Cricket End of an era as scorer declares after more than 30 years

He truly has scored more runs for Stapleton than anybody else

STAPLETON Cricket Club celebrated its 158th year in 2021. As part of its presentation evening, the club celebrated the end of an era when life member Colin Froud, was presented with a tankard in honour of his commitment to scoring for the club’s 1st XI over the last 33 years.

Colin, pictured, who joined the club some 65 years ago in 1956, has held many roles at Stapleton with the most recent being that of 1st XI scorer, a post he took up in 1988. His passion for neatness and getting things right meant he spent many hours in the different scoreboxes around Bristol (and wider region) collating the statistics for Stapleton CC and making many friendships over the years. Colin is held in high regard around the Bristol cricket scoring community with one of his proudest moments being asked to score for England versus Zimbabwe in 2003 - a testament to the standards he strived to achieve.

Asked about his favourite ground, he commented: “Without fail Sleepy Hollow at Stapleton. I lived at the bottom of the ground as a child and my Dad paid my club membership to join when I was 10 years old”.

When asked for a second favourite, he noted: “It really all depends on the person you are scoring with and there have been so many lovely people that it’s hard to pick one”.

Andy Chidgey, chairman of Stapleton CC, said of Colin: “Froudy’s been a stalwart at Stapleton for many, many years and has dedicated a huge amount of time and effort to help the club in many roles. It’s only our cricketing friend Old Father Time that has pulled stumps on his scoring role and we offer him our heartfelt thanks for an amazingly dedicated and top quality performance. He truly has scored more runs for Stapleton than anybody else.”

With Colin’s retirement, this does leave the club looking for a 1st XI scorer for the 2022 season and beyond. The position would suit someone keen to be part of a fantastic team and who would like to enjoy a day out at some fantastic venues across the Bristol area.

If you are new to scoring that is no problem, as the club will ensure full training is given and you will be accompanied by an experienced colleague from the opposition at all games. The team at Stapleton would love to hear from anyone interested.

Contact the club via email at stapletonccsec@gmail.com or by using the contact page on the club’s website www.stapleton.playcricket.com.