Director's Depart from Herefordshire Cricket

24 Oct 2023   |   By Richard Cox

HCL today announced that two directors are standing down for personal reasons from the Board of Herefordshire Cricket Limited. Their work and involvement over recent years has been invaluable to Cricket in Herefordshire and they will be sorely missed. The Board will now review its composition and announce forthcoming additions in due course following a recruitment process. In the meantime Richard Cox General Manager of Herefordshire Cricket commented –

It would be fair to say I have known Ian Macklin longer than Ian Milton having played Cricket with him at the City Sports Club for years and subsequently on various Herefordshire tours – his association with Herefordshire Cricket is legendary across so many genres and what he doesn’t know about Cricket in the county probably isn’t worth knowing frankly. In many ways he’s probably forgotten more about Herefordshire Cricket than most people will ever know.

Having been a key part of the set up on and off the field for so many years he will be missed for his sharp wit and erudite knowledge of Cricket, his calmness in times of woe and his true fanaticism for schools cricket and in particular the current hot topic of State School Boys Cricket which is on everyone’s lips presently. His service to the HCL in a tricky time will no doubt be remembered with admiration as a Board member and then Chair as the organisation undertook complex changes amidst speculation and difficulty.

To the end he carried it with a sense of doing ‘what’s right for Cricket’. As Roy Wargen (fellow Board Member) opined in a meeting last week ‘we need to keep remembering where we were not long ago and where we are now – this takes time and patience, and we need to show that patience now’. Of course, we need to show urgency too and that balance is never easy. So, as we wish ‘’Mack’’ the very best in the days that lie ahead and look on from afar we say thank you for everything and look forward to seeing you around the boundary in the Summer months.

 And now to Ian Milton whom I first ran across at an Over 50s game at Eastnor some years ago. Someone who has dedicated his time to Herefordshire Cricket in the form of overseeing so many aspects of the National Counties off field programme. From enabling shirt sponsors to the members newsletter to spending hours watching the team with its challenges and successes and perhaps even more notably and latterly his dedication in overseeing the commercial changes that HCL so desperately needs in order to generate more money into the youth cricket programmes in the County.

His instrumental role in securing a 3-year deal with Blackfinch Property has been transformative in offsetting so many unseen costs for parents and young players as we seek to resource our programmes in a more fulsome way. His further securing of four other partners has also been much needed and with this we would be much the worse. So thank you Milts for everything and you will always be welcome to Herefordshire Cricket at any moment.

Our thoughts at this stage is that we should honour these two gents at the Awards Night in Spring in a suitable way – Winter well Ian(s)’’