Celebration lunch for Toby

August 16, 2025

A SPECIAL celebration lunch has been held to mark Toby Pound’s retirement after 34 seasons as secretary of Suffolk Cricket.

The 70-year-old is stepping down at the end of the season and the lunch was held on the Monday of Suffolk’s three-day NCCA Cluberly Championship fixture versus Staffordshire.

The fixture at Copdock was Toby’s last home match as secretary after being appointed at the AGM in December 1991. The lunch was organised by Suffolk Cricket President Tony Warrington, who was instrumental in persuading Toby to take on the role.

Those attending included presidents of clubs that host matches on behalf of the county as well as committee members from both Suffolk and Staffordshire.

Nick Archer, who is Chair of both Staffordshire and the National Counties Cricket Association, of which Toby is a Non-Executive Director, paid tribute to his unstinting work.

Toby (pictured above) was then presented with a framed montage of photographs by former Suffolk captain Phil Caley, who is currently President of the NCCA.

Since taking on the role, Toby has been at the forefront of changes that have taken place in the relationship between the County Cricket Club and the Cricket Board in Suffolk.

He was appointed a director when the Suffolk Cricket Board was first established in 1997 alongside the County Cricket Club, taking on the role of secretary of both organisations.

Toby then played an important role in the merger in March 2022 to form a new governing body – Suffolk Cricket Ltd, of which he was a director until 2024.

During his 34 seasons as Secretary of Suffolk, Toby and his wife Denise have regularly attended matches home and away, visiting 90 different grounds – 87 watching Suffolk and three on behalf of the NCCA.

He was initially elected to the MCCA Management Committee in December 2016, which led to his appointment as a Non-Executive Director of the NCCA Limited when the MCCA competitions and governance were rebranded in 2020 after 124 years.

Toby, who was a commercial property lawyer, has more recently been called upon to use his expertise as a member of the ECB Working Group on the County Governance Framework.

He said: “It has been such a privilege to be secretary of Suffolk and to be involved in a sport which I enjoy so much, and also to have close friendships with so many other county colleagues and with players who have played for Suffolk.”

Toby picked out his highlights, which included Suffolk winning the Minor Counties KO Trophy at Lord’s in 2007 and the inaugural NCCA Eastern Division title in 2021.

“The day we defeated Cheshire to win the Knock-out Trophy at Lord’s was a special day because we had access to the pavilion and the home dressing room, which was a real treat and probably the only time I will get to go in there.

“Then the defeat of Staffordshire at Copdock on the last day of the 2021 season to win the Eastern Division title was memorable due to a remarkable unbroken partnership of 89 for the last wicket,” he said.

Toby picked out two other matches that stick in the memory, the first of which was versus Norfolk at Mildenhall CC in 1996 when the visitors were 198 for 1 chasing 252 to win.

They subsequently lost their last nine wickets for just 43 runs to collapse to 241 all out as captain Phil Caley claimed 6 for 29 in what proved to be Suffolk Vice-Chairman Cliff Piper’s last match before he passed away.

Toby also selected the Eastern Division One match versus Staffordshire at Checkley CC in 2022 as a highlight, when a young Suffolk side conceded 423 for 5 and trailed by 90 runs on first innings.

Suffolk then bowled out their hosts for 190 second time around before scoring 284 for 5 to win by five wickets in another remarkable turnaround.

Asked which Suffolk player he had enjoyed watching the most during his tenure, Toby replied: “Phil Caley was a team player. It was a joy to work alongside him for so many years when he was captain.

“He was a massively talented cricketer and also played cricket the way it should be played.”

 

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