Lancashire Spin Magazine Autumn 2023

Andy
Anson
— CHAIR —
I
hope you had a productive summer and are looking forward
to the festive period. I would like to begin this update by
reflecting on the 2023 cricket season. As I wrote in these
pages back in April ahead of the season, bringing trophies back to
Emirates Old Trafford is our number one priority and as a club we
have not won enough silverware in recent years. Hopes were high
after coming runners-up in every Men’s competition during 2022 and
so we were all disappointed that we were unable to go one better
and win one of the competitions this year. More frustratingly, we
seemed to go backwards results-wise. Although we made progress
with our Regional Women’s team, Thunder, we still need to be more
competitive. We remain focused on addressing this and building a
winning mindset for both our Men’s and Women’s teams.
Following the conclusion of the
season, it was announced that
our Men’s Head Coach Glen
Chapple would be stepping
down after seven seasons
in the role and away from a
31-year association with the
Club. I know that Mark Chilton
will elaborate further within his
column, but on behalf of the
Board I would like to place on
record our appreciation for
Glen’s contribution to Lancashire
Cricket. Glen has been a legend
of Lancashire Cricket, in both a
playing and coaching capacity,
over such a sustained period
of time and his presence will
be undoubtedly missed.
However, as one door closes,
another one opens and the
recruitment process for Glen’s
successor is well underway, and
we look forward to sharing an
update on this once we are in a
position to do so. The recruitment
process will be a rigorous one
to ensure that we appoint the
right candidate to take our Men’s
squad forward. As mentioned
above, we need to be winning
trophies and that will be the
number one priority for our new
Head Coach, whist keeping
a focus on the development
of new, young talent.
Following a recruitment process of
their own, Thunder have recently
announced the appointment of
former Nottinghamshire captain
and England wicketkeeper, Chris
Read as their new Head Coach.
This follows the announcement in
August that Paul Shaw would be
stepping down at the end of the
season. Paul has led Thunder
since the creation of the regional
structure back in 2020 and
his hard work led to the team
reaching Charlotte Edwards Cup
Finals Day for the first time this
summer. We wish Paul well as
he leaves us in order to spend
more time with his family. Once
again, with the investment and
resources which are being put
into the Thunder programme,
we as a Board believe that we
should be in a position to be
winning trophies and this will be
the aim of a new Head Coach.
Off the field, we were pleased
that Emirates Old Trafford
was allocated with a major
match package of International
fixtures for the period covering
2025-2031. This includes four
India Men’s fixtures, a Men’s
Ashes Test as well as five
International Women’s fixtures.
The package provides us with
seven years of certainty which
is important for us as a Club,
as we continue to pay for the
redevelopment work which has
taken place at Emirates Old
Trafford during recent years.
4 SPIN AUTUMN 2023