Norwood Exiles Cricket Club

Thank you! With today being the last day of the NECC 2021 Colts Summer Programme, we must take this opportunity to say a big thank you to everyone who has made it such a great success. Notable mentions must go to our Colts' parents and guardians; our coaches, Matt and Iain; our Chairman and Safeguarding Officer, Mark and our assistant coaches, Nico and Josh. However, most importantly, the biggest thanks must go to the Colts themselves who have been the heart and soul of the endeavour. We have hosted a total of 38 Colts through the 9 weeks with an average of 25 turning up to every session; it has been a great and fun summer of Cricket. We hope everyone has enjoyed themselves and we look forward to seeing you again next year when we will hopefully have a full calendar of both soft and hardball sessions. But that does not mean there are not some fantastic opportunities to continue to play cricket through August and beyond! We will leave you with a selection below along with our best w...

On Sunday, one of the highlights of the year arrived when all members of the club came together for a day of cricket in the Colts and Club Match Day! Not only was the weather kind to us, grill-master, Sean, had single-handedly prepared and fired up the traditional, legendary barbecue and a s the first burgers were coming off the grill, the colts game started: a 22-over match between The Norwood Ducks and the wonderfully presumptuously-named  The Winners .  The Ducks won the toss and chose to bat in front a welcoming crowd of friends and families and w hat followed was a delight with some wonderful fielding, batting and bowling on display from everyone on the field. The nominal home team,  The Norwood Ducks , set a target of 42 for the 'visitors' and a particular highlight of their innings was the spectacle of our Data Secretary hammering his son for 2 fours over the leg boundary in 4 balls on his way to 15 in a masterclass of plastic batting and domestic politics. ...

Following the positive news from the UK Government confirming England has progressed to Step 3 on the 17th  May, the club is tremendously excited to announce the return of the annual NECC Club Match! This year, at The Lakes ground, we will be hosting two open-invitation matches on Sunday 6th June:  12:30pm to 1pm - Player registration 1pm - Colts and parents/guardians fixed-over match 3pm - NECC vs NECC where h ard ball colts, current & former players and anyone else connected to the club and want to play can take part in a fun, inter-club T20 Thanks to the easing of restrictions, spectators are now very welcome as long as individual groups number no more than 30 people, and we will be providing outdoor hospitality in the form of a BBQ with  non-vegetarian and vegetarian options . Match fees, payable on the day, are: Under-18s £4 / Over-18s £6 and include one burger from the BBQ. Non-players are welcome to purchase food from the BBQ but please note this will be cash-o...

Under thankfully rainless skies, the third Colts session of the year took place last night with 27 of our young cricketers taking part. It was really wonderful to see everyone bringing energy and fun to the ground and our two coaches were making sure that it was all put to good use! Our lead-coach, Matt's, tremendous cricket-adapted hand-hockey was a great success and brought out some intense competitiveness while in Iain's group, with names befitting this year's debut of The Hundred, the The Volcanoes triumphed over The Craters 2 rounds to 1. Batting-specific practice games followed along with bowling challenges and a very fast and furious session of hot-potato which, thanks to the Colts' suggestions, developed some increasingly creative additions to the rules!  It turns out that our Colts are much better than our coaches at turning around 360º after throwing a ball up in the air and still catching it... The session ended with two games which, for the older age-group...

On Wednesday evening our first Colts session since 2019 was a great success with 29 Colts participating ranging from 6 to 13. A big thank you to all the young players, their parents and guardians, the club members and the coaches who made the evening so enjoyable for all concerned! Our fabulous session lead-coach, Devon all-rounder Matt Golding got everyone moving right from the start with a fun warmup which got everyone practicing their running between the wickets. There was some great bat-sliding technique on show and after three close rounds, the victors were the 'Reds' whose speed put them just ahead of the other teams. The players were then split in to two age-based groups and they each took turns to practice their bowling and batting. While some ferocious shots were being played and some excellent over-arm deliveries were being made the coaches were always on the move, observing and stepping in with helpful advice and guidance.  The players clearly took this on board as t...