On Sunday, the Allstars season begun at what’s become our customary opening day fixture, against Valley End CC in Chobham. It’s a great venue for cricket and Valley End welcomed us as usual with some excellent tea. When we took the field, Martyn Langridge top scored for the Allstars.

Here’s some photos from the day – many thanks to Maxie for these!

Our preparation for the 2018 Allstars season is now firmly under way – with net sessions under our belts, we’re almost ready to go!

Our next net session will be this Saturday, at 5pm, and will also be at the Lord’s indoor school. We still have spaces available – if you’d like to join us, please get in touch with Haroon Khalid who’s organising this – or email our general email address stannesallstars@gmail.com.

This net session will be immediately followed by our pre-season get together, from 6.30pm onwards at the Duke of York, by St John’s Wood tube station. Everyone is welcome to come along, even if you can’t make the nets – would be great to see you all there!

Our 2018 social calendar kicks off with a trip to Sandown racecourse for Imperial Cup Day on Saturday 10 March. 7 races will be taking place featuring two Grade 3 hurdles and a listed national hunt flat race. Come along, have a bet (or not) and watch the action with the Allstars.

Sandown is a short walk from Esher station, which is half an hour from London Waterloo.

Tickets are £16 – but we can get a discount if we get 10 or more.  Please contact Garreth Duncan if you fancy coming along.

An excellent turnout of Allstars braved the weather and London Transport chaos to attend our AGM in Central London today.

Pete Cresswell has stepped up to take over from Nick Chadwick as our club captain for 2018. After an excellent year as our first captain in the post-Maxie era, Chadders continues as vice-captain. Haroon Khalid becomes our Director of Cricket. Garreth Duncan and Paul Bowman remain as club secretary and treasurer respectively, with Maxie staying on as fixtures secretary and Vivek Seth as social secretary.

We have plenty to look forward to in 2018 – as well as new fixtures in some pretty rural locations, we’ve got some exciting new social events planned before and during the season. More details to follow in the next few weeks, so watch this space!