Jubilee pavilion undergoes major work

We are delighted to announce that the £480,000 refurbishment of the Jubilee pavilion is now underway and expected to be completed in time for the start of the 2009 season.

The work started at the beginning of November and involves a complete renovation and extension of the building. For the first time since the 1960s the entire pavilion will be available for use.

The main change is that the entrance will be through the middle of the downstairs (where the umpires' room was) into a hall with new dressing-rooms leading off it. Upstairs is accessed by internal stairs into a landing with doors leading onto the balcony ahead. To the right the existing dining room will become a club room, while the other side will be converted into a big dining room. Partition doors will allow the dining area to be extended into the landing.

The stairs leading to the balcony at either end downstairs will be removed, meaning access will come via the building. The wooden balustrade, which has been at an inconvenient height ever since the dreadful 1988 refurbishment, will be replaced by glass. It promises to be spectacular.

The pavilion was built by the OCs in 1924 as a memorial to those who fell in the Great War, something that has been increasingly overlooked. This aspect is being restored with the building becoming a memorial to all Cranleighans who have died in wars. Honours boards will form a stunning part of the upstairs landing.

Outside there are plans being discussed to improve the landscaping between the pavilion and the main drive.

The work so far has been made possible by a remarkable donation of £300,000 from the Old Cranleighans. However, we still need to raise £180,000 to make this possible and the OCCC are embarking on a major fund-raising exercise starting now so that we can enjoy our amazing new cricket home in time for next season.

Janmohamed gets engaged

After months after resistance Abeed Janmohamed has finally done the decent thing and proposed to the long-suffering Alex. He continues to display misplaced bravado (when not at home) by insisting that the wedding will not clash with any cricket, especially the Ashes, and that where and when the wedding takes place is entirely within his control.

Janmohamed was recently re-elected as Weybridge captain after leading them to promotion into the Surrey Championship Premier. Despite this success, he still needs to prove himself in Cranleigh-related cricket where he failed to reach three figures for the School, the OCs or the Village. Those who bet he would get married before he managed to reach a hundred only have one more season to sweat.

OCs take on School inTwenty20 contest

It might not be to the liking of purists, but the OC-School match on Speech Day in 2009 will be a Twenty20 contest with both sides likely to be in coloured kit. To mutterings of “over my dead body” from the club’s leading wicket-taker, the move was approved at the AGM and was warmly received by those members of the School XI present. Given the dismal performances at the Sarasota Sixes, practice will be needed by the OCs.

The more traditional all-day game will still be played a week later, the last match of the School’s short end-of-term festival on the Friday before the OC cricket week. With plans for a veterans match against Hambledon on the Saturday being looked at, it will extend the week to ten days.

McDermott bows out in style

The Annual General Meeting of the OCCC attracted a record turnout, lured by the generous provision of wine by the Headmaster, the excellent surroundings of the School and a superb dinner to honour the retiring president, John McDermott.

The AGM in the reading room was a lively affair in which the following was agreed (the full minutes will be available as a download soon).

Eds Copleston replaces Henry Watkinson as captain and David Bugge replaces McDermott as president. The rest of the committee remains unaltered.

The club will withdraw from the Cricket World Trophy as it was almost unanimously agreed that participating in two cup competitions was commiting us to too many matches which clash with the club games which have to remain the essence of the OCCC. As part of a much longer debate, it was generally agreed that while 2008 had been a great success in terms of the Cricketer Cup, the other games had fallen by the wayside and in 2009 a priority was to make sure that the balance was restored.

The only change to the 209 fixtures was that Kings Canterbury Old Boys, who failed to honour their cricket week fixture, would be replaced. The match against the School on Speech Day would be a Twenty20 game with the more traditional all-day fixture starting the cricket week on the first Friday after the end of term.

As thoughts turn to the 2009 season, our chairman addressed the AGM on the subject of teas. "We've had some OC girls in the past who've been prepared to do it for cash during the summer," he warbled.


A super dinner in Hall then followed during which Watkinson made presentations to Rick Johnson, Martin Williamson, Heather Dean and McDermott; McDermott then followed with a typically acerbic and amusing speech, and, realising that as outgoing president this was his last chance to settle scores, then made a second speech after the main course.

Waters excels on international stage

A remarkable fortnight for Seren Waters who made his national debut for Kenya in the Intercontinental Cup match against Ireland in Nairobi and followed with his full ODI debut a week later.

Against Ireland, Waters made 18 and 75 opening the innings, the latter described as being an innings of tremendous maturity which outshone efforts by many of his more senior colleagues. His second-innings effort was the highest by an OC in first-class cricket

He then scored 41 on his ODI debut, followed with 20 against Zimbabwe. In the two-match series in South Africa, he made 15 and finished with an excellent 74, more than double the next best by his team-mates.

Waters captained the school last summer and scored more than 900 runs, as well as playing some vital innings for Old Cranleighans, including a battling 68 in the Cricketer Cup final. He has played for various Surrey age groups and last summer played his club cricket for Weybridge in Surrey, a side captain by Kenya reject Abeed Janmohamed.

Click here for the Cricinfo report and here for Cricinfo’s profile of Seren.