Changes galore at SBCC but business as usual…………..
With the Chairman resigning and four captains standing down anyone from outside the Club may think, and a few might possibly hope, that SBCC is a Club in crisis. It is true that we have had a few departures in the close season, but with respect to the player’s that have gone perhaps the most significant and certainly the most painful was the loss of our long-standing groundsman at Babraham, Jeremy Churchman. The Club renaming the Ground and Pavilion at Babraham in his name and memory was greatly appreciated by Jerry before his passing.
The Club, and in this context, I mean more than on the field, however, is a very resilient beast. From almost joining the dodo in the late 1980’s the Club has always looked forward and been innovative in finding solutions to its problems or as we prefer to say opportunities!
Chairman Ian Reeves after a number of years at the helm where his leadership and backing of the Club has seen the Club reach the pinnacle of East Anglian cricket on the field and go from strength to strength off the field has decided to take a step back. Like many a true Ram this just means he is staying with the Club and will undertake a number of less formal and demanding roles. He is succeeded as Chairman by another long standing member Clive Dove.
The Club’s decision to appoint Dan Heath six years ago typifies the Club’s ambition and it recognises the need for change and evolution. Dan came on board with, and presented the Club with, a vision to gain promotion from the Cambridgeshire Premier League and into the East Anglian Premier League (EAPL) with a further ambition to land an EAPL title within five years. The strength of Dan’s character was a double-edged sword. His vision, desire and positivity proved successful in recruiting, retaining and evolving some highly skilled squads over the last six seasons. This strength of character can also attract detractors and the Club (In particular the Chairman and Director of Cricket ) deserve great credit for backing Dan despite some negativity from inside and outside of the Club. It is clear to everyone, even his most ardent detractors that Dan has well and truly delivered or overdelivered. Dan after four titles (including three EAPLs) in six years has, as planned or more accurately a year later than planned, retired from first team duties.
We are fortunate that we have Cambridgeshire white-ball skipper Callum Guest, who skippered the SBCC side to its first EAPL T20 title last year, to take over the mantle. Indeed with Dan’s late season injury in 2024 Callum already has some experience of leading the Rams. He will be backed up by Cambridgeshire’s red-ball skipper and former pro cricketer Wayne White. Squad wise, we have lost Alex Evans and Noah Thain from the first team. ‘Evo’ has relocated and will work and play his cricket in London. Alex joined us as an emergency replacement for the injured James Vandepeer in the middle of 2023. His last, and very memorable, action for the Club was to hit the EAPL title clinching boundary at Frinton in September. Noah has joined Essex Seconds (aka Witham) and whilst he made significant contributions, most notably at Witham, his 2024 appearances were heavily restricted by his Essex and England U-19 duties.
It could be argued that with the recruitment of two excellent young batsmen that our 2025 squad is stronger than our 2024 double title winning squad. With both players eligible to play for Cambridgeshire we are almost able to field a full County Club XI on a Saturday! We have been a long-term admirer of former Cambridgeshire youth and County Club player Nikhil Gorantla who returns to local cricket after a spell in Durham. The other player broke the County record for the highest individual score, in a County under-18’s match last year, and so we welcome Henry Wilson, a recruit from Histon. Henry is one of a number of players who have spent the Winter abroad. So we are keeping our fingers crossed that the likes of Henry, Ben Clilverd, Ethan Rice and Yousuf Choudhary return uninjured and in good nick! Indeed with Ben and Ethan playing most of the 2024 season carrying debilitating injuries which restricted them to little or no bowling having them both fit will be like having another new recruit. Hopefully we will avoid any further serious injuries like the one sustained by Ben Claydon last term.
Without making any predictions if the squad can replicate the form that saw them go undefeated in the last thirteen games, then we expect to be very competitive again in 2025. However a third title in five years (or four if we ignore the Covid season) means that the Club became the most successful side from Cambridgeshire in EAPL history. There appears no let-up in the desire of the squad to add further titles and the five titles won by Vauxhall Mallards must be the next target. A longer-term ambition would be to try and match the incredible dynasty created by eight (or nine including 2020) times champions Swardeston.
The second team have lost skipper Ant Phillips and Will Bailey who have returned to their roots at Haverhill taking with them our Club skipper and Haverhill resident Nick Griggs. Christy O’Brien our Kiwi overseas for the last two seasons also doesn’t return and will be greatly missed around the Club. However, this gives us a golden opportunity to regenerate.
The Club are delighted Dan Heath, the Club’s most successful first team skipper, has agreed to a new project and will lead a development squad. On a personal note he will hope his experience and demanding nature will benefit his new charges and he will be relishing the fact that he will have more chances to further his own game which to a large extent was sacrificed for the greater good in the first eleven. He will be hoping that the form they showed in the last third of the season can be replicated and is targeting at least a top half finish. He is hopeful that the first team availability is good, as they can only accommodate eleven quality players at a time. He has added Australian left arm seamer Darcy Murphy, and Alex James a young wicket-keeper batsman from St Giles to his squad. We have also picked up a couple of decent cricketers who have moved into the area with Edward Ball (from Frinton) and Tarun Mouli (from Guildford) joining the senior squads. With all the players in the senior sides wanting to play at the highest level we are hopeful that this competition for places will be a positive impact.
Third team skipper Jake Ellis is the only skipper that has stayed in post. However, he has taken on more coaching duties and will relinquish his midweek duties. Jake in terms of league titles, promotions and cup wins remains the most successful skipper in the Club’s history! He will again attempt to blend youth and experience and is also hopeful for a more consistent level of performance. Last year there was some exceptional performances in a challenging division but also some poor performances. However, a lot of the youngsters will have a year’s experience to build on and there could be a couple more breaking through from the fourths. Matt Ellis and Benji Benson will add quality and experience, if not required in the seconds, but both have important days in the diaries for 2025! Ellis’s squad is capable of challenging for the Junior One title particularly if the availability of the top two sides is good.
Dom Cameron takes over as fourth team skipper and will boost the squad as he is very capable of playing at a much higher level. Our ethos for our 4th XI is to be competitive whilst introducing as many juniors into the adult game as possible. Results are secondary to the development of these youngsters but everyone enjoys winning a few! The more ‘experienced’ players fit in around this to hopefully teach the youngsters some good habits, as well as driving to the away fixtures. The skipper will want to hold onto a few of last year’s junior intake but some of them will be pushing for third team places from the off having developed further during the close season.
The Club was rocked, at first, by news of a serious illness to our Director of Cricket David Ellis but with his continued desire to be forward thinking it appears to have galvanised the Club to deliver another spectacular season. David has led a small team of coaches, supported by superbly by Jake Ellis and assisted by youngster Sam Ronco, who have delivered pre- and post-Christmas junior sessions. Both David and Jake are extremely pleased with the progress made by a number of these juniors and Jake is eagerly awaiting their transition into open age cricket. David’s other priorities are to build on our success last year with our Girls and to once again deliver the hugely popular family cricket Friday nights under the Grifframs, Dynamos and Allstars banners.
The Club is also keen to continue to support the Cambridgeshire cricket performance pathway by hosting County Club, County veterans and County Age Group fixtures at both of its grounds.