Club Week: Sir Garfield Sobers inspires, Rob Andrew opens pavilion and Hayfield's pioneering move

The Cricketer rounds up some of the more unusual stories of the past seven days from across the local cricket scene...

Sir Garfield Sobers inspiring the next generation

West Indies legend Sir Garfield Sobers is to engage in a special coaching session at Witham Cricket Club on Thursday and meet their club members and junior players.

He was expected to be at Witham Cricket Club's home ground on Thursday afternoon when he would conduct a coaching session with young players, before having a question and answer session with members.

Witham captain Jake Wakelin said everyone at the club was excited by the prospect of the special visit.

"It has come out of nowhere, but to have someone like that at our club is going to be incredible," Wakelin told Braintree and Witham Times.

"He'll spend time with our colts players and then have a question and answer session and it was an opportunity that we just couldn't pass up.

"We're expecting between 100 and 150 people from the club and it's great for a club like Witham to have a legend of the game, someone who has achieved so much coming to spend time with us.

"Developing youth cricket is something that is very important to us and we pride ourselves on that.

"It's going to be so special for the young Witham players to meet and be coached for a while by someone like Sir Gary Sobers, but it will be very special indeed for members of all ages."

Somerset burglars locked up after £14,000 theft

Two men who burgled a Somerset-based cricket club have been jailed following a trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Steven Robbins and Ian Comins were jailed for 24 months and 12 months respectively after they admitted stealing £14,000 worth of machinery and cider from the groundman’s store at Midsomer Norton Cricket Club last month.

That included four lawn mowers, 40 litres of diesel, a wheelbarrow, air compressor, strimmer and cans of cider.

A witness saw them in a BMW car at 4.40am, towing the goods on a trailer.

The duo also stole garden benches worth £725 from the Mole Valley Farmers shop in Frome.

Judge Euan Ambrose told the pair: "The offending involved the two of you, it was planned, repeated and at night."

Hayfield women’s team

Hayfield Cricket Club have launched an all-girls junior team in the Derbyshire & Cheshire League for the first time

The rest of the league is comprised of boys or mixed teams, but having lost to Whaley Bridge, Hayfield came back to win their second game against High Lane.

Mark Peacock, who runs the girls’ section at Hayfield with Alan Lomas, told The Buxton Advertiser: "This is the first time an all-girl team has entered and played in the league and is a great achievement for the girls, the club and girls sport in general in the High Peak.

"I think teams are very surprised when they realise it’s all girls that turn up, though I think they are used to seeing the odd girl playing.

"Most teams are all boys in that league, but a few teams do have one or two girls playing now.

"To be fair, I think once the game starts, the girls get the credit they deserve when the boys realise they can play a good standard.

"I think the boys and parents are impressed with the girls’ standard.

"Hayfield currently have around 40 girls playing or training aged from seven to 17."

Jevington in ashes and East Sussex in shock

A community cricket ground in East Sussex has had its club house burgled and burnt to the ground.

The ground is now covered in ash and debris after the incident occurred on Sunday night or the early hours of Monday morning and in which valuable goods, including the club’s lawn mower, were stolen.

Wayne Morris, who works at the Jevington Cricket Club in Jevington, was horrified to find the entire tearoom and parts of the club had gone up in flames.

"I only heard about it the next day because everyone in the village was talking about it," he told The Argus.

"I was really shocked because every year we do have a couple of break-ins but never ever have they been this bad.

"The whole thing is ash.

"It would have happened on the Sunday night, at a time when no one was around because nobody saw it in flames."

Young players' memory

Sussex CEO Rob Andrew was in attendance for the opening of a new pavilion at a Kent cricket club.

The former England rugby player cut the ribbon to declare the pavilion open at Edenbridge Cricket Club to replace the old structure at Blossoms Park.

The pavilion is dedicated to the memory of talented young player Matthew Cox, who died in 2015 due to his epilepsy, and the completion of the Matthew Cox Community Pavilion is the culmination of a massive £450,000 fundraising campaign.

"After Matthew's passing the club and his own circle of friends wished to establish a permanent memorial to his talent and more importantly, how he was thought of in the community, not just as a sportsman," his father Tim told The Edenbridge Chronicle.

"His sudden death prompted many touching messages through Facebook and social media relating not only to his sporting activities but also to him as a person."