Preparations for Willoughby Cricket Club’s 2019 season go up a few notches in the coming month with a series of events ahead of a busy summer of cricket.

First up is the club’s Annual General Meeting which takes place next Monday (25th February), 7.30pm at the WCC Pavilion. Players – young and old, officials, members and parents of junior/youth players are once again requested to attend and have their say on the past year’s events and to appoint officials for the coming season.

Pre-season training for the club’s senior and junior/youth cricketers continues through until early April. Willoughby are once again using the indoor nets and sports hall at Bilton School Sports Centre (Lawford Lane in Rugby, CV22 7JT) for all their pre-season work-outs. Willoughby’s senior/adult section players are there on Tuesday evenings from 7.00 to 8.30pm.

That is followed on Saturday afternoons set aside for the club’s Under 15s training from 1.00 to 2.00pm, followed by the Under 13s from 2.00 to 3.00pm
Sessions for both junior/youth and seniors cost £3.00 per person.

Another date for the diary is Saturday 6th April where Willoughby will once again be involved in the national ECB Natwest Cricketforce weekend.
Willoughby’s ‘spring clean’ inside and out will take place from 9.30am, with again all players, members, officials and parents welcome.

This all takes shape ahead of the start of the new cricket season, with the first senior fixture on Saturday 13th April, and Willoughby’s two Saturday XIs starting their inaugural season in the Northamptonshire Cricket League on Saturday 4th and 11th May respectively.

Willoughby will also be fielding a team on a Wednesday in the Rugby and District Cricket League (RDCL), plus will also offer non-league social cricket with their Sunday Development XI playing a series of friendlies with local village and clubs.

At junior/youth level, the club will once again field teams at Under 13 and 15 levels in the RDCL, as well as running weekly coaching and training sessions run by ECB-qualified coaches for those teams.

Willoughby’s long running and ever-popular Kwik Cricket programme - for boys and girls aged 6-10 years looking to start out and try cricket for the first time – will commence in early May. And the club are also hoping to have an Under 11 team back in the fold after a year’s absence and are keen to hear from parents of any players interested in playing hard ball cricket at this level in 2019.

For further details on joining Willoughby for any of their indoor net sessions and the 2019 season, please contact Karl (adult/senior cricket) on 07775 883102, or the following persons regarding junior and youth cricket:

• Rob (WCC junior/youth cricket) via email here
• Mark (Under 15s) on 07590 391481
• Nathan (Under 13s) via email here