We welcomed Phil Neale OBE to our last meeting of the 2024/25 and 62nd season.
Phil made his debut for Worcestershire CCC in 1975 and played for a further 15 seasons as a middle order batsman, scoring over 17,000 first class runs and achieving the feat of 1,000 runs in a season on eight occasions.
He captained Worcs. for a decade, leading them to considerable success with 6 trophies including the Sunday League twice and the County Championship in successive seasons. He was named as a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1989.
On retirement, he was appointed as Director of Cricket at Northants followed by a similar role at Warks CCC.
He was also one of those rare individuals able to pursue a career in professional cricket and Association Football, including playing for Scunthorpe United and Lincoln City.
He subsequently worked for 21 years as the Operations Managers of the England Cricket Team and has recently been appointed as President of Worcestershire CCC.
Phil talked passionately and with good humour about his career, his captaincy role and leadership style (including working with Ian Botham) and the highlights of his work with the England Team, including winning the Ashes in 2005 and the T20 World Cup.
Chairman Neil Swanwick concluded the meeting by thanking Phil for his talk but also all of the committee for their support in putting on the programme of meetings and in particular our former Secretary John Windle who had secured all of the excellent speakers, Niven Roper our Treasurer over many years for expertly managing the finances and distributing newsletters and Bob Sergeant for the raffles.
Neil Swanwick
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