OTAGO COUNTRY CRICKET AGM 2022. Chairmans Report

It is again my pleasure to present my report on the past year. 

We started off on a positive note with similar funding from NZC and the OCA, employed two coaches to work over the summertime and hit the ground running. Both employed coaches finished up before Christmas for personal reasons which left us a little short on the ground and at the busiest time for us but totally out of our control. This put extra strain on Adrian and Sam who worked manfully to fulfil our requirements. We were again hampered by the dreaded Covid, although not quite the same extent as the previous couple of years. Our last Hawke Cup fixture was abandoned in Timaru because of waterlogged ground when we were reasonably positioned to qualify for a challenge. The last round of games that didn’t involve us were canned because of Covid. 

The highlight of our season was hosting the SIPS tournament in Alex and a huge thanks the orgnanising committee and everyone involved. This is traditionally a well-supported tournament and a springboard for many a cricketing career. It's a shame that the tournament with such a long history will undergo a major change in the coming season with a move to more localised festivals rather than a South Island wide format. 

Our playing numbers continued to increase with 2,784 registered participants, up 93 from the previous year. We maintained 17 adult traditional cricket teams across our association. We continue to be well represented at tournaments/festivals across the region and again well represented at Otago rep age group level. Congratulations to all those that achieved higher honors in the season past with a special mention of Eden Carson who gained international promotion to the White Ferns. 

White Ferns. Eden Carson  
Otago Sparks. Eden Carson, Caitlin Blakely, Paige Loggenberg  
NZ Under 19s. Paige Loggenberg  
Otago A. Cameron Jackson, Taylor Cumberland 
Otago Under 19s. Thomas O’Connor, Toby Hart  
Otago Under 19s Women. Paige Loggenberg, Caitlin Scherp  
Abby Fookes (Squad), Ella Gibson (Squad), Hannah O’Connor (Squad)  
Lucy Viggers (Squad), Sorcha Wilkinson (Squad)  
Otago Under 17s.  
Mason Clarke, Mika Tait, Hugo Bogue  
Emerging Volts & Sparks Squad (2022/23) 
Volts:  
Mason Clarke, Hugo Bogue, Thomas O’Connor, Toby Hart  
Sparks:  
Abby Fookes, Caitlin Scherp, Hannah O’Connor. 

Many congratulations to Gihan Fernando who was named Community Coach of the Year at the 2021/22 OCA Awards. 

Also at the awards were Dave Cummings awarded the George Clement Morris Match Official of the Year and Francis Parker named Volunteer of the Year. 
Congratulations as well to Emma Campbell for being selected as an aspiring coach, taking part in the NZC led programs. 

In May Malcolm Jones was awarded the John Fitzharris Memorial Trophy for Services to Sport at the Central Otago Sports Awards. 

Huge congratulations to all the above for your contributions, especially for Otago Country Cricket. Your input has always been outstanding in what are generally volunteer roles. 

I want to repeat again my thanks to all those volunteer coaches that work tirelessly for our association. The mums, dads, brothers and sisters, grandparents etc who coach, umpire, score, manage, support, and transport our youngsters to cricket very week, whether it be for practises or games. You guys are the real heroes, and our association is indebted to you for your contributions. 

Thanks also to Guy McCone and his Delta team at Molyneux Park, to Andrew Douglas and his Delta team at the Events Centre in Queenstown, Al McKnight at Oturehua and the team at Cromwell for the presentation of our grass cricket blocks and grounds in Central Otago. We are absolutely spoilt. A special thanks must go out to the Central Otago District Council and the Queenstown Lakes District Council for their help over the past 12 months. Your help and assistance is very much appreciated. 

Our financial result is better than expected with a challenging past season, again due to Covid. That aside it seems as though things are picking up on the gaming funding and sponsorship fronts, so hopefully we see the benefit in the coming 12 months. 

The board have some challenges going forward but I am confident that Lindsay Breen, Don Jackson, Shayne O’Connor, Anna McKay, Jon Lovelock, Mark Shepherd, and Geoff Blakely will carry on with the commitment and passion they have shown already to move the association to the next level. Our board has had some changes in personnel with Melanie Mills, Lauren Shaw and Tim McCormick all resigning off the board at various times in the last few months. The time and contributions from all have been invaluable and much appreciated. There are some gaps to be filled. We have also seen the pending resignation of our District Manager, Adrian Morgan. What a major asset this guy has been to OCCA, and his loss will be telling. Adrian is leaving to pursue business opportunities and I wish him and Clare all the very best in their endeavours. Last Friday, Sam Bastin rang me to say he had handed in his resignation to Otago Cricket, effective from the middle of next month. Sam has been with us for three years and fitted into our organisation very well. Sam has made some good connections and introduced some new programs and will be missed round the traps. Sam has plans to become a primary teacher and we wish him well going forward. 

Georgette Moyle has signed the contract to take over our District Manager role, she will be based in Wanaka and will attend her first AGM tomorrow while Otago Cricket have advertised Sam's role already and our hope is the position will be filled asap. Our Summer Activator role has been filled by Berber Swart who will be based in Queenstown. She is due to start on the 19th of September.  

During the season we lost two friends of the association with the passing of 1st Class and Test umpire Chris King and long serving manager, umpire, groundsman and supporter, Barry Becker. Chris lived in Queenstown for a number of years and was a member of our umpires association. Barry was just one of life's good buggers. Nothing was ever a problem and filled many a role in our organisation. He was manager of the Hawke Cup side through the late 86-87 till 95-96, arguably our most successful playing era. RIP to them both.

As this is my final Annual Report for Otago Country after 41 years involvement with the association, 17 years on the Board, 16 years as Chairman, I want to say it has been an absolute pleasure to have represented this organisation. From my first involvement as Hawke Cup team scorer in 1981, I was taken by the friendly and supportive nature of everyone involved and have tried hard to maintain that friendly spirit throughout my involvement. I have made a heap of lifelong friends along the way. I will continue to follow your fortunes, there is only one Otago Country Cricket Association. Best of luck for the future.

Cheers, Jonesy 

Malcolm Jones, 
Chairman, Otago Country Cricket Association. 
14th September 2022.