As Director of Cricket at Newcastle CC, I’d like to take this opportunity to welcome everyone to the 2021 season! There has certainly been times where I felt that this season would never happen, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Directors, volunteers, members and supporters who have worked tirelessly to make this happen and get us to this point.

As a club, we’ve been fortunate enough to have been supported through our Crowdfunder campaign to help develop cricket right through the club, and this has made an invaluable difference to us.

With cricket imminent, the players have been practicing hard in all conditions (it was 3 degrees Celsius at training last night) in order to be ready for the season. I can honestly say that the intensity levels at training are as high as I can remember them right through the club and the spirit amongst the lads is fantastic.

Our 1st team begin this season in NEPL Div 1 following our relegation in 2019. We are all determined to bounce back at the first attempt and have made a number of signings to augment the talented young squad we already had. I am delighted to welcome Jesse Tashkoff as our overseas player. Jesse hails from Wellington and is a spin bowling all rounder who has captained NZU19s in the World Cup. In addition we have secured Luke and Ben Mussett from Benwell Hill and Seaton Burn respectively who have both settled in fantastically. Bobby Green has signed from Crook and has impressed everyone with his talent in practice, and Will Taylor has arrived from Percy Main in a great capture which I am particularly excited about. The team will be led by the old workhorse Ben Quirk (aged 24) who will plough a deep furrow with his dogged inswing.

The 2s look particularly strong and we have added talented leg spinning all rounder Matty Stewart from Alnwick. Matty joins Will Jobling, George Darwood and Alistair Gibson in forming a young attack feared by both 2nd XI batsman which we are hugely excited about. In addition, Euan Stenhouse has re-joined from Tynemouth and his enthusiasm is a huge asset. Dan Humble is captaining the side, but having ruptured his achilles trying to outrun Phil Hudson in the winter 6 a side, his role will be focused on administration and coaching with dogged warrior James Carr leading his young charges on the field. We feel the 2s have a strong chance of silverware this season and are excited to see how our young players go.

The depth the club has means that the Academy, captained by Ali Poll will be able to field a great blend of youth and experience as we seek to continue our pathway from junior to senior cricket. Furthermore, our 3rd XI are now playing in a higher division so the increased depth in playing staff will help them hugely. Thanks to Andrew Goldsborough for leading the side.

Finally, I’d like to thank our sponsors of senior cricket – Kitchens Plus and Joe Jobling Wealth Management. Your support is invaluable and I urge our members to support these local businesses if they are on the lookout for these services. Finally, I’d like to thank Kieran Trevaskis for his tireless work in sourcing our new kit from Shrey – the new kit looks fantastic and showcases the club in a fantastic way.

Phil Hudson
Cricket Operations Director