Nottinghamshire AGM 2019

c/o JAG

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club AGM

Tuesday 26 February 2019 at County Hall

The top table consisted of Richard Tennant, Lisa Pursehouse, Bill Taylor, Paul Ellis, & Mick Newell.

Matters arising from the minutes last year :-

 What had happened to the proposal to offer Steve Birks a Testimonial match. LP confirmed that it had been offered to Steve Birks and he turned the offer down.

Chairman’s Report Richard Tennant

 The team was in transition and there had been a very disappointing finale, despite reaching two white ball quarter finals. The team required some new faces, and this led to four players leaving.

 The staging of three major matches at Trent Bridge in 2018 brought great success for the club, with a full ground for the two ODI’s.

 Off the field, the ECB has announced its strategy for the next five years. The club made a surplus of just over £900,000. Building and maintaining Test Match status requires financing but any future developments would be expensive and require major developments.

 The Radcliffe Road Stand press box extensions opened during the year, and the opening of the new restaurant is imminent, and an International Chef, Tom Sellars has been appointed. The future development areas are William Clarke Stand, the Pavilion and Lady Bay, but all must add incremental revenue and it is currently very difficult to fund any of these future projects.

 Thanks was given to the ongoing ‘Heritage’ work , including the unveiling of the World War I Memorial during  the match versus Yorkshire. The group is led by Steve LeMottee and projects are ongoing to catalogue all the artefacts.

 It was also sad to report the death of the Treasurer, Ray Dawson in April 2018.

Accounts Paul Ellis

 Income from cricket rose by 37%, due to the hosting of two ODI’s and the Test Match. Commercial Income rose by 21%. Grants were down as there were none in 2018. Expenses saw the cricket and academy costs rise by 5%, and both match expenses and catering costs increased due to the staging of an additional ODI.

 The turnover saw Income of £13,000,000 a record for the club, again this was due to the club staging 2 ODI’s and a Test Match in the same year. The budget for the next year is to again have a surplus.

 There then followed a record number of questions about certain aspects of the accounts and how those figures had been derived. There were questions about possible irregularities on the spend on the Radcliffe Road Developments.

Cricket Report  - Mick Newell

 Retaining the team’s place in Division 1 of the County Championship was a bare minimum, but staying in Division 1 is essential to the need to attract new players. Nottinghamshire were top of the table at the start of the season and then it was a real struggle. The squad has been boosted by all four players that Nottinghamshire had tried to sign, and the squad now has a younger feeling, and Paul Coughlin will be like a fifth signing as he hardly played in 2018, due  to injury. As a result Milnes, Root, Fraine and Wessels have decided to move on. Special praise was given to Riki Wessels, but it was agreed to part on agreeable terms.

 Praise was also given to Stuart Broad who has been awarded a Testimonial Year. It is hoped that he will play a lot more for Nottinghamshire in 2019, especially during the first half of the season. Jake Ball was injured during 2018 and he had limited opportunities for England, it is hoped that he will play more in 2019. During the winter four Nottinghamshire players have been involved with the Lions.

 The cricket playing staff will consist of 19 players plus overseas players.

 A decision has been made to reduce the number of players in the academy from 17 or 18 to 11. 5 players from this group have been integrated into the senior squad, namely Chris Gibson from Cornwall, Lyndon James, Solomon Budinger , Jordan Cook and Liam Patterson-White.

 Nick Kimber and Jordan Cook had been selected for England Under 19’s.

 Some former Nottinghamshire players have been recruited by the Nottinghamshire Board to help the youth coaching including David Lucas, Bilal Shafayat, Darren Bicknell, James Hindson and Jamie Hart.

 The Nottinghamshire squad will be undertaking a pre season trip to South Africa in March.

Cricket Report Peter Moores

 One of the aims for the playing staff is to ‘Create Memories’,

 Jack Blatherwick and Lyndon James both debuted from the Academy. Tom Moores did well in his first full season. Good progress was made by Matt Carter.

 But Nottinghamshire had to recruit new players and they have got to settle in quickly. Harry Gurney has had a great experience playing for the Renegades. The players need to be hungry and fit to play for Nottinghamshire.

 The assessment of the 2018 season is that the team must improve their fitness.  He also stated that the running between the wickets and fielding need to improve. This cost the team in both white-ball competitions during the 2018 season.

 Steven Mullaney will be better having been captain for a year and it will be a tremendous boost to have Broad for half of the season

 Members need to have patience before we announce who the overseas player will be.

 Jake Ball is now fit and the club must have more bite in the bowling. We run a small staff, compared to some counties who have 23 or 24 players, but the size of the staff does mean that there will be opportunities for youngsters.  

 A number of questions were asked, and answers given by Peter Mores or Mick Newell. Firstly the limited use of Matt Carter in the championship. PM said that Carter was an aggressive spinner, who was injured towards the end of the season, but Nottinghamshire have to play the best team to suit conditions and Trent Bridge is unlikely to spin in April. Coughlin and Chappell are both aggressive bowlers and the Duke ball moves a lot early season.

 Another question was about the players looking tired in the late part of the season.

 A question was asked about the toss in championship matches. MN said that they would like to see the toss reinstated, but it is not happening in 2019. MN also stated that the club were unable to rotate the seamers enough later in the season due to injuries and the players have been tired in September for a number of years. Harry Gurney and Luke Fletcher both struggled towards the end of the season because of this.

