AGM of Bath University Venturers Cricket Club - 09th October 2025

The Annual General Meeting of Bath University Venturers Cricket Club took place at the Red Lion, Odd Down, at 18:30 on Thursday 9th October 2025.

We sat round a large table, with a helmet placed in middle as a kind of memento mori. It was more prominent as a marker than the sheet of paper with Imran’s name on it that the pub had supplied.

Present were Imran, Gregory, Bruce, Charlie, Dinesh, Joji, Ajeet and Debangan. Anyone attempting to join remotely was out of luck, as although the pub had strong wifi it didn’t connect to the internet, and anything involving phones was likely to prove unstable. Anyway, we were quorate.

Imran was found to have wandered off. He returned, and we got down to business somewhere around 18:45.

The minutes of the last AGM were approved, despite being said to look sensible. The minutes don’t usually look sensible, and last year’s certainly can’t have been because nobody had been able to hear what anybody else was saying. In this respect the new venue was a great improvement.

1.Captain’s report.

We played 24 matches. We won thirteen and lost eight: one was drawn, and two (over-limit) games were abandoned because of the weather during the first innings, and therefore had no result. This was a good outcome overall.

The batting was consistent. Joji made most runs, 471, at a strike rate of 121: he hit twelve sixes. Hemendra (Hemu) made 239 runs, and both Vijay and Zubair averaged well over 30 and scored at a rate of over 130.This despite Vijay making three ducks in his nine innings; but he hit thirteen sixes. The highest score was Siddhant’s 73, but there were several other scores in the 50s.

Joji also had most wickets, 21 from 22 matches. Dinesh had 17 and Ajeet 12.Krish and Basir were also effective. Imran was economical but took few wickets. Mizan bowled only eleven overs, in three spells, but took 10 wickets at an average of 3.6.(For the first time in many years there was no mention in this category of either Gregory or Bruce. This was just as well.) The best match figures were Mizan’s 5 for 12: Hirshith and Dinesh each took four in an innings.

Highlights included beating Combe Down, which is something we have not done very recently, and beating the Star twice.

Joji also took most catches, nine. Hemu kept wicket well, and both Dan and Abhijat kept competently when Hemu was not available. Vijay, Siddhant, Charlie and Matt were notably reliable in the field.

2.Treasurer’s report.

We have a balance of £1390, which is £15 more than at the time of the last AGM, but some more kit is needed. The financial situation is thus stable. The prices at Sulis increased by 15% even though the facilities were even fewer than they used to be: Prior Park costs the same but is much better. Monkton Combe is still more expensive but is a very attractive place to play. Odd Down, on the other hand, is relatively cheap and the facilities are not bad (batsmen may disagree).

If we do not use Sulis regularly, then we have become a nomadic team, which is perhaps not ideal. Sulis, however, is almost unusable now. It was suggested that we should email the PVC for Student Experience (Sport) about this, although we do not seriously expect that anything will happen if we do.

There was a discussion about fees. It was felt that the current flat £7 fee is unfair, and that fees should vary according to some measure of ability to pay. We agreed that next year students should pay £6, staff below grade 8 should pay £8, and those at grade 8 or above (which includes all permanent academic staff) should pay £10. A few of our players have employment outside the university, but we felt that it would be easy to manage these exceptions. For the indoor league we will still charge a flat £5. We think that these changes will be at worst revenue-neutral.

We took a break: quite a long one, as a complicated queue had just formed at the bar.

3.Fixtures.

There are no fixtures that we do not want to repeat from this year. The timing of the Hinton Charterhouse match was unsatisfactory, but their ground is heavily used and they are generally helpful. It probably won’t work to have a weekend match against Bathampton Sloths: this year they asked us for one when their opponents cancelled, but then they were not able to raise a team. Another last-minute fixture was the final one at Corsham: we will try to arrange a game or two there next year, preferably not in late September. Other possibilities include a weekend match against the Bell (but where? also, they don’t play many weekend games), Frome, Wookey Hole or Norton St Phillip. We do not need, nor have space for, more midweek games.

4.Election of officers.

Bruce was elected Treasurer. If he wants to stand down he has to give two years’ notice, because that’s how long it takes for a new treasurer to get control of the bank account. Gregory was elected Secretary. Nobody knows how long it would take to change that. The office last changed hands in the twentieth century. Imran was elected Captain, on condition that he turns his phone off during the games. Dinesh was elected vice-captain, and Joji, Charlie, Jaideep and Matt were also elected to the committee. Jonathan, who was elected last year, had been unable to contribute much, for personal reasons, and as that hasn’t changed it was thought unfair to re-elect him this year.

We assigned some specific responsibilities to some members. Joji is in charge of anything that requires the use of technology in a nontrivial way. Charlie is to organise lifts to matches. Matt is in charge of publicity and is our safeguarding officer, or perhaps rather the contact point for the university’s safeguarding officers. Jaideep’s task is to ensure that we behave as a team: as well as ensuring that nobody tries to bat in swimming trunks, bowl in a veshti or field wearing a cowboy hat, that probably means that it is his job to turn Imran’s phone off.

