By David Fox
The 2024 cricket season can’t come quickly enough for Broadstairs Cricket Club as they look to build upon what was an outstanding 2023 and subsequent indoor cricket campaign.
Having achieved promotion to the Championship last season, the indoor side took over during the winter months, remaining unbeaten through the Thanet League matches and subsequent County and Regional Finals.
This culminated in the National Final of the ECB Indoor Competition at Lord’s on March 17th. After a series of near misses at the same stage in the last ten years, Broadstairs were finally able to remain calm and composed when the pressure was on and were victorious, beating Dorset’s Ferndown Wayfarers in the National Final to win the tournament for the first time in 26 years.
The club is hoping to keep that winning feeling going as they embark on the start of the outdoor season, returning to the 2nd tier of Kent League cricket after a four-year absence. The curtain-raiser sees them travel to Dartford on Saturday 11th May with the first home league match on Saturday 18th May against Beckenham CC.
The full fixture list (including pre- season friendlies) can be found on the club website https://www.broadstairscricketclub.co.uk/blog/fixture-list-for-2024
In his second full season as skipper, Matt Hardy can look forward to fielding a strong and settled side and building on last season’s success, there’s every reason to be optimistic about how the team will perform at the higher level.
The 2nd XI begin their 2024 league campaign in Division 7 Hurricane, with a home fixture on 11th May against Westgate-on-Sea. Team captain Andy Marshall and vice-captain Callum McCormick will be searching for the perfect mix of experienced club players with group of talented youngsters who have recently transitioned from junior cricket into the adult game.
The Sunday XI programme of fixtures begins on 2nd June and continues through to late September. Full details on the website.
Following another successful junior programme last year, the club will be stepping-up the focus on junior cricket. Over the years, the junior section has been the lifeblood of the club with the vast majority of recent additions to the senior teams having previously been junior club players.
Recognising the critical role of investing in youth cricket, the club has appointed Chris Kidd to a Junior Head Coach role. Chris brings many years of playing and coaching experience and working alongside Kevan Skelton and Gareth Palmer in a re-vamped junior section, he will help players achieve an enhanced level of performance and promote a structure and a culture of continuous improvement across the training programmes.
For more details, see https://www.broadstairscricketclub.co.uk/blog/broadstairs-cc-2024-junior-programme
In addition to U11, U13 and U15 squads, the club will run softball sessions on Saturday mornings from May. The first of these will be on 4th May – this will be an open, free taster session and a chance for parents and players to meet the coaches. Full details can be found at https://www.broadstairscricketclub.co.uk/pages/all-stars
