the best young players from The Willows, captained by Rod Latham, played a team captain by Gavin Larsen consisting of a number of well known New Zealand cricketers, including Chris Cairns, Ewen Chatfield, Martin Snedden and others. All of the team, with the exception of Mark Parker’s brother Tim, were former New Zealand representatives. This may not be a first in New Zealand cricket, but it is certainly a unique event at The Willows, which was well received by the youngsters who were fortunate enough to play in the game as well as by club members.
The club continues to foster strong relationships overseas, and once more we were able to send two young players to play in the Durham League. They were Nick d'Auvergne and Paul O’Donnell. We are grateful to Sir Hugh and Lady Blackett for making this possible. We continue to investigate a possible exchange programme with the All India Cricket Club in Mumbai, and the possibility of arranging some form of cricket scholarship at Cambridge. We are fortunate to have the continued support of many persons well placed in cricket overseas who admire what the club has achieved and the concepts it stands for.
I thank the Secretary, Treasurer and Committee for their dedication and hard work behind the scenes over the past season.
I must close by revealing that there has been a dispute between your President and the assistant “groundsman” as to when the season officially ended. At the time of writing Mr Dormer was taking legal advice!