from the boundary
News from Legendary statistician, Nicholas Evanson
NICK GAYWOOD IN CONVERSATION WITH PETER HARDY
For those of you who remember the great Devon CCC side of the 1990s, the above online event is being hosted by The Cricket Society this coming Thursday at 7.30pm (£5 if you aren’t a member of The Cricket Society). Nick was a prolific left handed opening batter during the Golden Era for the county club. The link to booking a ticket is below:
There is actually a rumour circulating that Evo will be submitting a question for his namesake to answer!
sonny’s winning return
After the disappointment of Australia, Sonny Baker made a successful return to England Lions action this morning in the UAE, opening the bowling against Pakistan Shaheens and claiming 1 for 29 in the Lions 4 wicket win in the first of three T20 matches. The 2nd T20 match is on Sunday.
OPENING UP CRICKET
Evo who was recently formally appointed as the club’s first EDI Officer has said, “if members thought last year was big for EDI for the club they ain’t seen nothing yet. Literally within minutes of the option of having stickers on their bats promoting Opening Up Cricket there was positive responses from both Australia and New Zealand.” Evo is already putting a proposal together to improve access to the nets for those in wheelchairs as well as writing a shopping list of old kit / equipment that he would like to “acquire“ for recycling to help the club’s EDI work.
For those of you interested in finding out more about the work of Opening Up Cricket, their website can be found at:
MIKE ROWSE RIP (updated)
It is with must sadness the Committee has to inform members of the passing of Mike Rowse a former Kingskerswell CC player who in his later years appears to have lived in Cornwall with his wife, Pauline. A full Obituary will be published on the website when those who knew him have forwarded their memories of him.
According to Tim Chapman, Mike was a useful right handed batter and a sharp right arm bowler when his back allowed. Tim and Mike room shared on several Kerswell Tours but stories of those tours have to stay on tour. However, Tim said, “Mike was a great bloke and was responsible for me joining Kingskerswell CC.”
Paul Mitchell said, “Mike was a hard hitting opening batsman, a bustling fast bowler and a very good fielder. In one season he took a club record 47 catches, mainly at silly mid on!
In the current era, a friendly match is generally regarded as a bit of fun, but prior to league cricket there was no such thing as an uncompetitive friendly. Mike played every game to win but never carried any misery into any bar or clubhouse after a loss. He was the life and soul of the team and enjoyed the importance of the social side after each match. A very very generous man in many ways.
After leaving Kingskerswell, he wasn't a great lover of league cricket, Mike moved to Stokeinteignhead and became a much loved member at the club but retained his friendship with us all at KCC. When Stoke lost their old ground, Mike stepped in and bought a field. Fast forward to now and Stoke are still playing on that same field at Netherton. Mike generously sold the ground to the club and I’d wouldn't imagine that much money changed hands!!
Mike and Pauline moved back to Mullion after Mike sold his Insurance Broker business.
I consider myself very lucky to have called Mike a teammate and a mate.”
MORE QUOTES TO FOLLOW
news from new zealand
The club are pleased to inform members that it’s returning overseas player, Tobias Delahunty, was part of the Weedons CC 1st XI which won the Ray White & Mortgage Mates Premier T20 Grade Grand Final beating Plains Plumbing & Gas Darfield CC 1st XI by 25 runs.
Well Done Tobias and See You Soon
Collaboration with Paignton CC
“Its no them and us when it comes to TKCC and Paignton CC.” Evo and Tim Ward AKA Wardy their Chair have come to mutual agreements over ID checks for DBSs and also the need for spare new balls.
If the Safeguarding Officers for the respective clubs doesn’t want to do an ID Check for personal reasons, they the Safeguarding Officer from the other club will do it – as Evo is Torbay based, he has agreed to pick up any Paignton ones if necessary. As Evo said, “it is just Best Practice to have a plan B in place.”
