WHAT A SEASON!

The U15's Colts played 7 CEDCB Division 'A' League games, 4 CEDCB Cup matches and 1 Nationals Cup round between May and September 2006...

Little did we know then that on a damp, early Sunday morning in May, when we played our first game against Shenfield that we would go on and have such a successful and fantastic season.

Our first league match saw Aaron (Skiddaz) West play his first U15's game for Brentwood Colts against local rivals Shenfield and in some style he went on to make a debut 100 before retiring. Ed Allen scored a cameo 21 as we rattled up 159 runs for 4 wickets in our 20 overs. We then saw Sam (Abdul) Rounce bowl a hat-trick and finish with figures of 2 overs, 1 maiden, 2 runs for 4 wickets. Doubtless to say we won this game fairly comfortably as Shenfield could only muster up 117 runs for 7 wickets in there allocated 20 overs.

Our next match was in the CEDCB 20/20 Cup against High Roding. We managed to take 7 of their wickets in 20 overs conceding 64 runs with James Welham taking 3 wickets for 4 runs off 2 overs. We then made hard work of getting the required runs and lost 7 wickets before acquiring 68 runs in 17.5 overs ( to march on to the next round). Our other new season signing Ed (Pea) Nation made his U15's debut in this match but was out for 0.

We then had to play Buckhurst Hill in the Nationals 20/20 Cup, unfortunately for us they were too strong and after taking 6 of their wickets for 142 runs off 20 overs we only managed to score 112 runs off 19 overs before being bowled out.

Little Waltham were our next League opponents and we managed to contain them at 93 for 6 off 20 overs. Matt Lowman took 2 wickets for 12 runs off 4 overs. We then secured the win scoring 96 for 3 off 18.5 overs with James Boon and Matt Lowman scoring 32 and 14 not out respectively.

Our League trip to Springfield saw us score 179 for 3 wickets off 20 overs. Opening batsman Ed Nation scored 66 and Ed Allen 50. We then contained them at 130 for 8 off 20 overs to secure our third successive league win. Gautam Datta had bowling figures of 2 overs, 0 maidens, 2 wickets for 8 runs.

In the quarter finals of the CEDCB 20/20 Cup we played Little Baddow. Once again we skittled them all out for 65 runs off 19.2 overs. James Welham collected another 3 wickets off 1.2 overs, 1 maiden for 0 runs. A truly brilliant piece of bowling.

The combination of Ed (Pea) Nation and Ed (Teddy) Allen helped us secure our win, and a semi-final place, scoring 22 and 38 respectively.

Our 4th League match was against Bentley, after losing the toss the home side decided to put us in to bat (BIG MISTAKE!). We opened the batting with Aaron (Skiddaz) West and Jack (Tino) Turner. It was not long before the both of them began to punish the Bentley bowlers. Boundary after boundary came with the score board replicating a Las Vegas fruit machine. When Aaron had reached 103 and Jack Turner 61 the scoreboard showed 177 for 0 wicket. We then decided to retire Aaron and let Ed Allen finish the innings. With just a couple of overs left we pushed the score to 198 for 0 wicket off 20 overs.

With the home side looking disillusioned and dejected we decided to give most of our team an opportunity to bowl. Bentley did manage to score 113 for 9 off 20 overs but our 4th league victory was never in doubt.

Our next match was the semi-final of the CEDCB 20/20 Cup against Billericay; we won the toss and decided to bat. Opener Aaron (Skiddaz) West scored another brilliant 94 not out as we set them a target of 145 runs whilst losing just 3 wickets off our allocated 20 overs.

After a steady start Billericay looked as though they might get the required runs for victory. But then we unleashed our secret weapon, Sam (Abdul) Rounce came on to bowl his first over. With his first three balls he took a magnificent hat-trick. This was followed by Ross Phillips getting in on the act and taking a further 3 wickets. Billericay staggered to 114 for 6 off 20 overs and as they say 'the rest is history' Brentwood were in the cup final and Sam Rounce had bowling figures of 4 overs, 0 maidens, 3 wickets for 17 runs.

