New Year Newsletter

I hope everyone has had a great Christmas, brightened a little by the result in Melbourne. With junior registration for 2026 well advanced (see Junior Registration for 2026) and less than 2 weeks until the first indoor training sessions of the New Year, here’s a quick update on some changes in personnel for the coming season, and on plans for 2026 ... 

Senior captains

First, there are a few changes amongst the senior captains. Tim Velstra will not be returning to us for a third season and Ben Stefanik is stepping up to become the new men’s 2nd XI captain.  Ranald Schulz will be his vice-captain.  There is also a changing of the guard with the 3rd XI, as Keith Hemshall is stepping down as captain, to be replaced by Chris Lewis.  Ed Allen will become the new vice-captain in place of John Prior. 

We will also have a new women’s captain, with Helen Mansell taking over from Lucy Horitz.  The women will be fielding both hardball and softball teams in the coming year and Helen will be captaining both, though the demands on her are such that others may well be called on from time to time.

Overseas players and coaching team

In place of Tim Velstra and Varun Garg (who has decided against a second summer at Blackheath), we will be recruiting two new overseas players for 2026, not just to maintain our playing strength but also to form part of our coaching team.  The recruitment process is already well underway and I hope to have news on this early in the New Year.

In the coming season we will also for the first time be recruiting a female overseas player.  We anticipate that whoever we recruit will play for one of the men’s teams on Saturdays as well as for the women.  Again, a key part of her role will also be to strengthen our coaching team, especially for our expanding girls’ section. 

Overall, the coaching team will have a slightly different look to it.  After more years than he cares to remember coaching numerous boys’ squads up to U15 level, Chris Poil will in 2026 be focusing on the senior coaching, whilst also running an U17 team which will play a few matches post-GCSEs (there will also be an U19s team).  Similarly, Sharon Eyers and Clair Slaney will be focusing principally on coaching our women’s squad and older girls.  This means that all our junior coaching up to the U15 age groups will for the first time be under the supervision of Danny and Ronny Harrison and their team of young player coaches.  Aside from the 3 new overseas players, that team will also include several more of our own young players, who have completed coaching courses over the past few months.

Winter and summer training programs

As already mentioned, for some squads the start of the new winter training program is now less than 2 weeks away.  You can sign up for the relevant training sessions under What’s Coming Up on the home page of the website (just click on the relevant session for further details and cost).  You will see that there are a few changes to last year’s arrangements:

• The U8/U9 boys and girls will all be training at Longacre School on Friday evenings from 5.30-6.30pm, starting on Friday 9 January.

• The U10-U13 boys and girls will all be training at Cranleigh School on Friday evenings from 7pm-8.30pm, also starting on Friday 9 January.

• The men and U14/U15 boys will be training at Cranleigh School on Sunday mornings from 10-11.30am, starting on Sunday 11 January.

• The women and U14/U15 girls will be training at Tormead School on Thursday evenings from 7.30-9pm, starting on Thursday 15 January.

The summer training program is planned to be very similar to the 2025 program.  Men (including older boys) will train on Wednesday evenings; women and girls on Thursday evenings; and minis and boys on Friday evenings – for precise timings, see the website.  The first women and girls’ session will be on Thursday 16 April and the first minis and boys’ session on Friday 17 April.  The first Men’s outdoor session is likely to be a week or two earlier (weather permitting).

State school program

Following the pilot scheme we ran last summer, we’ll be running an expanded state school program in 2026.  The program is intended to increase the proportion of state school kids at the club as well to encourage the development of cricket in local state schools generally.  It will involve providing free professional coaching within the school timetable in several local state schools, including both our closest primary schools, Tillingbourne and Wonersh & Shamley Green, as well as offering free places on our winter training programs (space permitting).

The program is funded by donations, separately from the club’s general income and expenditure.  If you would like to contribute to this, please get in touch with me at nharrison@serlecourt.co.uk.

Replacement of artificial nets

The quality of the three artificial nets at the club has been an issue for several years and the committee has now decided that they will be replaced with a new 3-bay system constructed to ECB-approved standards.  However, this is a major project which will require various permissions (as well as a lot of fundraising) and it will not be practicable for the new nets to be installed until next winter.  Pending this, the existing nets will be refurbished for one more season and we will make greater use of grass nets.

Fundraising ball

Although we anticipate that a substantial proportion of the cost of the new nets will be grant funded, we expect the club to have to have to raise a major contribution itself.  To this end, there will be another fundraising ball this summer, along the lines of those held in past years.  This will be on Saturday 13 June, so please put the date in your diaries.  Further details and requests for help of various kinds from members will follow in due course.

In the meantime, a very happy New Year to everyone and I look forward to catching up with many of you over the coming weeks.

Nick Harrison