Bob Hall is new English Schools' Cricket Association chairman (From Hereford Times)

Bob Hall is new English Schools' Cricket Association chairman

7:00am Saturday 22nd October 2011 in Cricket By Ian Morgan

BOB HALL will be batting for the county this weekend when the English Schools’ Cricket Association (ESCA) gathers in Rosson- Wye.

He will be taking over the ESCA chairman’s role at their annual meeting on Saturday afternoon.

Bob has been proposed and accepted as the new chairman and is also organising the evening’s meal for 65 guests at the Royal Hotel.

“This is the first time that someone from Herefordshire has been proposed and accepted as the chairman and it’s a huge honour for me,” said Bob, who has been vice-chair for the past 12 months.

“I will batting for Herefordshire for 12 months and I hope that I will be a good ambassador for the county.”

Bob will be making a special presentation to Ken Lake, the general secretary of the ESCA for the past 20 years.

Bob is the secretary and treasurer of the Herefordshire Schools’ Cricket Association, who are supported by Hereford Lions Club.

He first became involved in the county cricket scene in the mid 1980s when he was a teacher.

His good friend Richard Wydenbach was the under-13 team manager and the late Jack Roberts was the association’s secretary and treasurer.

“I have really enjoy my involvement in Herefordshire Schools’ Cricket and also the ESCA,” said Bob.

“I played a bit of cricket for Brockhampton 3rd but I am not the best player and I am probably better as an organiser.

“As a county, I think we still struggle against the minor counties as we did 20 years ago. But I have accepted that this is down to our population - we simply have fewer players to chose from.”

Saturday evening’s guest speakers are ex-Somerset and Derbyshire batsman Peter Bowler and founder of the prestigious Bunbury Festival, Dr David English.

He praised the work of Herefordbased Steve Watkins, from Cricket Wales, and Andrew Jones, from Monmouth School, who co-organised July’s Bunbury Festival at Monmouth School.

“It was the 25th anniversary of the Bunbury Festival and it was a hugely successful tournament “It’s the top under-15 cricket festival for players from all over England and David English has been a fantastic supporter of it.

“David is a former manager of the Bee Gees and has got some amazing contacts from the world of entertainment.”