 One member asked about the performance of the players in the last few matches not being good enough. PM stated that the signing of players mid season did affect morale but it was needed.

 It was also asked whether several of the new players might get selected for the Lions. MN stated that the club would have to make better use of the Academy, and that all four players that had joined the club had done so because of Peter Moores involvement at the club. There is only one Lions match this year, and if any players do progress then they must have been playing well for Nottinghamshire.

Strategic Update – Lisa Pursehouse

 Plan for the next five years, and in 2019 Nottinghamshire have one ODI and five World Cup matches. These are less lucrative than a Test Match. We cannot place over emphasis on Test Matches given the global circumstances. Restaurant 6 is due to open and there is a need to make Trent Bridge accessible for all year round not just match days. There are a number of key priorities for the next five years, including increasing the appeal to younger people with cricket especially the five to eight year olds. We need to increase funding and participation in local schools. We also need to make cricket more attractive to new customers. For example the new 100 competition will have a women’s competition running in parallel.  There are also plans to attract the Asian Community, as they are unrepresented in Nottinghamshire. There will be an attempt to recruit South Asian women, and will be made in the Community Centre on Haydn Road.  There will also be attempts to raise the profile of the women’s game, and invest in all competitions for club cricketers.

 Nottinghamshire do not want any further reduction in championship cricket and are in favour of two divisions.

 The new ‘100’ competition will not be played at the same time as championship cricket, which means that Trent Bridge is unlikely to host championship cricket in August.

 Nottinghamshire will be hosting the final of the 50 over competition, and would not be doing so if we thought that it was an irrelevant competition. However players involved in the 100 will miss group matches and may only become available for the knockout stages of the competition.

  There were a number of questions including complaints re the pricing structure for World Cup matches at Trent Bridge. LP said that it is high, but it is selling and although the prices are higher that Nottinghamshire would have wished, there is a lot of appetite for a global competition, and it is the first world cup in England for twenty years. Each venue gets a staging fee, in our case for five days. Direct match costs are covered by the competition, and then Nottinghamshire will get a share of the pot.

  Another question was about the use of the Executive Suite during Nottinghamshire’s ODI in 2019, and will International Executive Memberships be withdrawn. LP stated that as Nottinghamshire  had one ODI this year for them to sell, therefore a decision had been made to make the hospitality as sellable in order to maximise income for the club. Are revenue streams, including use of the pavilion are under review, and she could not guarantee what might happen in future years.

 Another question was asked about further disciplinary action for Mr Hales following events in Bristol. LP said that Nottinghamshire cannot give him extra penalties but they had spoken to and written to him.

 There was a question about the latest on the ‘100’ competition. LP said it would become clearer in April. There will be a new contract to all counties and the ECB, and this will state how cricket is funded. It will definitely take place in the school holidays and there will be no championship cricket at the same time. The team playing out of Trent Bridge will have overseas players and the rest will be selected via a draft, but not necessarily local players. This team will cover Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire and will aim to attract young people and schoolchildren.  

 The next question was two-fold, and was regarding quotes from Tom Harrison who quoted that the ‘100’ was already a huge success and secondly on Test Match Special he had quoted that it was designed for the existing cricket audience which contracted what LP has been stating. LP answered that the huge success was the significant TV deal for five years that includes the BBC. To the second part she said that 3,500 Nottinghamshire members watch T20 and although some of them may not watch the ‘100’ she expected that many would. The ‘100; will be very noisy. It will not be included in the Nottinghamshire membership, but when tickets go on sale, Nottinghamshire members will be giving priority bookings, especially in the pavilion.

 Trent Bridge Community Trust

Tim Eatherington, Mandy Wright & Mark Clifford

 Sterling work has been carried out by the Heritage Team and special; thanks to all the work done in the last year under Steve LeMottee.

 The Nottinghamshire Cricket Board have appointed three cricket liaison officers, and will encourage clubs to work with the ECB to ensure that relevant safeguarding is in place.

 Other initiatives were discussed including ‘Chance to Shine#, All Stars Cricket, ~Positive Futures. Specific examples were given by MC relating to the ‘Trent Bridge Classroom; which provide platforms for work experience, Also the ‘Ready 4 Work’ with local employers in Cotgrave and Bingham.

 Finally mentioned were ‘Forget Me Notts’ targets people with Dementia, and ‘Healthy Hearts’.

 The amendments to the Constitution

 Again long discussions were held and a number of questions were made, too long to be covered by this summary. The club will write to the membership later and any changes will be voted on by a ballot.

Elections to the General Committee – There were five places, Kate Davies, Paul Ellis, John Giliott,, and Peter Hacker were re-elected and Diana Peasey claimed the final place. Bill Taylor was asked to serve a second year as Club President.

 Election of New Vice Presidents

  Paul Johnson and Chris Read were appointed Vice Presidents for the club in recognition of their efforts for the club over a number of years.

AOB

 Questions were asked about the possibility of setting up a museum at Trent Bridge – Work is ongoing with the Heritage Team but it will take time, and Trent Bridge does lack space.

 Lack of Wifi – LP is hopeful that it will be available this season at Trent Bridge courtesy of the World Cup.

 There was then a discussion about the clubs decision to no longer produce a year book. RT said that it was removed due to lack of sales. It was also stated that the Nottinghamshire Cricket Lovers Society would be producing a 160 page yearbook and a team had been involved to set it up. The editor is Michael Goulder and it will be on sale during the season at a price of £5.

 A question was asked about the yearbook for next year. The club said that they would review it.