THE UNITED
CRICKET CLUB
PRESIDENT’S
REPORT
My
Fellow Members, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Today
is a special and proud moment for me as I rise to present to you the President’s
13th Annual Report of The
United Cricket Club. And I must say that I indeed treasure the honor and
privilege you gave me to serve you as your Leader, as your President, not only
for this year but for these past thirteen years.
It
is with extreme joy and immense pride that I hereby report to you that our Club
has had an exceedingly triumphant year with many achievements and memorable
victories. And this is so not only
because of our immaculate organizational strength; our high disciplinary scale;
our rock solid financial state; our continued growing influence in the
Immigrant and Cricketing Communities; but also because we created history by convincingly
defeating our enemies within the Southern Connecticut Cricket Association, by winning
the TUCC Triangular Competition, by winning the Commonwealth Cricket League
2010 Divisional 35 Overs Competition, by winning the Commonwealth Cricket
League 2010 Divisional T-20 Competition and by being a strong contender for the
Commonwealth Cricket League 2010 Club-of-the-year Award. My friends, we are undoubtedly the most
Organized Cricket Club in
We
as Members, as Fans and as Supporters ought to be more than proud, proud not
only of our great Club, but proud of our individual and collective
contributions to make this not a dream but a stark reality.
MEMBERSHIP
Our Membership today stands at Sixty-one: 28 are Non-Players
while 33 are Players. And
they are Members I am very proud of.
They reside in
I
must give credit where it is due; the credit goes to you, our Members, for you made
the first call and you indeed made the right call when at the last Conference, you
expressed confidence in the five Officers of the Club and re-elected them
unanimously to serve another term. These
Officers are:
Azam
Rahamat - Vice President
Cecil
Agimudie - Secretary
Lakeram
Nankoo - Treasurer
Rajin
Nanku - Team Manager
Empowered
by the Constitution, these Officers re-appointed the following persons to their
respective positions to complete the formation of the Executive Committee:
Selection
Comm. Chairman - McCarthy Punter
Disciplinary
Comm. Chairman - Yadram Sumair
I
am happy to report that your Executives did yet another outstanding job. They answered my calls to duty with
promptness and they executed their duties and responsibilities with distinction. Today as a result of their leadership we
celebrate a very successful year.
To
assist the Team Manager, Lyndon Farley
was appointed Assistant Team Manager. I
thank him for his assistance and a job well done.
At
our yearly Special Meeting held at the Hampton Inn, the veteran stalwarts,
Veerasammy Virappen and McCarthy Punter were recalled and appointed Captain and
Vice Captain respectively. Needless it
is for me to say: they did a splendid
job and brought home the Triple Crowns for us.
I salute them both for these remarkable victories. But permit me please to single out the
Captain for his hard work, for his exceptional leadership and for his
determination to win and he did.
MEETINGS
During
the year, the following Meetings were held:
- One
Annual Conference/General Meeting
- One
Officers’ Meeting
-
One Special
Membership Meeting
-
Four Executive
Committee Meetings and
- A few Ad Hoc Meetings
These
Meetings were all cordial, civil, orderly and democratic; and all matters were
studiously researched and thoroughly debated with open minds searching for the
right decisions for our Club. These decisions have certainly paid off; and
today our Club is even stronger, even better and is as successful as never
before.
Despite
the difficult economic situation in the Country, we weathered the storm and
managed our finances quite admirably. It
is therefore, with great delight that I report to you that our
According
to the records, we spent $135 per Player for the
year. This computes to $75 more than their $45
Membership Fee. Instead of asking for an increase in Membership Fee, all we ask
of the Players is to take good care of our Matting, Gears and Equipment.
Let
me with great joy declare to you that with no bills to pay, our Closing Balance at Bank stands at $5,153.
Quite
frankly, we could not have been in such flourishing state without our loyal
benefactors: Bronze Sponsors Anderson’s Auto Electric and American Motor Lodge;
and Donors: Alphonse Ladyga, Ryan
Arnajallum and Dynasty Sounds. I thank them all for their support and
partnership.
Our Park, the
DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE
The
Disciplinary Committee was headed by Yadram Sumair and included Rafique Abba, Chandika
Singh along with the The President and Team Manager. I do believe they did a very good job
enforcing our disciplinary polices.
It
is true that no disciplinary action was taken against anyone; but this does not
mean that we were flawless. There were
quite a few sparks on and off the field.
