‘An AMAZING DAY’ – CELEBRATING 50 YEARS
Great Melton Cricket Club’s 50th Anniversary Celebrations began on Friday 28th June with the normal Junior Coaching session giving way to an ‘50’-themed evening of cricketing challenges involving over 60 of the club’s younger juniors. On Saturday the 1st, A and B teams added to the celebratory mood with a hat-trick of victories followed by a social evening back at Melton Park but the main Anniversary event took place on Sunday.
Early-morning rain threatened the planned 4-team 50/50 competition involving past and present players but eventually the rain relented and the cricket got underway 90 minutes later than scheduled. The tournament, comprised 10 x 5-ball overs per innings with players batting in pairs for 2 overs each. The first match resulted in a win for the President’s XI over the (1st Team) Skipper’s XI while the second match saw the Club Captain’s XI defeat the Chairman’s XI. Unfortunately the late start meant that the 3rd-place play-off match just couldn’t be fitted in but Chris Greenslade’s Club Captain’s team won a closely contested final and 52 cricketers enjoyed a bit of action in spite of the weather.
In between innings, President and joint founder, Steve Phoenix, a playing member for all of those 50 seasons – thanked the many volunteers past and present who had played a part in the club’s rise from humble beginnings – a team of friends playing midweek evening games with borrowed kit – to becoming, probably, THE biggest club in Norfolk cricket with 21 teams. He pointed out that fittingly 2023, the club’s 50th season, was the most successful in its history with 3 senior teams promoted and county competition wins in 4 different age groups. With founder members, Chris Lacey, Mike Phoenix, John Griffin and Chris Betts all in attendance along with over 100 other past and present players, the President proposed a toast to the club before cutting a magnificent cake, baked by the event organiser, Nania Poulson.
With a video on the history of the club and a display of statistics from the past 50 years, there were plenty of reminders of the club’s “glorious past” and therefore plenty to reminisce about while the bar, a Pims station, barbecue, pizza oven, ‘afternoon tea’ stall, ice-cream van and bouncy castle just about served everybody’s needs. The excellent ‘Lowlife’ provided the music and, with England winning a last-gasp victory over Slovakia in the Euros, everybody went home happy.
Steve Phoenix said, “It was an amazing day involving club members of all ages and their families. It was great to see so many past players make the effort to return – some travelling long distances to be there. There was a real buzz about the place as people caught up with friends they hadn’t seen for a while and generally, I think, everyone enjoyed themselves. A huge thank you to the organising committee and, especially the bar staff and barbecue/pizza volunteers, for helping make the day such a success.”
The gallery of photographs, including some aerial ones, courtesy of Graeme Taplin of ‘Drone Photography Ltd.’, and others by Alice Greenslade and other club members certainly capture the magnificence of Melton Park and the full flavour of a memorable day.
