WELCOME TO THE O.C.A.C.C. HOMEPAGE - 2007

Like the title says, welcome to the Old Centralians Association Cricket Club home page. The site has now been up and running for a couple of years & I have now entered all of the the results from all matches for the 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 & 2006 seasons as well as the (original & un-cut) match reports that have appeared in the Watford Observer and gathered a huge & devoted following for their author...

To access the results & reports just click on 'results' on the left of this screen and then select the match that you want to view from there - it's all very straightforward really.

Also - please click on 'club news' to view all the latest news and information items that have been posted to the site or go to the 'Forums & Photos' area to join in any of the debates that are currently going on or to view photos of the teams in action.

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2006

A message from our Skipper, Chris Coleman, about the club's plans for the summer of 2006:

"All,

In a further attempt to stave off both the extinction of the club and my own retirement, The Committee and I have arranged 6 Sunday Friendly Fixtures and 2 Friday Evening "20/20" extravaganzas for the 2006 season.

The dates are as follows:

Friday June 16th v 1st Watford Boy's Brigade (KO: 6-30pm)
Sunday July 2nd v Parkfield & Headstone CC (KO: 2-00pm)
Sunday July 16th v Flitwick CC 3rd XI (KO: 2-00pm)
Friday July 28th v Old Fullerians FC (KO: 6-00pm)
Sunday July 30th v Barclays CC 2nd XI (KO: 2-00pm)
Sunday August 13th v London Colney CC (KO: 2-00pm)
Sunday August 20th v Phoenix CC (KO: 2-00pm)
Sunday August 27th v Goodwill Wanderers CC (KO: 2-00pm)

The Fixtures start fairly late this year as we were conscious of clashing with World Cup Games and the only fixture that does clash is the Friday evening Fixture, however as this is Mexico verses Angola I think we can be forgiven.

The Friday evening 20/20 event will be (as the name indicates) a 20 over a side thrash with everyone getting a bowl. We aim to start 6.30pm sharp so you will need to be at the ground by at least 6:00pm. We have invited the Company Section of the 1st Watford Boys Brigade along for the first match of the year and plan to split the teams (as Molely said "that way we can't lose") To finish the evening we will bar-b-q a few sausages and burgers. As many of the present and previous members of the club came through the BB, we are hoping that as well as a social event we can promote the club to possibly a new generation of players, so a good turnout would be appreciated

All the Sunday Games will be Home Fixtures - 2.00 pm starts so you will need to be at the ground by 1.30 pm latest, and as long as the game lasts that long we will be playing the tea between, 20 overs from 6.30 pm format. (Opposition will be hand picked, not to be too good ! )

As in previous years this would be ideal for any of you looking for a social game of cricket with no pressure as we are always looks to give everyone a decent game and there are plenty of beers floating around before, during and after the game. It will be the sort of set-up where you can drift in and out of the side depending on your availability, so we are not asking for any major commitment here, conversely if you wish to play in all the fixtures then that too would be great.

All you have to do if you are interested is reply with your availability when you receive the email - as always first come first served.

What would also be helpful would be if everyone, in the next couple of days, could give me a rough indication of if and when you are likely to want to play - I won't hold you to it."

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2005 Season

2005 was a tough year for OCACC - we lost a number of our most important players and club members (for a variety of reasons) and found that, as a result we could no longer sustain our membership of the Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League. Having dropped out of the League, the only way forward was for some of the more committed club members to carry of as best we could and continue the club by playing a number of Sunday friendly matches arranged through the CCC.

We also entered the Watford Observer Cup Competition, but the lack of interest and/or enthusiasm from most of those who were eventually involved in the one match that we did play means that this is very unlikely to be repeated in 2006.

Hopefully though, those players who did participate in the matches that we did play enjoyed themselves and will continue to be part of the club in the years to come.

It is only by the efforts of a small number of long-standing club members that the club continues to survive and we will once again look to play a number of friendly games in 2006(organised well in advance - hopefully to avoid the problems encountered in finding opposition towards the end of 2005). Work will also continue to improve our clubhouse and make the facilities offered there more attractive to both our players and opponents as well as hopefully encouraging our families to come along and enjoy the matches as well.

As we have not charged any membership fees in 2005 and so do not technically have any official club members, at our recent Committee Meeting, all the members of our 2005 Committee agreed to continue in their posts into 2006.

My thanks, as Chairman, go to all of those who continue to give their time & energy into keeping our club going and I hope that as many of you as possible will continue to play your part in ensuring that we have a healthy future.

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OCACC WITHDRAW FROM HERTS CRICKET LEAGUE

Following a number of committee meetings and discussions, I'm afraid to say that we have had to take the very sad decision to withdraw from the Hertfordshire Cricket League before the 2005 season.

This decision was not an easy one for us to take, but it was one that had to be made after looking at a number of factors that were going to effect us - uppermost was the number of players that we currently have available to play on a regular basis - a number that was only going to decrease as we moved into 2005. It has been hard enough at times to get a full team out over the past couple of seasons, but from the figures we had and the forecasts of availability that people had given it looked as though it was going to be a struggle to get 11 players up virtually every week.

This - coupled with the amount of work that is required to be done before every home league game and the steadily decreasing number of people who are prepared to get there early and stay late in order to set things up and put things away - meant that we had to take this decision, albeit with a very heavy heart.