SELECTION COMMITTEE
With
Chairman McCarthy Punter, The Selection Committee comprised Veerasammy
Virappen, Yadram Sumair, the President and
the Team Manager. As you know, the task of selecting Twelve Players per Game is
always a challenging venture. But it can
be even more challenging when you have to consider from among 33 Players; it
compounds the difficulty. And that is why I am always sympathetic to the
Selectors. But they stepped up to the
challenge and did their job without fear and without favor. The fruits of their labor have paid dividends: we won the Triple Crowns. Obviously, they made
the right calls, they hit the right chords and they did an excellent job!
INSURANCE
In the interest and
protection of our Members, we remain Holders of Secondary Health Insurance for
Members and Liability Insurance for the Club.
And this is so because we believe that being insured gives us and our
families peace of mind and insulation against suits and medical costs for injuries. We are therefore committed to keep this
going.
PUBLIC RELATIONS
In order to sell Our Club and
all that we do, we grab at any opportunity to publicize our Club and that is
why, apart from word-of-mouth, the following were done:
1. One Article via
2. Our Club’s Emblem being used for Showcasing by
Cafepress.com
3. Continued maintenance and rapid update of our Website:
“http://unitedcricket.2ya.com”.
We
owe a debt of gratitude to the Waterbury Republican-American Newspaper, Cafepress.com
and our Website Engineer Ryan Arnajallum.
YOUTH PROGRAMME
With
the continued dedication of time and effort by Azam Rahamat and Rajin Nanku, the
Youth Program continues to gain ground.
We have witnessed almost perfect attendance by three Youths and average
attendance by the other Ten. It is
therefore safe to say that we are making steady progress. Thanks to Azam and Suresh in a very special
way and thanks to the parents for partnering with us in this endeavor. During this winter season the Youth Program
continues; we will be meeting twice a Month for Tutoring in
As I have been reminding
you over and over again, Scoring is an integral part of the Game of Cricket and
without it cricket statistics cannot be compiled. Let me say thanks to the very
few who assisted the Team Manger in Scoring.
But let me specially thank the Team Manager himself who choose to
unilaterally shoulder this responsibility even though he was given the option
to use the Players on every game. And that is not all: he also compiled the
Statistics for League Reporting and our Club’s Incentive Program. And he did them all exceedingly well.
Even though we entered the
fiscal year with tight budgetary goals, we stood steadfast to our long standing
tradition of generosity and kind hospitality and continued to serve
refreshments after each Home Game. And so without hesitation we expended $1138 on Refreshments alone. I must say “thank you” to the Members and
their families who did the food preparation for us.
It
is no secret that our source of strength and inspiration comes undoubtedly from
our faithful fans and supporters.
Without their support, without their presence, without their shouts and
without their screaming, the day would have been dull and our victories would
not have been appetizing. And boy did they turn out in large numbers; for we
saw a dramatic increase in their attendance. The average attendance at Home
Games was 95 while the attendance at
Away Games, which were mostly in
Let
me now touch on our former League. I am sure this will be the most watched
President’s Report by “you know who”. So I issue this Cautionary Note: “This
Report is for people with intelligence, for people who respect freedom and
democracy, for people who accept constructive criticism, and for people who can
really read English and properly interpret it”. If you are brazen enough to
proceed then go right ahead; but remember “Curiosity killed the Cat.” I am sure
you will find it too hot in here and so “If you can’t stand the heat then get
out of the kitchen”.
Those
Guys are real jokers. They wanted us to
retract my criticism of the League in my last two President’s Reports or let
our Club face Suspension. Little did they realize that they were waking up the
sleeping Giant. I am proud to report
that your militant Executive Members resoundingly and unanimously refused to do
so and hence they suspended our Club for one year.
Legal
battle was contemplated but while we had a convincing case, it was wisely
decided to abandon that pursuit because it would have been a waste of money and
the fact that we were better-off without them.
During
the Suspension period, the League decided that our players could play for other
Clubs in the League. Is this stupidity,
contradictory or malicious? And then, soon
after this decision, like Chicken Hawks, they went on a rampage trying to
recruit our Players. But thanks to the
resilience and allegiance of our Players; they rejected the wicked for the wise. And so I must thank our Boys for their solidarity
and faithfulness to the Club. Those Guys
failed to recognize the power of United.
Shame on them!
I
must say special thanks to the Clubs and their Board Members who have expressed
remorse for the wrong done to us and the others who supported our stance; I am
responsible enough to know that reprisal actions could be sought against them
if their names were mentioned here.