With the ruling that a new ball is needed if the match ball is lost within the first five overs in the top divisions, clubs could end up running short and buying a whole box of six is expensive overkill. Therefore, if this happens, the two clubs will help each other out where possible if one has a significant surplus and the other is running short. If it does need to happen, the recipient club will pay for the ball(s).
HOLLACOMBE UPDATE
No photos this month but another successful morning this morning – even a client confined to a special bed participated for the first time. A fantastic example of what you can do not what you can’t do.
To further improve the clients experience in the future, thanks must got to Mark Tyler, dad of the recently returned James for increasing the music which will be on offer and to Angelo Cambianica of Torquay Tennis Club for providing some more Pickleballs which have turned out to be the surprise hit, no pun intended, of the indoor sessions just to prove Evo wrong!
CHANCE TO LEARN A NEW SKILL AND HELP THE CLUB
With the regular 2nd XI Scorers wanting to reduce their commitments (as raised at the recent Club AGM) and Evo not wanting to be totally tied to the Scorebox (you heard that hear first). The club is in serious need of some more people who are willing to score (even if it just for the odd match) with the increased number of fixtures. Therefore, anyone interested there is a free online course and more details can be found below:
https://www.devoncricket.co.uk/online-scoring-course-launched
Evo who is a Level S2 - Representative Game Scorer Professional and ECB Accredited Scorer is willing to support anyone who is interested in doing the training to learn a new skill and help the club at the same time. He can be contacted via nevanson@hotmail.com
Alternatively if anyone is interested in scoring electronically, Evo can sign post to the relevant links as there are face to face courses available.
NEW LEVEL 1 SAFEGUARDING COURSE
For those members of the Club who wish to do Level 1 Safeguarding and have access the ECB E-Learning portal. The Cricket Regulator has revamped the course and the portal can be found at:
https://elearning.ecb.co.uk/login/index.php
Although Evo didn’t need to complete the new package, he did it out of interest and has said, “any club member would benefit from completing it as Safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.” He went onto say, “if anyone wants to do the course but doesn’t have access to the E-Learning portal, it can be arranged.”
calling years 3 to 8 - half term coaching @ devon cricket centre
The Devon Cricket Foundation is running courses on Friday 20 February. For more details go to:
preparing for 1st october 2026
No this isn’t an early April Fools. The changes to the Laws of Cricket which will come into force on 1st October 2026 have just been released:
So while we still have these dark evenings why don’t you get ahead of the game with some light reading!
LADIES INDOOR SOFTBALL DEBUT
To think a year ago there was no W&G Cricket at TKCC. Now on their debut in the Devon Women’s Softball Indoor League, squad rotation was necessary! Their debut match resulted in a win against Barton CC. Unfortunately they fell just short in their second match against Ashburton CC. One thing the players all learned is don’t give your wicket away as wickets lost are very costly with the scoring system used for Indoor Pairs Cricket. A special thank you must go to Simon Rice for acting as Team Coach and Evo for scoring. The Ladies return to action in a fortnight’s time against Stoke Gabriel CC at 11am and South Devon CC at midday. For those who want to come and support on the 15th, there is a small viewing area at Paignton Academy (Borough Road Site).
quick fire josh
Overnight in Melbourne, Josh Thompson scored a run a ball 56 for Oak Park St Francis de Sales 1st XI in their 58 run win over Doutta Stars 1st XI. Next weekend Josh will be taking on Druids 1st XI away in a two-day match played over one weekend.
Well Done Josh
BIG NEWS FROM THE CLUB AGM
With the merged club expanding so rapidly the members voted to split the role of Chairperson. Dennis Brewer is reverting from his role as Joint President (Ian Western returns to the role) to become Chair of Business and Facilities while Steve Waters becomes Chair of Cricket.
