New strip for County teams?

Today saw the annual pre-season get together for the 3 team squads and anyone else with a possible interest in playing for North Yorkshire. Of the 89 who played last season, just 50 took part and there were 7 newcomers, including 2 Juniors. The format for the day had been jointly organized by the 3 captains and it was Tornados captain Rod Dawson who opened proceedings with an explanation as to how the day would progress.

The morning session was given over to a series of skills exercises plus a 5 end mini match in either Pairs or Triples. These were all awarded points with the promise of some mystery prizes for those that came out on top. The exercises used were 2 mats drawing to 2 differing targets (4 woods), 2 mats playing Molkky (a skittles type game that rewarded very precise drawing, and penalized those with a heavy hand – only a single attempt with 1 wood was allowed) and 2 mats for a “Jack Attack” in which the idea was to ditch a line of 6 jacks using 4 woods within the space of only 1 minute. A theoretical maximum score across all these exercises was about 78 and the winners, Ken Taylor and Joyce Hughes managed a very creditable 28 each.

After a break for lunch the day resumed with each captain organizing their pool of players for a comprehensive roll-up ready for the first matches of the season on October 28th.

The day also saw the Chairman modelling the proposed new county strip which it is hoped will add a little colour in the winter months to come. (A formal proposal will be submitted shortly to the NESMBA committee to change their dress code to allow the new strip)