By
the way, they suspended us but yet their Vice President played in a Friendly
Game with us. They said that my
criticism of the League would run sponsors away from them. But let me lecture to them about Sponsors
because we have Sponsors: Sponsors look
for transparency, respect for law and order, proper accounting, consistency,
appreciation for criticism, discipline and certainly not the scene such as the one
they displayed in
But you what, how about me stop dwelling on these guys
and move to people with intelligence, fairness, commonsense and civility.
COMMONEALTH
CRICKET LEAGUE
Let me talk about our League: a League with
Seventy-two Clubs, a League that is the largest League in the whole of
You never know how greener the pasture is unless you
cross the rough river and climb over the bank.
We did and we found a far greener pasture in the Commonwealth Cricket
League and are proud to be dwelling there. Therefore we pledge to do whatever
we can to protect and defend our League and to render whatever help we can to
make it stronger and greener because this is our home. This, our very first
year with CCL, has been a most exciting, rewarding and pleasant year. Thanks
for the warmness with which we were welcomed by the President and Member
Clubs. We certainly feel like family
among them.
U.S.A.C.A.
Our continued membership with our Umbrella Cricket
Organization: The United States of America Cricket Association is of utmost
importance. In whatever way we can, we
will assist in its growth and progress for its success is critical to the
growth and development of cricket in the
We
have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number of Games played. This is due to the fact that we started the
Season early and ending when the cold front told us to stop. A total of 46 Games were scheduled, 4 were
rained out, 3 cancelled, we lost 12 and won 27. Let us now look at the
break-down:-
Exhibition Games: 17 Games were scheduled: 1 rained out, 3 cancelled with 7 Losses and 6 Wins. This is not as bad as it appears for as you know these
Games are utilized to involve our new and younger players. They ought to be commended for rising to the
occasion.
One
of these Exhibition Games was a Test Match Game between
TUCC sponsored Triangular Competition: we played 5 Games: 1 was
rained out, we lost 1 and won 2 and then proceeded to defeat
20/20 League Competition: we played 6 Games and won them all in convincing ways
thus grabbing the Commonwealth Cricket League 2010 Divisional T-20 Trophy. What a remarkable achievement. Congratulations once again to the boys.
The
Regular 35 Overs League Competition: 18
Regular Games were scheduled: 2 were
rained out while we lost 4 and won 12 including the Final Game which was played on a day with
brilliant sunshine and before a large crowd here at home at
I
am so pleased to observe that our Players heeded my call from last year to stop
focusing on others and start focusing on their own performance and further, to
play with UNITY the UNITED way. This they did and they did it remarkably
well. It certainly paid off for they
brought home not one, not two but three Championship Trophies for us to
celebrate today. Let me say thanks to
the Team Manager, the Captain, the Vice Captain and all of our Players for
rallying together and brought home these three treasured and valuable Crowns.
During
the year two of our younger players: Varunkumar Bhattaram and Ravindra Ramadhar
represented our League at the Inter-league Level. I salute them on this feat and thank the CCL
President for making this possible.
As
we prepare ourselves for the future let me once again challenge you to continue
to “Unite and play and victory will come our way”.
Our Incentive Program has
proven over the years to be the fairest possible way to incentivize our
Players. It is founded on an overall
Point System where 70% is based on Batting, Bowling and Fielding at both
Exhibition and League Games and which is calculated as follows: One Run – 1 Point, One wicket – 20 Points,
One Catch/Stump-out - 10 Points and Run-out/Assisted Run-out – 5.Points. The other 30% is based on Discipline,
Task Accomplishment and Team Work which is awarded to players by
the Executive Committee.
Today
Trophies would be awarded as follows: Gold
1st - 5th , Silver 1st – 5th
, Bronze 1st – 10th
and 6 Achievement Awards.
Congratulation
to the recipients; you deserve more than we can afford.
Ladies
and Gentlemen, we have been travelling as one family with unity and with a
strong will and purpose. We are very organized, well established, fully
disciplined, highly respected and we operate on principles, law and order. This
has been a challenging year, this has been an exciting year and this has been a
most victorious year. I thank you for making this possible. I am confident that we can do even greater
things as long as we continue to march together in Unity; forward ever,
backward never. Long live The United Cricket Club!
Respectfully
Submitted,
The United Cricket Club
12/04/2010