Cricket

Convenor: Lee Slater | Article by: Christian Stobbs

After a two-year hiatus, the sound of leather on willow in a competitive fixture is finally nearing. With the introduction of the rule of 30 for team sports in March, we will begin league cricket again in April. At the time of writing, the first fixture had not yet been played, but there is certainly a palpable sense of excitement in the Section about the return of competitive action. Our thanks to Dene Border and the Club for navigating the many complexities of obtaining approval from SportSG for the Padang and Dempsey to be designated ‘approved’ sports facilities within the rule of 30 protocols. The effort, thought and form-filling required to achieve this should not be underestimated. At the start of the year, we resumed our ‘Padang Pairs’ tournament and dusted off the inevitable mould from kit bags after a fallow period of onfield activity. The innovative format whereby players bat in pairs and are deducted runs at the fall of a wicket – rather than suffer a forlorn trudge back to the pavilion – encourages batsmen to act with a little more impunity than usual. Think boundary clearance, rather than tactical nudges. So far this year, the tournament has seen some 100+ Members of the Section out on the turf at Dempsey or the Padang. Elsewhere, we held our AGM in February. As every democratic institution should pride itself on, the transparency and debate on these occasions is a fine example of a Section in rude health. Certainly the Section’s coffers are well filled after two years of limited action and we look forward to investing in the Section in 2022. At the AGM, we bid farewell – and much thanks – to our outgoing Convenor, Suresh Kalpathy, who has nobly served the Section for the past three years. His parting endeavour was the launch of a new Cricket Academy, an independent entity supported by the Club to develop junior cricket in Singapore. This is an exciting development led by David Bennett which will be a boon to grassroots cricket on the island. Section Members David Bennett, Dene Border, Suresh Kalpathy, Krishna Prasad, Ash Raivadera and Lee Slater will serve as Board Members of the Cricket Academy in 2022. We also elected a new Committee made up of Lee Slater (Convenor), Dene Border (Captain of Cricket), Christian Stobbs (Secretary), Hasan Jafri (Treasurer), Harry Taylor (Tours & Fixtures Secretary), Sandeep Uberoi (Social Secretary), Sai Pogaru (JSM Representative) and Krishna Natarajan (Sat XI Representative). The committee met shortly after the AGM and set out their priorities for the year. These include: • Getting the Section playing cricket as much as we can • Maintaining the momentum instilled in the Section by departing

Director of Cricket, Scott Mckechnie • Restarting cricket tours (the first one, to Kuala Lumpur, will be in June) • Bringing back the T15 morning league • Launching new initiatives for ladies cricket • Introducing more charitable endeavours of the Section • Revitalising our social media activity There is much to be optimistic about as play resumes in 2022. Our thanks to all at the Club for their unwavering support. We look forward to the sound of leather on willow echoing regularly around the hallowed auditorium of the Padang.