Our next league victims were Hutton who we dispatched for 134 for 5 off 20 overs with Jack (Tino) Turner taking 2 wickets for 16 runs off 4 overs. Our opening combination of Aaron (Skiddaz) West and Ed (Pea) Nation put on 70 before Nation was out. Aaron went on to make another glorious 85 not out to help secure our 5th league victory in a row.

Cloghams came to the Old Country Ground as our 6th league opponents and we bowled them out for 123 runs with Harri Jones getting 3 wickets for 16 runs off 3.4 overs followed by Ed (Pea) Nation with 3 wickets for 18 runs off 4 overs.

This time around it was Ed (Pea) Nation and Ed (teddy) Allen who put us on the road to victory with Nation on 54 not out and Allen 36. League victory number 6 for Brentwood !.

Our 7th and final league game was against Chelmsford whom we were to play in the CEDCB Cup Final. Batting first we set them a target of 148 after losing 8 off our allocated 20 overs. Ed (teddy) Allen was top scorer with 69 followed by a handy 32 from Jack (Tino) Turner.

Chelmsford were no match for the 'Brentwood Mean Machine' and we skittled them all out for 70 off 16.4 overs with the spoils shared by bowlers Turner, Boon, Rounce and Jones.

This final 7th league victory in a row meant that the Brentwood Colts U15's team were crowned 'CEDCB Division 'A' League Champions of 2006'.

This left the team with one match remaining for the season, 'the Cup Final' against Chelmsford whom we had just beaten conclusively.

On Sunday 3rd September 2006 at Chelmer Park we played Chelmsford Colts U15's for the 'CEDCB Cup'. Brentwood won the toss and decided to bowl, Chelmsford were all out for 99 off 17.4 overs with 'Man of the Match' Chris (Stocky) Stockwell getting 5 wickets for 14 runs, bowling 1 maiden off 4 overs an excellent display of spin bowling.

After a cautious but safe start we began to lose wickets and it was not long before the dream of the league and cup double looked a 'far distant cry'. A final rally from Stocky did get us within striking distance of the Chelmsford total but a mix up saw him run out for 34 and our remaining wickets fell quickly leaving us on a final total of 98 all out just 2 runs short of victory.

This was our final game of the season and what a fantastic season it has been. We won all 7 of our league matches, were runners up in the Cup final and lost to Buckhurst Hill in the Nationals Cup. By any standard this has been an excellent effort by all our squad players, coaching team and of course team management.

In terms of individual achievements, our two new season signings of Aaron West and Ed Nation gave us further depth to our already strong batting line up, two extra bowlers, Aaron's wicket keeping qualities and Ed's brilliant fielding skills not to mention the experience of Aaron being the opening batsmen for Essex CC U15's. Along with West and Nation we also saw great contributions with the bat from Ed Allen, James Boon, Jack Turner, Harri Jones, Chris Stockwell and Matt Lowman.

Our bowling attack of Jack Turner, James Boon, Ed Allen, Matt Lowman, Harri Jones, Sam Rounce, Chris Stockwell and James Welham all performed well with Sam successfully taking two hat-tricks against Shenfield and Billericay and Chris achieving a 5 wicket haul in the CEDCB Cup Final against Chelmsford.

In the field the players were very focused and we gave little away. We took many difficult catches and perfected some brilliant run outs helping us to keep the opposition on the back foot. In terms of fielding achievements our 2006 'King of the Catchers' goes to Ed Allen who took 8 followed by Ed Nation and Aaron West on 4 each.

In terms of the Captaincy we decided at the beginning of the season to alternate this roll from time to time. Chris Stockwell, James Boon and Aaron West took the skipper's role on more than one occasion and they all did an excellent job.

Finally I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank the coaching staff of Steve West, Dave Stockwell and Tony Jones for training the squad on Friday nights, warming the team up at matches and offering their experience and advice to the individual team players and to myself as Team Manager, to Jan West (Club Secretary) for scoring, umpiring and helping me with each match, and to all of the squad players for turning out each week, sometimes having to play for both school and club with very little respite.

Well done to all and good luck to the Team Manager and Under 15's squad next season.

Peter Lowman

(Brentwood Colt's U15's Team Manager 2006)

(ALL OF THE TEAMS INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS CAN BE FOUND HERE)