5.Operational matters

These include team selection, kit, payment of match fees, announcement of teams, and umpiring and scoring

a. Selection. It was agreed that there should be some rotation of players, so that as far as possible everybody who wants to play does play at least some matches. It is important to remember that having been selected does not imply having played: last year one unfortunate player was twice selected for matches that were then rained off, and then not selected the next time because nobody remembered that he hadn’t actually got on the field. In general some precedence should be given to current members of the university, as we are a university club (even if the STV has to be reminded of this sometimes). However, it is also important to put out teams that are actually capable of playing cricket. In particular, we must have a wicketkeeper, if only because if we do not, somebody who isn’t a wicketkeeper has a miserable time keeping wicket.

b. Kit. We need a little more. All our right-hander’s batting gloves vanished mysteriously, leaving us with one pair that said STAR across the knuckles, where you would expect LOVE and HATE. On being shown a picture of them, Harjeet said “those are ours”, and claimed them, but that didn’t mean that they had ours. We have two right-hand pairs now, and one left, but we need more. They are not expensive.

Gregory picked up the helmet/skull and showed how it has been put beyond use because someone, who had probably not worn a cricket helmet before, had tried to make the adjustable strap at the back go round his chin. One of the effects of acting as a team should be that this doesn’t happen, because there is somebody paying attention. Similarly we should not be losing items of kit: we should be attentive (i.e. not on the phone unless you are using it for scoring) and make sure that club kit goes back in the club bag when not in use.

Imran thinks it may be possible to repair the helmets (there are two in this state) and will ask. Gregory was unconvinced: how do we know that the repair is safe? We may need to buy one more helmet.

We should get a supply of pink or orange or white balls in advance of the season. Usually we play a match on a gloomy April evening with a red ball, decide that we should get some pink ones, and do so two weeks later, by which time it is light until after 9pm and we don’t need them till August. Joji suggested that if somebody is visiting India they could get some there: he and Gregory are both doing that fairly soon.

As regards payment of match fees, we decided to investigate getting a card reader, so that fees can be paid on the spot. We recognise, though, that some people may want to defer payment so as to manage cash flow, and this is acceptable. There may be a problem with attaching a card reader to the kind of bank account we have (Bruce will investigate this), and there are both capital and running costs associated with this method, but it is probably best.

c. Announcements. Teams, even if incomplete, will be announced on Monday for Wednesday matches and on Thursday for Sunday ones. If you have said by first thing Monday morning that you can play on Wednesday, you will find out on Monday whether you are playing or not. The lift-finding process will then begin immediately.

d. Scoring and umpiring. Scoring is being done in duplicate on a phone and in a book. Last year we considered getting a tablet to score on, but didn’t do it: we should look at this again. The technology is not reliable, though, so a scorebook remains a necessity.

The score needs to be kept carefully. Do not distract the scorers; and do not abandon them. Most of the errors arise towards the end of the innings, when the scorer needs to go and put pads on and finds that he is alone, or that the only person nearby has no idea how to score. Charlie said that the only important thing is the total. This may not be true, especially in the second innings. If you are chasing 110 to win and are told that you have ended on 107-7, but the batsmen’s scores add to 111, you may not be happy.

It is easy to learn how to score: everybody should know. That does not mean that it is easy to do. You have to watch every ball, and acknowledge umpires’ signals.

Umpiring is more difficult. You have to know the Laws, and you have to remember to signal and to make sure that the scorers have seen you. Various suggestions about how to spread this load were made. In any case, everybody should know the basics of the Laws: what makes an LBW be out (there is no excuse for not understanding this, now that you have watched a few hundred Hawkeye reviews) and what the rule is about when a full toss is a no-ball. They also should not attack the umpires; although Joji imagined that Santosh was annoyed with him when he was given out at Corsham, but in fact Santosh knew he was out and was just annoyed at having been hit on the box by a slow straight full toss.

6.Awards.

These are at the discretion of the captain, who seemed to take them more seriously than Simon used to.

Best bat: Joji, ahead of Hemu, Zubair, Vijay and Jaideep.

Best bowler: Dinesh, ahead of Joji, Ajeet and Mizan.

Most improved: Matt, who is getting back to where he was about fifteen years ago when he played regularly, and whose running was particularly competent. Charlie, whose technique abandoned him last year but has now returned, was also mentioned.

All-round: Zubair, ahead of Joji and Vijay.

Best fielder: Charlie, ahead of Matt and Sweekar.

Best individual innings: Vijay’s 55 off 14 balls against Combe Down, which was critical to that win.

Best individual bowling: Mizan’s 5-12 stood out: there was some competition from Joji and Ajeet.

Best newcomer/Talent: somehow this was split into two awards, one called “Find of the year”. It is unclear what the difference is, but Ajeet won ‘New Talent Award’ and Hemendra won ‘Finding of the Season Award’

Champagne moment: this went, unanimously, to the improbable and ultimately match-winning last-wicket partnership of 42 put up by, of all people, Bruce and Gregory against Bristol Venturers. Gregory tried to narrow it to Bruce’s four over extra cover, but was not successful.

Duck of the Year: as usual there were plenty, but Vijay, with three ducks in nine innings (and an average of more than two sixes in each of the others), was always a strong contender. One of them was first ball, but the three-ball one ended by a runout was the choice of those who saw it. The confidence with which he went to the crease, and his insistence that Steve Dent had been wrong to give him out, though nobody else thought so, were the deciding factors.

A.J. Wolstenholme Prize for Running Between the Wickets. This is named for a long-serving Venturers opening batsman who, every year, made at least three hundred runs and ran himself out at least three times. He didn’t very often run his partner out. It went this year to Mizan, who without any assistance from his partner managed to end up with both batsmen at the same end, and then then to start an argument about who was out. He was. It is true that Mizan was playing against us at the time, but that doesn’t mean we can’t give him the award. So we did.