The 2007 Remnants CC annual general meeting was held at the Fitzwilliam College Cricket Ground bar at 8:00pm on Tuesday, March 20, 2007. A reasonable turn-out of ten members were in attendance, and there were also two apologies.
A large portion of the AGM was spent discussing the perennial problem of late- and non-arrivals at Remnants games and, particularly, what could be done about it beyond last year's resolution that players who neither turn up, nor make an effort to contact Geoff or the ground, not be contacted to play thereafter.
The combination of gnarly Cambridge traffic and people's fallible memories (as well as some less forgiveable, seemingly arbitrary no-shows) combine to make it almost unavoidable that the selected eleven won't always be ready to go at the scheduled start of play. Certainly it would be appreciated if players could make every effort to be at the ground on time (including calling Geoff or the ground to check in cases of uncertainty about weather or scheduling), but it was felt that naming a twelfth man for all games was one way around this problem.
The twelfth man would be obliged to turn up for the start of play and then would either take their place in the team (in the event of one of the eleven not arriving) or, if they still wanted to stay at the ground, take on the more traditional duties of the role, scoring, umpiring, operating the scoreboard, or taking out drinks to the more infirm members of the club. Clearly this represents something of a sacrifice, especially if the named eleven arrive, but no-one should be needed to do this more than twice a season (once being more likely). There was also some discussion of whether and how to reward members who take on this role, with suggestions ranging from guaranteed selection for the next match of their choosing to the waiving of match fees for their next game (and, of course, twelfth men not being charged a match fee even if they play and bat through the innings). Such carrots aside, this scheme can only work if the membership supports it and, in particular, being as punctual as possible when acting as twelfth man, a detail without which the scheme would be pointless.
Any feedback, suggestions, criticisms, etc. about this initiative would be more than welcome.