However we will still continue to play friendly matches on Sundays throughout the summer. Chris Coleman has drawn up a list of 8 Sundays on which we will arrange matches in 2005, so please keep checking the site as I will be publishing these dates as soon as they have been confirmed with Watford Borough Council.

We will also be entering the Watford Observer Knock-Out Cup in 2005.

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07/04/05 COMMITTEE MEETING

Thanks to all those who attended our latest Committee Meeting - we covered a wide range of topics, including:

Revised 2005 Committee

Chairman / Fixture Secretary - Rob Dunstone
Captain - Chris Coleman
Vice-Captain / Secretary - Dave Funnell
Treasurer - Paul Simmonds
Bar Manager - Andy Dagger
Bar / Social Secretaries - Mark Ellis & Hywel Jones

A big vote of thanks to 2 of our outgoing committee members - Alex Moore & Phil Samuels. Alex has led the club from the front since he started as Captain 3 seasons ago and instilled his own desire to perform and win on the rest of the team in that time. Despite only having played for OCACC for a very short period, Phil has been heavily involved in the running of the club as our Matchday Manager & Asst Treasurer for the last couple of years and has helped keep us in the healthy financial position we are currently in.

We wish them both well and thank them again for all they have done for Old Centralians in their time with us.

We also agreed to a comprehensive program of renovations to our clubhouse before the start of the new season. These will include the bricking up of our back-door and re-fitting of the store-room as well as a new fron-door and metal shutters for our windows. WE will also be replacing our sink and installing a dish-washer as well as re-carpeting and painting the interior of the clubhouse. Many Thanks to Chris Coleman and Andy Dagger in drawing up these plans and to Andy for agreeing to carry out these works - we look forward to having a far more family-friendly clubhouse to encourage even more wives/partners.children along to watch our games in 2005.

We are also planning to have a joint party with Old Fullerians Football Club at the clubhouse on SATURDAY 23RD JULY 2005. More details will be announced shortly, but this promises to be the social event of the summer (unless you get invited to The Gaffer's wedding, of course...) so please pencil it into your diaries now.

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2004 AWARDS / DINNER & DANCE

As revealed at our Dinner & Dance, held at Bushey Golf Club, our awards for 2004 went to:

BEST BATSMAN - ALEX MOORE

BEST BOWLER - ASIF BUTT

CAPTAIN'S AWARD - PHIL SAMUELS

PRESIDENT'S PLATE - ROB DUNSTONE

DUCK TROPHY - JIM WALKER

There was also a special presentation made to IAN BEALE, to acknowledge his contribution to the club whilst he was Chairman.

There are now a selection of photos of the big event in the "Forums & Photos" section of the sight. Please make sure that no under-18s view these pictures unaccompanied.

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2004 Season

Well, the 2004 Season saw us eventually finish in 7th place in Division Seven of the Saracens Hertfordshire Cricket League. For some this was disappointing as we were still in with a shout of promotion at the start of August sitting in 4th spot having only lost one match up to that point. However, as we then failed to win another game as we lost four and drew one of our last five matches, some might think that things could have ended up a lot worse than they did.

Highlights? Well there were certainly a few - our excellent win chasing over 200 at Hitchin II comes to mind. We managed to silence one of the few teams that managed to "out-chirp" us in the field all season; especially when Funnelli hoisted the ball into the neighbouring field as we closed in on victory.

There were excellent bowling performances in the games against Hatfield II, Old Cholmeleians and Leverstock Green II where the pressure applied by our bowlers saw us notch up 3 easy victories.

Regrets? We had a few - but then again, too few for me to mention. But - we should think about what might have been if we'd kept our excellent early & mid-season form going right through to the end of the year.

Guess who was our batting star of the season? Alex Moore yet again dominated things as he hit 696 League Runs at an average of 49.71, leaving everybody else trailing in his wake - the next highest run-scorer was Asif Butt on 240 League runs with only Phil Samuels joining them in topping 200 runs for the season. A mention though to Graham John, our first left-hander for many years who hit 195 runs in his first full season at the club and took over the role as chief Cheerleader in the field as he led the vocal element of the team, often whilst fielding within a couple of feet of the batsmen at short-leg. Also telling a story is the fact that only 4 players scored 50s in the league this year and only one person hit more than 1 half-century.

Things were more evenly spread amongst the bowlers as Asif Butt, Phil Samuels and new-boy Jim Walker all took over 30 League Wickets. Asif eventually held on to his lead as he finished with 32 wickets at 21.19 whilst Phil and Jim both ended up on 30 wickets (although I'm sure Phil would like me to mention that he bowled 66 less overs than Jim!).

Progress was also made in the Watford Observer Cup & Plate competitions. After comfortably seeing off Bricket Wood we lost at Aldenham in the Cup and so went into the Plate competition rather than have to face eventual Cup winners Hemel Hempstead in the next round. However, we came up short against OMT in the semi-final in a game we could well have won to leave us again think what might have been.

Chris Coleman and The OCAsionals played 3 more games this year and are looking to increase their number of fixtures for 2005, such was the enthusiasm for friendly cricket shown by the team. Despite winning just one of their games in 2004, I know that everybody involved enjoyed themselves getting back into the game (although not always getting back into their old kit...)

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If you have any comments on the site or have any questions about our club, please contact Rob Dunstone on robert.dunstone@breathemail.net