THE VOLUNTEER MOMENT OF THE YEAR BAT ON TOUR
Where it all began with the star of the show, Diane, who is one of the clients at Hollacombe CRC.
https://www.torbayandsouthdevon.nhs.uk/uploads/25308.pdf?last-updated=20251014
It wouldn’t be safe for the bat to go out on without the generosity of Wes Fowler of Devon County Sports who provided a Bat Cover FOC.
Evo has become a master of sourcing old kit that can be used at Hollacombe CRC and Torquay Tennis Club has been very obliging with this (well it does help that Evo went to school with the Club Manager) and Fran who was recently appointed their first ever female Chair said as a fellow champion of EDI this will continue .
As some of you will know, Evo volunteers in Hector’s House Charity Shop and Natalie the Shop manager has got use to his eyes lighting up when some donations come in. She immediately knows there are going to one of three places – Hollacombe CRC being one! (The others being Autistic After Hours and Dimensions for Autism.)
https://www.hectorshousecatrescue.co.uk/
Ultimately the success of Evo’s work at Hollacombe CRC over the last nine months wouldn’t have been possible with the support of the club and its members.
THE CHAIR AND EVO BRAVE THE FLOODS!
The Chair and Evo paddled through the floods in East Devon but fortunately the Devon Cricket Foundation Club Seminar – “Thriving Today, Securing Tomorrow – The Future Of Your Club” was held in a sandy area, namely Sandy Park. (A former Exeter Chief has played cricket at The Rec and another watched Torquay CC at Budleigh Salterton CC. Name them!)
After surviving the wroth of Evo for not knowing about the Volunteer Moment of the Year photo there was a brief Introduction from Matt Theedom the Devon CF CEO, who actually made his debut for Sandford CC 1st XI as an emergency sub fielder many years ago at The Rec. The two worrying stats he provided was there had been 22 Safeguarding cases and 9 cases dealt with by the Cricket Regulator – fortunately none involving TKCC as far as I am aware.
Next up was Scott Chappell the Operations Manager for the CF who just went through a few points at a high level. Scott was then followed by the “Queen of W&G Cricket” better known as Ann-Marie Presswell who talked about how clubs could get involved with the Women’s T20 World Cup this year – TKCC have been proactive and are already a Supporter Club for the tournament. The first half of the seminar ended with the key note speaker, James Simpson, a Senior Manager from the ECB who briefed the room on new developments on supporting clubs and volunteers including the new Accreditation and Affiliation process.
After a short break there was three breakout workshops (sadly TKCC could only attend two being a person light but the clb’s representation was better then many). The Chair with his legal hat on headed for “Club Legal Status Options” while Evo with his EDI hat on headed for “Creating a Welcoming Environment.” Both workshops certainly gave food for thought – more details once the Club Committee has met post AGM. The missing breakout workshop was “Funding and Facilities.”
The strapline from Evo though was simply, “plenty of ideas and plenty of support to develop them.”
SONNY BAKER RETURNS TO ACTION!
After the disappointment of Australia the club is pleased to announce that Sonny is fit and raring to go again and will be off to Abu Dhabi with England Lions to take on Pakistan Shaheens later next month in 5 ODIs and 3 T20s. Freddie Flintoff the Lions Head Coach will be supported by newly re-appointed Men's Elite National Pace Bowling Lead, Troy Cooley and a certain Ben Stokes.
The fixtures are:
Friday 20 February 2026 - 1st T20: Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Sunday 22 February 2026 - 2nd T20: Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tuesday 24 February 2026 - 3rd T20: Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Friday 27 February 2026 - 1st 50-over match: Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Sunday 1 March 2026 - 2nd 50-over match: Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Wednesday 4 March 2026 - 3rd 50-over match: Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Friday 6 March 2026 - 4th 50-over match: Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Monday 9 March 2026 - 5th 50-over match: Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Good Luck Sonny
Exeter Racecourse launches Community Raceday and calls for Devon’s community heroes
Another opportunity for the club to recognise it’s volunteers while promoting itself: