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Brentwood CC Yearbook - 2007 Season This is an on-line version of the 2007 Brentwood CC Yearbook produced by Tom Reilly.
Presiding over a Club that has had yet another season of success is becoming something of a ritual - albeit an extremely agreeable one, but that is indeed the fact of the matter, and as I mentioned at the Dinner and Dance, we have witnessed at least one of our sides win its Division every year now since 2002. I'm not enough of an anorak to check the League records, but I'd be very surprised if any other club could match that achievement. But with success comes even greater expectation. In a season severely mucked up by the weather, there was a tinge of disappointment that the 1st XI "only" finished fourth in the Premiership - perhaps because no less an organ than the Wisden Cricketer had tipped us pre-season to win it! "Only fourth"? Just a few years ago anyone venturing to suggest that our 1st XI would even be in the Premiership would have risked would have risked being sectioned. Now we shall reasonably and realistically expect them to win it in 2008. Nor do the expectations end there. Following their success this year, we'll expect our 2nds, 4ths and 5ths to maintain it next year. With the 2's finishing as runners-up in their first season back in their Premier Division, it's worth remembering that until we ourselves bucked the trend in 2004, every 2nd XI that won promotion to the Premier went straight back down again. We expected the 4ths to get promoted straightaway from the 3rd XI League Division 3: we expect them to go up again to Division 1 next season. And with our plethora of precocious and talented colts regularly coming off David Barbone's conveyor belt, we expect our 5ths to go up again into the 4th XI League Premier Division recently vacated by our own 4's. These expectations inevitably bring pressure, which is best - and necessarily - dealt with by commitment. We are incredibly lucky to have a number of totally committed individuals covering every aspect of our Club, and without whom we simply wouldn't be the force we are on the pitch. Generally, they get acknowledged in the Executive Committee's Report, if they get acknowledged at all, but I'd like to publicly add my own thanks to a few who certainly helped make my season more enjoyable.
In 2008 we have a number of exciting potential developments to keep us occupied. Having had to make our three-yearly re-application to maintain our Clubmark status at the back end of this year, we have embarked on a mountain of paperwork which will culminate with us becoming an ECB Focus Club next year. Apart from being a serious statement of intent, this will hopefully open a number of doors to grants for us, with the possibility that the County Ground Club may be able to afford to redevelop our pavilion and perhaps even accommodate indoor net facilities, a matter in which Essex County Cricket Board are showing a degree of interest. In any event, and on a separate issue, we hope to have completed the new outdoor net project by the start of next season, and we are also looking very closely at extending the main square, primarily to allow more colts games to be played there. All these initiatives are part of our continuing strive for improvement. We must keep trying to improve, both on and off the pitch, since to stand still would be to go backwards. And that is not an option so far as I am concerned. I hope you all feel the same. Malcolm Webb, President
Malcolm and Ken REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 2007 This was yet another year to remember for Brentwood Cricket Club. The inclement weather was probably the first thing that springs to mind for many of you. Those idle Saturdays or Sundays when domestic chores took precedence over the match. But that should not be our dominating thought as there were many positives from the season and many positives for the future. On the cricket field our 1st XI finished fourth again in their second season in the Premier League, having suffered just about every emotion from challenging for the title, fighting relegation, playing on very difficult wickets and in their last match securing fourth place and relegating Ilford. And there was Alston Bobb to bring life after Sutho. Alston introduced himself with an amazing display of all round cricket and endeared himself to the club with his bright Caribbean personality. Ilford Cricket Club definitely do not wish to play Brentwood, for after the 1st XI relegated their first team the 2nd XI pipped them to second place by one point in the last match. In their first season back in the Premier division the 2's have done remarkable well and with a little more luck may have won the title. Expectations are now high for next season. The 3rd XI maintained their Premier Division status, just. With two consecutive underperforming seasons the 3's need to revitalise the spark. There are a number of very promising colts that are beginning to make their way up the tree and of course with another year's experience and, I understand, a new skipper for 2008, performances should begin to pick up. The 4th XI, together with Wanstead 4's were promoted to the 3rd XI Division 3 and proceeded to finish first and second, as expected. Brentwood may well have won it but for some indifferent performances near the end of the season. Another new challenge awaits for another team with a new skipper for 2008. With a fledgling teenage skipper the 5th XI won the 4th XI East in a nail biting finish on the last day of the season. To be one of the two colts development teams and achieve the success they have is a remarkable achievement. Well done to Rhys and the boys. Ken Hobbs continues to lead the 6th XI, introducing colts to Saturday cricket. Whilst not setting the world alight with winning performances it is an invaluable job that the club would be much poorer for if it did not exist. Alan Houston, having passed 40,000 career runs, must be one of Malcolm's anoraks counting, has decided to hang his bat up. Congratulations Alan. On Sundays the Victorians continued to entertain on and off the field, and although they were not immune to the weather, it didn't interfere with their social activities. The Colts played many of their matches on a Sunday and with the increasing number of teams we have it is becoming increasingly difficult to schedule it all in. What a nice problem. Despite the weather the OCG has seen a lot of cricket this year. The Essex over 50's played although the over 60's match was a victim of the rain. The ground was hired to a number of external organisations for cricket and softball / rounders. Brentwood Cricket Club hosted the Shepherd Neame League Cup Final, between Ardleigh Green and Chingford. The weather was kind, there were many spectators and the beer and food were good. The league were very impressed with our performance. Brentwood Cricket Club did itself proud and the only reason we can see for not regularly holding it at the OCG is if we are in the final. Congratulations to all those that made this such a successful day. The OCG also hosted the CEDCB (Central Essex District Cricket Board) finals, which was another resounding success. This time it was topped off by the Under 13's winning their Cup final. Congratulations to them and all those that made this another successful day. Social & Marketing 2007 proved to be quite a baptism for new Chairman, John Walford. John and the rest of the sub-committee have learnt what can be achieved and what is very difficult. I'm sure the next few months will be used assessing the successes and not so successful events of the year. It was disappointing that events that were intended as social gatherings were very poorly supported, but those that did attend thoroughly enjoyed themselves. One new event that was successful was the 'Night at the Dogs'. If John and the sub-committee are to turn it around for 2008 they need the support of all of us, starting with ideas for those events that will get good support. Cricket The Cricket sub-committee also had a new Chairman, but not an inexperienced one, Richard Whitehall. The sub-committee is the most active of all of them, meeting monthly throughout the season. An experiment was tried this year of selecting teams using e-mail as a communicating medium rather than meetings. It was generally agreed that whilst this may have been fine for the first two teams it got increasingly more difficult the lower the team. Player availability was an issue and was found to be compounded by not having the weekly meetings. Both these issues need addressing going into 2008. House & Ground Yet another new Chairman, Trevor Coote. There have been many areas of achievement within the House and Ground work during the year. A lot of work was put in over the winter of 2006 / 2007 on the outfield and with the heavy rolling during the season it was as good as it has been for some time. Trevor plans to continue with this over the coming winter. One of the sights, during the season, was Trevor on his racing mower on a Saturday morning. It may have been scary but the results were good, unless you were a boundary rope. A new mobile net has also been purchased and has proved to be invaluable on a Friday, for the colts, and Tuesdays and Thursdays for the senior teams. Money well spent. A project is due to start at any time to construct a new two lane fixed net with a security cage. At about the same time work will commence on constructing a three strips either side of the main square. This will enable two under 11 matches to take place at the same time on the main ground. Both of these projects are scheduled for completion for next season. Finance & Development This sub-committee was set up during the year to have overall control and planning for the developments planned to take place over the next few years. Malcolm Webb was elected chairman. The sub-committee will also plan the finances and where it is thought necessary the finances will be protected to ensure the project completes successfully.. A number of the current projects were underway before the committee was set up, but it is assisting with the management of these. The fixed nets and additional strips are being managed by the committee The committee is also active in identifying what finance needs to be raised and organising the mechanics of doing so. Colts We have reported a number of successes up to now, but the one area that is continually successful and that hasn't changed is the colts. Once again numbers increased by about 70, making a total at the end of the season of 220. Winter and summer coaching clinics were again a success. The winter clinic for the first time actually made a small profit. There were two summer clinics, one at Whitsun and the other later in the summer. For the former local schools, through their gifted and talented co-ordinators, were asked to nominate pupils for free places. All those nominated were accepted. For the first time we had a lot of activity for under 10's. A number of tournaments were organised and / or participated in at under 8, 9 and 10. The main public event was the CEDCB finals held at the OCG. The under 13's won their competition as did the under 9's who finished unbeaten. The future continues to look very bright for the club. Clubmark & Focus Club A renewal of the Clubmark accreditation is underway and is scheduled for completion this year. Renewal is required every three years. As part of the Clubmark work and crucial to the Focus club application is the building of a Club Development Plan. All this is done under the guidance of the ECCB (Essex County Cricket Board) Development Managers. Built into the plan are the coaching requirements, in terms of personnel and facilities for both internal club and community use. The community use will be initially with schools, but may well expand into wider youth organisations. At the same time the planning has to accommodate a real growth in colts numbers. We had to determine how we were going to handle this without major disruption to our normal business. It was decided that we should firstly learn what is required of us and exactly what exists today; produce a draft; get the ECCB to confirm that we at least met the minimum requirements; get the Executive to approve and consult with those who will have to work with the plan, principally the Colts Sub-Committee. The Plan is a live document and may be subject to continuous change and amendment. Once achieved we will open up many opportunities for fund raising on a scale we have not yet seen. In the tradition of my predecessors it is now appropriate to acknowledge and thank all of you who have contributed so much. The League Cup Final would not have been anywhere near as successful as it was without John Walford, Paul Webb, Pat and Roger and many others who put in many unseen hours to make that a success. The same may be said of the CEDCB finals with David Barbone, Jan West, Julie Welham and many others. It is not just the big events to which all these people have made significant contributions, but in the day to day activities that makes the club run so efficiently. Ange deserves special mention, not only for the quality of her lunches and teas, but for her bright and cheerful approach. She has had good support from the rest of the family. One of the memories is watching granddad John on another circuit with the pushchair. Ange is to retire and will be a very difficult act to follow. There are also the other people who make things happen on match days, many of them unseen, but they deserve our thanks. Finally we come to Malcolm and Ken. Ken is to retire as Chairman, but I'm sure will still do all he can to make the club successful. His period as Chairman has seen the club progression accelerate both on and off the pitch. Malcolm is the heartbeat of the club with contributions in every area you may think of and many others. We give a warm thank you to both of them. We look forward to 2008 with more challenges, more hope and expectations and the knowledge that the club is strong and growing stronger. Thank you to you all Enjoy the festive season and come back refreshed in the new year. Tom Reilly - Administrator / Hon. Secretary on behalf of the Executive Committee The 2007 season, was a season that promised much, but eventually disappointed, when our league performances are reviewed. We finished a creditable fourth at the end of the year, but the possibility of being relegated on the last day of the season was a long way from my expectations when the season began. On paper, we undoubtedly had one of the strongest squads in the league. And I believed we were more than capable of challenging for the league title. With a powerful batting line-up that boasted six players who have scored league centuries and the highly talented Aaron West, we should never have been short of runs, even allowing for the difficult rain affected batting pitches we often experienced. In recent seasons our spin bowling resources have been plentiful and this was again the case with the spinners bowling the majority of the overs. Our seamers stuck to the task admirably and produced some outstanding performances. However I still feel we lacked penetration and accuracy on occasions. Our fielding showed considerable improvement from the last few years but we need to set our standards even higher in 2008. This will only be achieved by practice and hard work. With 6 victories and 5 defeats, to say that this year we were inconsistent is an understatement. We were frustrated at the start of the year. In the opening league game we were handed a huge slice of luck by the weather, meaning Ardleigh Green's innings closed early and we were left chasing a modest total in 37 overs. It was a difficult wicket, but it is a game we should have won and in the end we held out for a draw. Similar batting inefficiencies continued, we were bowled out for 200 against Hainault despite Alston Bobb contributing 122 not out and in the next game we were staring down the barrel despite chasing just 160 against Wickford. The trend continued through out the year and we only managed over 200 on 4 occasions throughout the league campaign. This said our bowling was outstanding at the start of the year. The seamers were bowling a consistent line and length and our spinners were applying good pressure and taking wickets. Some of the high spots were an 8 wicket thrashing of Gidea Park, after we had dismissed them for 178 and this was followed by a 10 wicket defeat of Wanstead, who were blown away for 110 by Richard Whitehall's 5-15 in 10 overs. Our topsey turvey season continued against Saffron Walden where we had the misfortune to come up against Tim Phillips on a wet wicket, after which we put Ilford to the sword with a 7 wicket victory thanks to the bowlers, who ripped through their batting order to dismiss them for 127. We got rained off when in an excellent position against Colchester that would have surely seen us chase 150 on a still decent wicket at Castle Park. During the second half of the season our bowling became slightly less efficient, however in the bowlers defence we rarely had runs on the board. Ardleigh Green smashed our attack for 300, but some stubborn resistance form the batters enabled us to draw at 182-6. Rain again ruined the next game against 2006 champions Hainault meaning both teams settled for a tame draw. After all this we were still well positioned in the table and a good run would have seen us challenge till the very end. Our inconsistencies came to the fore in the game against Wickford at home. We bowled excellently to restrict a moderate Wickford batting line up on a good wicket at the OCG. However what followed was by far the most disappointing part of the season for me. We lost early wickets and found ourselves at 15/4. We showed character to fight back and had 3 partnerships which for the most part looked untroubled until criminal shots let us down. We ended up 38 runs short of Wickford's 172. When the pressure was really on we failed to deliver and I don't think we ever really recovered from this soul destroying loss. We followed up with a win against Gidea Park, but either side of a crushing win against Chingford where we posted our first big score of the season 300-5 were 2 heavy defeats by Wanstead and Colchester. We then left Saffron Walden with our heads down and relegation on our minds after claiming just 1 point after a display which didn't see us compete in any part of the game. Character was shown in the last game of the season to defeat Ilford but they were under strength and already relegated after I won the toss, so I expected nothing less. This maximum point win lifted us to fourth in the league, which didn't look likely the previous week, and rather flattered us. The Batting stats don't look too healthy, but this will be the same for all teams across the league. Rain was a factor in numerous games and this didn't make run scoring easy. Having said this, none of our batters produced anything like the performances they are capable of. Every one of our batsman needs to think about the game more and have clear game plans for different pitches and situations. We have some hugely talented players in our side and they need to put in the performances I believe they are capable of, in order for us to realise our potential. The bowling averages look much better and the spinners were again the stars of the show. Alston Bobb was the pick, with nearly 40 wickets. Luke Sweeney unfortunately was unavailable for around half the games, and if he can improve on this will be a huge asset with his accurate leg spin. Belly had another good year and on his day is unplayable. He needs to strive for more consistency to make him a top class bowler. All the seamers bowled fairly consistently but Bobb took more wickets on his own than all of them, so it is obvious we lacked penetration. Ben Cocklin is showing age is no barrier with his consistent performances. I feel he has been unlucky over the last few years not to bat higher up in the order as he can bat well to any situation. His gutsy 51 not out against Wanstead was one of the best performances of the year. A plus point of the year was a decent run in the Cockspur cup. Yes we were lucky at the start of the competition when a loss against Hitchin turned into victory (due to there fielding of an ineligible player) and then the opposition failing to raise a side in the next round, but the two subsequent performances are what we need on a more consistent basis in order to meet our goal of becoming the best team in the league and beyond. A demolition job on Ardleigh Green, who did the league/cup double and an agonisingly close defeat to Cambridge Granta were performances of extreme merit and we need to reach this level consistently. I would like to thank Geoff Salt and the rest of the unsung heroes such as John Walford, (senior) Graham Belchamber, Trevor Coote and Phil Howlett who helped make the season run smoothly on match days. Ange's lunches were of the highest standard as usual and she will be sorely missed next year. And last but certainly not least Steve West who organised warm ups in the morning and made things run smoothly. Next year seems an age away but it will be upon us quickly. It is up to the players and myself to improve in all areas. The nucleus of the team will be the same and we need to put extra effort in to realise our potential. I hope people will turn up to pre season fitter and better equipped to perform at their maximum. Every single player needs to step up to the mantle and strive that bit harder to produce match winning performances. Jonathan Walford
Jon & Ken at the 'Event in the Tent' Batting (4 completed innings)
Bowling (4 wickets)
Leaving the field at Valentines Park in our final game of the season was one of the most enjoyable cricket experiences I've had. With news that Chelmsford had secured the title, Ilford and ourselves were left to fight it out for runners up spot and bizarrely, both teams left the field believing that they had achieved their aim. The difference was one point and thankfully my maths proved more accurate than my Ilford counterpart and second place was ours. This was no mean achievement, despite our poor form in the middle of the season and I see no reason why we shouldn't do just as well next year, if not better. We certainly have the players and there's no side we should fear. There is a good blend of youth and experience and great team sprit, but as well as own success, we need to produce players capable of competing at first team level and there are several young players pushing for promotion. Stuart Harper-Horne bowls decent pace, is sharp in the field and hits the ball hard. Harry along with Tim, have already proved they can handle first team cricket and Chris Stockwell, after rocking up to first team nets on a Thursday and doing a fantastic Ramesh Powar impression, was drafted straight into second team action and didn't disappoint. We need to create a selection policy where consistent good performances Are rewarded with a chance in the first team and likewise, if someone is under-performing, they except that they need to earn their way back into the side. Integration between all sides is paramount in creating a successful club, not to mention a better atmosphere. Our best performance of the season was a fantastic run chase in appalling conditions at home against eventual champions Chelmsford, thanks mainly to an imperious hundred by Rich Walford. Unfortunately, an injury meant Richards season was cut short and it was left to Gulfraz, Balroop and a resurgent Steve Taylor to score the bulk of the runs, Morgy and Larns chipped in and the skipper, skippered. Balroop and one of the Degg twins (one week good Degg one week bad Degg) opened the bowling and nearly always made early inroads. If they didn't, Harper-Horne would charge in for a short, sharp spell, then the ball was thrown to Harry, who would reel away for 15+ overs, showing guile and control which earned him 31 wickets and the player of the year award. Occasionally even Webby got a go and as his figures prove, did a decent job. Our fielding was an improvement on last season and James again showed what a great keeper he is, but our fielding would improve further with more practice. Apart from Morgy, Deggy and myself our net turn out was poor, if anyone isn't aware, nets Thursday 6pm. I'd like to finish by thanking the players for their support, as well as Roy for making my job easier (and Dave Balroop's harder) and Ange for keeping us fat. I look forward to next season with much optimism. Chris Boon Batting
Bowling
After struggling the previous season the 3rd XI were aiming for a fresh start, after long standing captain Ken Lingwood decided to step down. With a change in captain and a much changed side the team started their season with a tricky away trip to newly promoted Chelmsford, the game like the weather was a big disappointment, Brentwood holding on for a draw. The weather and the performances didn't improve much over the coming weeks, losing desperately to also promoted West Essex. Next up was the always tricky and possibly controversial visit to Wanstead, this year proved no different, after Wanstead scored an impressive 265-4, Brentwood's reply was at 100-1 when the rain came, both teams came off and assumed an abandonment was imminent, not by the Wanstead captain though who argued the conditions were fine. The match, however, was abandoned. The next home game, against Hornchurch brought an important confidence boosting win, on a slow pitch, Hornchurch batted first and never looked in control, with Ivan Davies, Tony Prior and Mike Hornsby bowling well together, the pick of them Davies who finished with 5-22 of his 13 over's. Hornchurch were bowled out after 40 over's for 99. In reply Chris Phillips hit a brisk 45 before being bowled by a bouncer, leaving Chris Lawless to finish the chase. On a blazing hot day we travelled to South Woodford, after a strong performance the week before we were keen to continue the good run. After 20 over's we couldn't have been happier, reducing South Woodford to 90-5 however a long batting line up and the hot conditions made it hard for the bowlers and they finished on an impressive 250-8. Opener David smith then blasted his way to an impressive 100 with support from Roger Mahadeo (60). With the game in the balance both were dismissed within 5 balls and the run chase collapsed to 232-8. A good performance that possibly deserved a victory. A rain affected game against Hainault was notable only for the battling spirit of our batting line up, clawing their way to 200 in poor conditions. We bowled 25 over's to ensure we kept our batting points, reducing Hainault to 110-3 along the way. Another rain affected day greeted us at GPR. With a strong team we hoped for a good result, but after a tough start we found ourselves 90-5 of 32 over's. In came Joe Surtees, who started with little concern for the poor pitch, by smashing the tame looking GPR bowling attack around the park, giving only a tough caught and bowled chance along the way to his unbeaten 130. Brentwood finished on an impressive 280-6. The primary concern once again was to insure we retained our batting points, so we bowled 40 over's in quick time as GPR finished on 210-5. Another wet trip away followed to local rivals Hutton, who were asked to bowl on a poor pitch. They went about tearing though the Brentwood defences, with only three batsmen's getting into double figures, notably Tony Jones with a dogged 52. Brentwood were all out for 122. In reply Hutton struggled to come to terms with the ever reliable pairing of Ivan Davies and Tony Prior and after two spectacular run outs by Jamie Battu the win looked on. Hutton knocked off the final runs with two over's to spare to end in disappointment for the ever battling Brentwood. This meant that half way through the season Brentwood were sitting 7th. Chelmsford at home proved to be the most frustrating game of the season after some excellent bowling and fielding Brentwood were in a healthy position to win the game chasing 201 to win, but were, bowled out for 75 in 20 over's. After losing heavily at the start of the season to West Essex it was important to get a win over the fellow strugglers on yet another soaking summer's day. With regular rain breaks bowling first looked to have been a wise decision, with Ed Allen Claiming an impressive 5 wickets and Tony Jones 4 wickets, reducing West Essex to 218. The run chase started well with an unbeaten 100 partnership between openers Ben Holmes and Phil Brooks both reaching their half centuries, but again the batsmen failed to capitalise and at the close Brentwood were clinging on for the draw at 160-9. In desperate need of a win we faced a strong Wanstead team at home, Choosing to bat first Wanstead batted well but lost wickets at regular intervals, slowing the scoring and allowing Brentwood to restrict them to 230-7 of 52 over's, with good bowling displays from Rob Coote, Peter Bainbridge, Tony Prior and Sam Rounce. After tea Brentwood started their pursuit of the very gettable target with some entertaining stroke play from David Smith, who eased his way to a half century with the score only on 70. Wickets fell at regular intervals however and Brentwood were never fully on top, before Roger Mahadeo and Shane Surujbally came together to steady the ship and set an achievable target for the last twenty over's. After Roger Mahadeo was dismissed Chris Lawless continued the run chase with Shane. There was yet another twist as Brentwood Self-destructed and lost 3 wickets in two over's for only 2 runs. Needing an unlikely 16 off the last over Shane went about hitting a young Wanstead bowler for 2 fours and 2 in the first 3 balls of the over. At the final ball, with Shane on strike and two runs required, he chipped over the field for Brentwood to seal victory, Shane Surujbally finishing a brilliant 71 not out. Another match against fellow strugglers was an obvious chance to pull clears of any relegation danger, but Hornchurch provided stiff opposition throughout the day. A good bowling display from youngsters Tim Barbone and Sam Rounce (7 weeks between them) kept the home side down to 223-8 of 52. This provided a great chance for the batsmen to step up and win the game on an excellent pitch and fast outfield and as Phil Brooks Started well on his way to an impressive 70 the run chase looked well in hand, but yet another Brentwood collapse meant another nervous last few over's holding on for the draw finishing 181-9. The home game against South Woodford proved to be a welcome display of excellent batting from most of the batsmen but in particular T Jones who's unbeaten 121. The bowlers then went about destroying the usually tough South Woodford batting line up reducing them to 167-9 at the close. We needed to push for the last couple of wins to secure a place in the top division for next season, this lead us to Coopers school on yet another poor pitch in poor conditions, however this appeared to suit player of the season Ivan Davies as he took an incredible 7 wickets in 15 over's for only 10 runs, to leave Upminster 150 all out. With a strong batting line up Brentwood were confident at tea, however they offered little resistance and were bowled out 20 runs short, leaving them still searching for one more elusive win. Against GPR at home, Brentwood batted first and struggled, just surviving the 52 over's finishing on a modest 136-9. Defending this total required excellent concentration and disciplined bowling and that was exactly what Brentwood got from Peter Bainbridge and Ed Allen. Brentwood were on top from the outset and took regular wickets and when Bainbridge cleaned up the last two GPR batsmen he claimed his 2nd 7 wicket hall in 3 years against his favourite opposition, finishing with figures of 20.3-5-47-7, impressively supported by Ed Allen with figures of 11-2-27-3. GPR were all out 14 runs short. If Brentwood could take 8 points from the last two games they would be safe from relegation. Therefore the decision to bat first a week later against Hainault was an obvious one, but with Brentwood struggling it looked like being a nervy couple of weeks. A good 68 from Greg Holmes and mature knock of 49 from Shane, got Brentwood within range of the 200 and the points required however they finished two runs short 198-7. Therefore 5 wickets were required and tight bowling from Bainbridge and Prior reduced Hainault to 180-8 at the close, securing survival before the final round of matches. With neither team with anything to play for coming into the final game, Hutton got the better of poor Brentwood side but bowling them out cheaply and knocking off the runs quickly. Ivan Davies received player of the season for his impressive 34 wickets in 7 games. Other wicket takers of note were the always reliable Peter Bainbridge after a slow start to the season but found his form when it really counted as well has veteran swinger Tony Prior. Young bowlers Ed Allen, Sam Rounce and James Welham impressed towards the end of the season. As for the Batsmen, Phil Brooks and Tony Jones efforts at the top of innings were ever important and Shane, Roger and Smithy all scored valuable and Impressive runs throughout the season. The team is in a good position for next season with a core of experienced players and young stars waiting to put together a genuine title challenge under the stewardship of a new captain. Alex Priddle
As it turned out, I actually became the epitome of this stagnation. At the end of the 2006 season, I felt that, having won the league 2 out of the previous 3 seasons and only having a three-line-whip for the league dinner and a cheap silk pennant to show for it, my motivation had diminished. I therefore felt that it was time for someone new to take charge and inject some fresh enthusiasm, without which the job can become quite taxing. However, at the League AGM the League's Committee took the unprecedented steps of deciding to promote two sides from the 4th XI Premier into Division 3 of the 3rd XI League, precisely the move I had vociferously encouraged 4 years beforehand. Most surprisingly of all though, the League chose us to be promoted with 4th XI Champions Wanstead, based on historic strength as opposed to finishing position in 2006 (when we actually languished in mid table mediocrity). Buoyed by this new challenge and the prospect of at last having something to play for (i.e. promotion to Division 2), I allowed myself to be talked into one more year of captaincy. In truth there weren't exactly a queue of people waiting to take over! I was fortunate in that most of my key senior personnel shared this new found enthusiasm. Muncaster, Brooks, Barbone, Morgan, Payne and Coote all announced that they were looking forward to the start of the new season meaning that I had the backbone of the side in place before the first ball was bowled. The foundations for a promotion push were laid. The season began with a home game against Benfleet. As with every other opponent that we were to face (with the exception of fellow newcomers Wanstead) we had no idea what to expect from any opposition. Unfortunately the dreadful weather that was to haunt us for the entire "summer" claimed its first victim of the season and the game was abandoned after 20 overs with our visitors struggling at 60-4. Something of an anti-climax after we'd be looking forward to getting started so much, but what little we had seen indicated that we had nothing to fear in this league. The season began properly the following week with a trip to Old Southendians. Losing the toss, we were inserted on a dreadful track that hadn't recovered from the amount of rain that we had had and things got off to a terrible start. We were reduced to 20-5 and then 80-8 and looked to be staring at a heavy defeat. James Lyne showed fantastic temperament to bat practically throughout the innings even when wickets were tumbling around him and, not for the last time in the season, his 46 formed the cornerstone of our innings. Brief cameos from Morgy, new South African import Morne Smit and Mike Hornsby squeezed the score up to 142 before we were bowled out on the last ball of the 52 overs. Whilst we knew our score was way below par, we were conscious that a couple of early wickets would put things in a different perspective. Not in our wildest dreams did we expect to win by 100 runs though! Hornsby and Barbone dismantled the home side's batting with ruthless efficiency, bowling them out for just 37. Hornsby claimed 5 wickets, Barbone 3 and another new recruit, Danny Imray, accounted for two spectacular run outs. Suddenly the season had found top gear and we had announced ourselves to the league. Our next game was at home to Wanstead who we suspected would be a force to be reckoned with for the whole season. We bowled superbly, restricting them to 168. Wickets were shared around but Barbone's opening spell set the tone for a disciplined bowling and fielding display. In response, we were fortunate to have two opening batsmen of immense ability who, for 35 overs, made some testing conditions and tight bowling look distinctly average. Ed Nation with 65 and David Smith with 63 put on a superb opening stand of 138 taking us to the brink of victory. When both were out, wickets fell quickly and we somewhat limped across the line. Wanstead probably looked at our middle order and wondered what might have been had they got the openers earlier! A week later and we were off for another trip to the seaside, this time to Victory Park, home of Southend-on-Sea. The only victory on this park belonged to Brentwood though as another hugely disciplined bowling performance by Barbone (15 overs, 3 for 18) strangled the life out of the batting. On a rare hot day, Southend "amassed" 48-4 by drinks after 26 overs. They eventually accumulated 158 but that never looked beyond us. That said, we made somewhat hard work out of it, losing our top 4 before we'd reached 50. A belligerent half century from Danny Imray wrestled the initiative back though as he and I put on 84 for the 5th wicket. As with the previous week though, when both of us were out in quick succession with the chequered flag in sight, we ended up rather limping across the line. 18 points in the bag though and we moved into 2nd place, just one point adrift of leaders Wanstead. Next up was a home game against Ongar. Now, when I said earlier that we had no idea what to expect from any of our opponents this year, without wishing to sound disrespectful, the one exception to that would probably be Ongar. Studying the league table from the previous few seasons, Ongar seemed to struggle to get a side out regularly, let alone offer the sort of quality to challenge a side rapidly growing in confidence. So what else could I do than rope in the 3rd team vice captain to open the batting! I won the toss and, at the recommendation of the visiting captain, chose to bat first. Tony Jones batted majestically in making 103 supported by 30's from Tony Dann and the captain meaning I was able to declare for the first time of the season on 239-9 after only 44 overs. The highlight of the bowling was the emergence of 10 year old Kristen Ali who claimed two wickets along with the evergreen Micky Payne as we bowled Ongar out for 86 to win by 153 runs. So played four, won four and a trip to Old Parks up next. Sadly the weather once again intervened and ruined a day that promised to be a good match. So much for "flaming June"! A home game against Stanford-le-Hope followed and once again the forecast was abysmal. Stanford were struggling near the bottom of the league though, so I was loathed to miss out on the chance to claim maximum points. Fortunately, our local weather expert John Morgan was on hand... "It'll stay dry until 5...", Morgy told me. "But then when the rain arrives, that'll be that". Good toss to win I thought. Fortunately that's exactly what I did and inserted the opposition almost before the coin had stopped spinning. We were missing Barbone for this game...he had prior commitments in the form of tickets for the "Monsters of Rock" festival (I kid you not), so we turned to the support bowlers. Morgy's frugal opening spell set the tone then I got amongst the middle order and finished with 5-28 to help bowl them out for 83. Job half done but we were still wary of the gathering gloom and impending downpours so decided that tea could wait. After a quick word with their skipper, we agreed that turning straight around was the best strategy and Tony Jones and Chris Stockwell got tucked into their bowling instead of Ange's glorious tea. Stockers in particular took control and won the game after only 18 overs with a straight six to leave him on 48 not out. "Just two (too) short", I said to him as he walked off and shook my hand. No sooner had the game finished, the heavens opened. The following week we had another trip to Southend and another miserable drizzly day, this time against Leigh-on-Sea. I lost the toss but was astonished to be asked to field first. We bowled superbly against a very good Leigh side, Barbone once more the pick of the attack. We restricted them to 175 on a deck that, despite the constant rain, stood up well. Our reply got off to an inauspicious start, losing Stockwell first ball and stumbling to 60-3. Once again though, James Lyne stood firm in typical gritty fashion and when Danny joined him, the pair got the rain chase back on track. James' 53 was superb in very trying conditions and against a bowler in John Elliot who knew exactly how best to use them. When both were out in quick succession though, there was still work to be done. We needn't have worried though; Damo strode to the wicket, crashed a couple of boundaries through the covers and, together with Morgy, scampered and scurried the team to victory with 7 balls to spare. We later learnt that every other game in the division (and most of those in the county) had been rained off which meant that our 18 points catapulted us to the top of the league for the first time in the season. Next up was a home game against Epping and at last a welcome bit of sunshine. Epping had been struggling at the foot of the table so we entered the game full of confidence. However, just to be on the safe side, I drafted in Graham Walker at the 11th hour! Poor Epping didn't know what had hit them. I won the toss and batted first which was the cue for Grazza to launch an all-out assault on the unsuspecting visitors. He smashed 130 and Ed Allen an unbeaten 50 as we amassed 263-3 and declared after 31 overs. In reply, Morne got us off to a great start with 3 early wickets and Epping never looked likely to recover, being bowled out in double quick time for a paltry 58. A mammoth victory by 205 runs put us 24 points clear at the top of the league and promotion was beginning to look a nailed on certainty. Damo took the reigns for the next two games as I went in search of Mediterranean sunshine. And it clearly suited him as a trip to Benfleet yielded another 20 point win, largely thanks to the stand in skipper's own performance. Batting first, we got off to a decent start thanks to 40 from Bazza and 30 from Stockers. However, a flurry of wickets left us teetering at 123-5. Step forward Captain Munc and a sublime 71 not out that guided the team through to 228-9. In reply, recent graduate Kevin Bradford ripped through the top order with the first 4 wickets, all the while the skipper holding back his trump card in the form of the returning Barbone. Just as the Benfleet batsmen thought they'd seen off the danger men, Muncaster played his hand and unyielding the hairy gladiator...true to script, 3 wickets for two runs followed and victory belonged to Brentwood. The following week, Damo's troops hosted Old Southendians, the side that we had bowled out for 38 at the start of the season. Everything looked to be going to plan as we bowled them out again, this time for 127 albeit still an eminently chase able target. It could've been a lot less as well, but Rob Coote, Morgy and Damo himself all acquitted themselves admirably with a share of the wickets. The reply was, however, a total disaster. 14-4 after 5 overs, Brentwood's top order had all been guilty of complacency. Only 5th team skipper Rhys Furlong showed the commitment required in his solitary appearance for the 4's and his 65 threatened to get us out of jail. However, upon his departure, the rest of the batting order were dismissed in similar fashion to the top and we finished 8 runs short. Title hopes came crashing back to earth with an audible bump. I was back from holiday for the trip to Wanstead the following week, a game that ever since the season began had the look of a potential title decider. Availability was dreadful for this one with Muncaster, Barbone, Payne and Morgan all unavailable. The side I cobbled together performed admirably against easily the strongest team in the league. In particular we bowled superbly. The new ball attack was Morne and James Welham and both were brilliant. Morne ran through walls for me, bowling up the hill for 18 overs unchanged claiming 4-58. James too was fantastic, taking a wicket with his very first ball and finishing his three spells with figures of 3-28. We had them 108-8 but their tale wagged a bit and squeaked the total up to 165. Even so, we still fancied our chances of chasing, even though the Snaresbrook track was as unreliable as ever. Unfortunately our batting once again let us down, collapsing to 62-5 with an uneasily lengthy tail to come. Rohan Sivapalan and I got us back into a winning position with a stand of 88 however and, at 150-5, we had them beaten. To say we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory from there would be something of an understatement...we lost our last 5 wickets for 1 run in 9 balls and effectively our title aspirations were at an end. And so into August and a home game against Southend. Having lost our previous two games, we were desperate to get our season back on track. Barbone was back for this one and showed us exactly what we'd been missing with a destructive spell of 4-21 as the visitors were skittled for just 70, the perfect tonic for a side suffering a minor crisis of confidence. We knocked off the runs with consummate ease, Bazza and Damo seeing us home without loss. 18 points and back into the groove, we were now cemented in 2nd place, 19 points clear of 3rd place and 7 points adrift of Wanstead at the top. Ongar conceded the fixture the following week so we moved onto the crucial home match against third placed Leigh knowing that victory would pretty much guarantee us promotion. Fortunately, we had a really good side for this one, because Leigh were once again an excellent side. Both fixtures against them were thoroughly enjoyable games and played in an excellent spirit, testimony to the ethics instilled by senior members Dennis Freeman, Vic Hewitt and John Elliott. It helped that we won both games as well of course! As it turned out, this game was remarkably similar to the previous game with Leigh. They batted first and we bowled them out for 180, pick of the bowlers being Morgy (3-31) and Mike Hornsby (3-29). Tony Jones opened for us and notched a fine 57 but when he was out we still had a lot to do. A few quick wickets left us struggling a bit but, just as in the game at their place, James Lyne stood firm. His dogged style isn't always the most flamboyant but he knows his limitations and plays within them, never giving his wicket away. He also has a deceptive range of shots when he needs them. James got us within touching distance of victory and it was all coming down to who would hold their nerve. With the distressing sight of Barbone getting his pads on lurking in the background, first Wimpy, then Morgy and Mike stood up and eventually won us a real nail-biter with two wickets and just 4 balls to spare, Morgy scampering the winning run exactly as he had done in July in the rain. Having seen off the promotion challenge of Leigh, we now found ourselves 31 points clear of Old Parks in 3rd place and six points behind Wanstead and three games to play. Next up was a trip to Stanford-le-Hope, a team struggling at the foot of the table and locked in a relegation battle but whom we knew we should beat comfortably. I won the toss and, to the obvious dissent of some of my more senior team mates, chose to bat first, citing the fact that bowling first could result in only half the team getting a game. However, when our top 5 had all found themselves back in the hutch with the score only on 67 and the council prepared wicket playing very slow and low, this decision was looking decidedly shaky and a potential upset was on the cards. Fortunately, Trevor and I came together and put on 100 for the sixth wicket, Wimpy batting superbly for his 46 and me getting my top score of the season with 65 not out. By virtue of that partnership we managed to get the score up to 200-6 declared. This obviously put pressure on the bowlers who knew they had to take ten wickets or risk seeing our hard work over the course of the season all come to nothing. We made a good start with James Welham and then Mike each removing an opening bat, but then came a stand of 68 which threatened to frustrate us. Mike then picked up another couple of vital wickets but the game turned with the introduction of Morgy into the attack. Morgy's second half of the season was simply sensational. He took 14 wickets in the last 5 games and finished as the side's second leading wicket taker. As his captain, I always knew I could throw Morgy the ball and he'd give me 100% and do the business. Stanford away was the case in point. He took 4-36 and got us to the brink of victory with a brilliant spell of bowling. All that was left was for Barbone to come back for a second spell and clean up the tail and a hard fought victory and 20 crucial points were ours. So into the last two games of the season and we held a crucial 33 point lead over Old Parks with their visit to the OCG being our penultimate game where we knew that avoiding defeat would guarantee us promotion. Damo took over as skipper as I was called away to a somewhat ill-timed wedding. As it turned out, that 33 point lead proved rather important. Not for the first time in the season selection was a shambles leading up to this with players dropping out from higher teams on the night before the game. Things started okay as we bowled them out for 176, Morgy once again being the pick of the bowlers with 3-36. In reply we got off to a decent start, one of the last minute call ups, a young man named Michael Watson fresh off the plane from Barbados, adapting immediately to the conditions and looking like a class act from his very first ball. Michael and Bazza put on over 100 for the 2nd wicket to negotiate our way to 106-1 and a very strong position. However, when both were out in quick succession the collapse that followed was catastrophic, 9 wickets falling for 30 runs as we were rolled out for 136. Old Parks' took 20 points to our 5 and their promotion hopes, which a week ago had looked dead and buried, lived on for another week. And so into the last game, away to Epping, a side we had annihilated by 200 runs earlier in the season. Curiously, Epping, who had been second from bottom all season and needed to win to avoid the drop, fielded a side bearing very little resemblance to the one which Grazza had put to the sword in July. Our side wasn't exactly a familiar looking 4th XI though, courtesy of the mother of all "car park selection" meetings where the 3's and 4's at one stage had 16 players between them. We ended up with a decent looking side though, with Phil Brooks and Tony Jones giving the top order a solid look and young Ben Sach making his debut. The home side batted first and racked up 219-5 from their 52 overs, a rather different story to earlier in the season when they'd been rolled out for 58. We bowled well enough but let ourselves down in the field, dropping numerous catches along the way (those with the surname Brooks being noticeable culprits!). Once again, our most reliable bowler was Morgy with 2-36. Although 216 was more than we should have conceded, we still fancied our chances of chasing it down with a decent looking batting line up and short boundaries to offer full value for shots. Unfortunately we got off to a dreadful start with Phil and Bazza both falling cheaply bringing Ben and Tony together. Ben's knock showed great maturity as he and Tony set about repairing the damage and negotiating their way up to 103 before both fell on the same score leaving us five down and still more than 100 required. A couple more wickets left us concentrating more on securing enough bonus points to guarantee promotion, and when Munc fittingly drove the ball through the off side to get us past 150 we knew we had made it and the handshakes and back-patting began. We eventually got bowled out for 164 which was a disappointing way to finish the season but was, in the end, ultimately largely irrelevant. So there we have it. Despite it being a rather disappointing summer weather-wise, it turned out to be quite an enjoyable season. It had always been my intention to go out on a high and, despite the fact that we ended up somewhat limping across the line, we achieved what we had to set out to do and got promoted to Division Two. The choice for Player of the Year was a very close run battle this year. Morgy had a fantastic year with the ball particularly during the run-in and, had he not been the winner of the award in 2006, would've had an extremely strong case for taking it this year. Our top run scorer was Tony in just 4 knocks, but that's kind of what you'd expect from a batsman of his class. James Welham showed promise of great things for the future and topped the bowling averages before moving up to the 3's. Likewise Damo had a good season with both bat and (when required) ball, finishing second in both averages, the highlight being his unbeaten 71 as captain at Benfleet to set up a match winning position. In the end though, the choice for Player of the Year came down to two players, David Barbone and James Lyne. Democratic chap that I am, I decided to throw it open to votes from the rest of the squad. On the one hand, James had arguably been our most consistent run scorer and, most importantly of all, always contributed when the side needed him the most (evidenced by his two knocks against Leigh and Old Southendians). Against that, Barbone was our talisman and the side always fed off of his enthusiasm for the game. He was also our top wicket taker and bowled more overs than anyone else throughout the season, more often than not extremely economically and setting a tone for the rest of the innings. When the votes were counted, Barbone edged it by a couple. I was delighted to present Dave with the award at the Dinner as he has been one of my most reliable lieutenants throughout my reign as captain. Never has there been a more deserving winner. If you'll forgive a small bit of self indulgence, I would like to record my gratitude to a few individuals, not just for their help this season but over the past five years. Playing wise, I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing the field with a number of people and it would take me forever to name them all, but in particular Damian Muncaster, David Barbone, Dave Childs, John Morgan and Micky Payne have been pretty much permanent fixtures throughout my tenure and have done more than most to contribute to my enjoyment, both during the game and after it! Angela Philips deserves special mention for the sensational teas that she has produced for the past couple of seasons. I certainly don't envy the person charged with replacing her because she has undoubtedly raised the bar for catering standards, not just in Brentwood but throughout the league. Likewise thanks to Trevor and Donks and the ground staff for all of their work on the ground. As I write this review at the end of October, I am still trying to convince Damo to take over the captaincy for 2008. I think he would make a superb skipper as he has proved on several occasions when standing in for me as my vice captain over the past few seasons. He also has exactly the right infectious energy that the role requires as well as having precisely the right attitude when it comes to youth development. If anyone reading this happens to bump into him between now and May, please do what you can to add to my petition on him! Looking back on my 5 years in charge of the Fourth Team, I take enormous satisfaction in what we have achieved. Two Premier League titles and two promotions is a record of which I am extremely proud. Most importantly of all though, we have achieved it in precisely the right spirit, generating an atmosphere that people enjoy playing in and having a lot of fun on the way. I wish the new captain the best of luck with the new season in 2008...whomever it is will have my utmost commitment whenever it is called upon. Neil Webb Batting (5 completed innings)
Also batted: T Jones (103, 26*, 57, 71); E Nation (60, 25, 19, 21); C Stockwell (48*, 0, 32); T Dann (0, 34, 16, 17); D Stockwell (18); M Hornsby (26*, 0, 14, 6, 0)
Bowling (5 wickets)
Highest and lowest team scores
Highest Team Score: 263-4 dec v Epping (h) The 5th XI is rightly regarded as a development team where talented young players are given the opportunity to play men's league cricket. The objective is to prepare young players for higher league cricket as they mature in the hope that they will eventually form the backbone of the 1st eleven and bring the Shepherd & Neame Premiership title to the Old County Ground. Under Phil Crook's inspired leadership the team had a successful season in 2006 winning seven matches and finishing third in Division 4 East. The task was clear, to build on Phil's good work by winning the league and gain promotion to division 1. This would expose the young players to a better standard of cricket. Winning and successful teams develop a bond, camaraderie and a clear sense of purpose. As skipper I believed we could win the league with the right combination of youth and experience. A mix of youngsters along with two or three regular experienced players would be essential if this target was to be achieved. The early part of the season was dominated by rain affected pitches and low scoring matches. The first fixture against Wickford was abandoned and followed with a comfortable seven wicket victory over Hornchurch. The one and only loss came in the third fixture against Orsett who proved to be the main adversaries throughout the season. There was no disgrace in defeat as the match was decided on the very last ball of the match as Orsett controversially won by two wickets. With rain falling in all the early matches the strategy was to bowl the opposition out cheaply and knock off the required runs as quickly as possible before the rain caused abandonment. The young bowlers in the form of Matt Lowman and Will Ashby did the necessary, regularly taking early wickets. Pressure was maintained leaving Brentwood with achievable targets in the quest for 18 points. Despite low targets unpredictable wickets made the run chases anything but straight forward. The next three matches were won with victories over Stanford-Le-Hope, Leigh-On-Sea and Gidea Park. Sam Rounce, a very promising off spinner took 5 wickets as Leigh were bowled out for 102. On a treacherous pitch Brentwood were in serious trouble loosing 7 wickets for 52 runs until Ian Dawes produced a match winning innings of 43 not out. How important would this one wicket victory prove in the battle for promotion? James, Bowler by name and bowler by deed is an exciting young talent who beguiles batsmen with his accurate leg spin. He only played in two matches but made a great impression on his debut against Hornchurch. Brentwood set a target of 204 on a good track with short boundaries. Hornchurch started well but were bowled out for 82 with the twelve year old Essex protégé taking 6 wickets for just 10 runs. He was unplayable as he bamboozled batsmen with his variation and flight in a 122 run victory. As the season was entering its final weeks it was clear that the title race was between Brentwood, Orsett and Leigh-On-Sea. Orsett appeared to be in pole position with a lead of more than 20 points but Brentwood had a game in hand. A 20 point victory over Leigh proved vital while Orsett dropped points. A draw against a stubborn Old Southendians and an abandoned match against Gidea Park increased the pressure on Brentwood. With one game remaining against local rivals Hutton, Brentwood were 19 points behind Orsett. As suspected Orsett proved far too strong for Wickford and secured 20 points. The race for the title could not have been closer. Skipper Furlong elected to bat on a good pitch but the innings did not start too well as openers Ash Patel (6) and Furlong (16) were back in the pavilion at 27 for 2. The middle order all went cheaply as the wickets were shared by the Hutton bowling attack. Fortunately Dave Stockwell batting at No 3 was in good form and his solid 38 steadied the ship. More importantly Ian Dawes batting down the order hit a magnificent 72 including four sixes which broke the hearts of Hutton. He received great support from Rob Coote who scored 26 valuable runs before being bowled. A challenging total seemed unlikely during the early part of the innings but a final score of 237 was always going to be difficult for Hutton to Chase. Would there be sufficient time for the Brentwood bowling attack to take 10 wickets? Fears were quickly put to rest as early wickets tumbled. Opening bowler Rob Coote made a terrific start removing both openers with just two runs on the board. The situation deteriorated for the home side as wickets continued to tumble. It was a fitting finale to the match and the season as skipper Furlong wrapped up the innings when he took the last two wickets as Hutton were bowled out for 110. Mission accomplished with the season's target achieved: victory over Hutton by 123 runs, 20 points and most importantly the league title with promotion. Success was due to spirit and teamwork with all players making valuable contributions throughout the season. When the team have struggled or needed some inspiration one or two players have always produced a great innings or taken vital wickets. Some players have been ever present throughout the season, Ash Patel, Will Ashby, Matt Lowman, Sam and Ian Dawes providing the backbone of the side. Nine victories with just one defeat is no more than the team deserved. There have been some notable performances, Ash Patel's 121 against Old Southendians was an outstanding innings and he was also top run scorer followed by Rhys Furlong. Ash also provided great support throughout the season as the senior player. Rhys Furlong was disappointed with his tally of runs but was the leading wicket taker with 21 which included a 5 wicket haul against Orsett. Will Ashby, Matt Lowman and Sam Rounce were also regular wicket takers. Eighteen colts have played for the team this season showing great potential for the future, none more so than James Bowler. Chris Stockwell and Sam Rounce are already playing in the higher teams and no doubt more players will follow in their footsteps. The combination of youth and experience proved successful. Sincere thanks to all the players and the many club members for all their support which made it possible to win the league title. Rhys Furlong
5th XI that defeated Hutton in the final fixture to win Division 4 East Batting (5 completed innings)
Bowling (5 wickets)
Rhys with 5th XI Player of the Year Matt Lowman The 6th XI had an enjoyable season and we fulfilled all our fixtures in the 4th XI Division 2 West, at least when the weather allowed us to. Our league record was Won 2, Lost 7, Drew 4, with three matches officially abandoned/cancelled, although several other games in the first half of the season were affected by rain. The final league position was seventh in a league of nine, although we were only two points behind sixth placed Ilford who were awarded 20 points by default on the last day of the season, a bonus from which we never benefited at any stage of the season. The two wins were against Harlow in July, and Upminster VI on the last day of the season. Looking at the averages, Alan Houston was clearly the mainstay of the batting but even when he was absent early in the season we managed to score over 200 on two successive Saturdays and generally our batting held up quite well and we would probably have won more games had the bowling had a bit more penetration. One of the main aims of running a 6th XI is to introduce young players to league cricket and during the season we used 42 different players, the majority of which were colts. Of course we also rely on a number of old hands and it was a special season for Alan Houston. When he completed his first ten runs against Old Parks on 1st September the 63 year old passed a remarkable milestone of 40,000 career runs. Much of Alan's cricket was played at Eton Manor and he has spent the last ten years at Brentwood playing in the lower elevens and helping with the development of the younger players. Alan scored 553 league runs for the 6th XI in 2007 and averaged well over 100 and we hope he will continue his career for at least one more season. John Smith is another player who deserves a special mention. As the club has expanded over the last decade, John has always played in the club's lowest XI, being an original member of the 4th, 5th and 6th XIs, and is an unsung hero who has contributed much to Brentwood CC. John also had a useful season with the bat in 2007, making a number of useful scores in the late middle order. Other regular in the team were young members Gautam Datta, Adam Mathias, Gehan De Alwis, Joe Earley, Tom Patient and Jamie Dawes. All made valuable contributions to the team during the season. Ollie Hembrough played a few games for the 6ths before progressing into the 5th XI and he has the potential to play at an even higher level next season. He is a promising bat and, importantly, a good fielder. Joe Earley too is a fine fielder and if he can bring more consistency to his bowling and continue to work on his batting he should be making progress in 2008. The same can be said of Tom Patient while 14 year old Jamie Dawes improved a lot during 2007 finishing with 14 league wickets. James Woodward won the 6th XI player of the season award. He averaged over 20 with the bat and made his maiden fifty in the last game of the season. He topped the bowling with an average of 12.47, returning two five wicket hauls, against Old Parks and Harlow, and was a useful fielder, taking some vital catches. Finally, thanks to Ange for the excellent teas. Ken Hobbs Batting (5 completed innings)
Other 50s - L. Battu 51 and O. Hembrough 56. Bowling (5 wickets)
Highest and lowest team scores
Highest Team Score: 218 for 6 dec v Wanstead and 218 for 7 dec v Wanstead Batting (5 completed innings)
Bowling (5 wickets)
Our social calendar in 2007 kicked off with the Pre-Season Drinks and Registration night, which this year was switched to a Friday evening in the hope of attracting better support than had been achieved in recent years. Whilst the attendance was better that in the past, it was still rather disappointing. The cricket club does not stop incurring costs during the winter months and by the time a new season approaches, funds are low and revenue is urgently required. This is therefore an opportunity for members to help, by paying subs early and also easing the burden on the club administration and team selection by giving up to date personal details and advising your availability for selection. But most of all, it is an opportunity to meet up with your mates, relive a few match winning performances and get the new season underway. The event will probably be held on a Friday evening next year and it would be good to see as many members as possible coming along. As in the past the quiz nights and the race night proved to be very popular, with members and friends enjoying a fun night on each occasion and helping to raise valuable funds for the club. We are indebted to Keith Lennon for almost single handedly running these events. I never cease to be amazed at the amount of knowledge he has when it comes to quizzes. Sadly, the attendance at the Tarts and Vicars Night and Mid Summer Party was disappointing and it seems that the membership no longer has an appetite for this type of function. It is therefore unlikely that we will stage similar events in the future. This is a shame, because those people that did make the effort had a great night on each occasion. Who will ever forget the sight of Messer's Cocklin and Degg showing their feminine side and vying for the title of "Miss Brentwood CC".
The music at the Mid Summer Party was provided by Stealer featuring our own Bobby O'Brien, but unfortunately it was mainly the band's own followers, rather than club members who supported the event. On a more positive note, we hosted the Shepherd Neame League Cup Final on August Bank Holiday and this proved to be a big success. Unfortunately it meant that the club six-a-side had to be cancelled to accommodate the final, but we were blessed with a fine day and the ground looked in 'tip top' condition, thanks to Trevor Coote's efforts. A good sized crowd turned up to watch the match and the club benefited from bar and BBQ sales. A lot of club members had a hand in making this a very successful day and I would like to record my thanks to them. The league organisers were very impressed with our facilities and the way that we handled the day and as one committee member commented to me, "Unless Brentwood CC are in the final, why would you want to stage the match anywhere else!" Another successful event was the night at Romford Greyhound Stadium. We were given 100 tickets to sell at £5 each with the club retaining this revenue. Although we didn't manage to sell all 100 tickets, we had a good turnout and an enjoyable evening, the highlight being a streaker (male) who thankfully was not a BCC member. I hope that we are able to participate in this event next year. We had hoped to organise a celebrity cricket match, but after much initial enthusiasm our plans had to be abandoned for a variety of reasons. The club benefited from several pitch/ground hiring's throughout the season and our facilities were made available to the Essex Schools Cricket Association and the Central Essex District Cricket Board to hold their competition finals, further evidence of how highly regarded our ground and facilities are. The season ended with the Colts Awards Night (which will be dealt with elsewhere) and the Annual Awards Dinner and Dance which once again was a hugely enjoyable and successful event, organised and run almost exclusively by Paul Webb, who should be thinking of a new career as an events organiser. And so, we must now turn our thoughts to 2008 and beyond. There are some very exciting plans in the pipeline for the cricket club, and every member, parent and friend of the club can do their bit towards bringing these plans to fruition, by supporting our social events and maybe joining our committee to lend a hand. We need representation on the committee from the colts section and from the Victorians. Could that be you? The club also needs sponsors. If you are unable to give your time, could your firm help by sponsoring the club in some way, hiring our facilities or advertising in the fixture card. If you think you can help, please get in touch. But it's not just about raising funds. Its also about having a good time, making new friends within the club as a whole, and engendering a "one club ethos". Here's to a great 2008, both on and off the field. Jonathan Walford At the Club's end of season Dinner and Dance ("The Event in the Tent"), the following awards were presented. Congratulations to all the recipients:
2007 has been a second consecutive year of growth – members numbered around 150 at the end of the 2006 season and closed 2007 at 220. The age breakdown is as follows:-
Although there is clearly a very healthy pipeline of Colts into the competitive U11-16 age groups experience to date has shown that boys do tend to begin to drop away towards the U13 and in particular the U15 and older age groups as other interests take hold. The Colts Committee feel that the current numbers will however provide a good number at all age groups over the foreseeable future as long as we do not compromise on the quality of our offering. Many Brentwood Colts were left disappointed in the winter 2007 season as we were not able to enter winter league teams as there was no clear picture as to who would manage the teams. This was a learning experience for the committee not least as some of them had boys of their own who were very disappointed. Winter training was however a success story – for the first time in some years all costs were recouped for winter coaching and even a little profit was returned. Sawyers Hall was the venue and for the first time an evaluation exercise was carried out. This showed that the quality of coaching was considered to be consistently good or excellent. 2007 has seen Brentwood Colts play more matches than ever before across most age groups following the hard work by the Colts Fixture Secretary organising a large amount of friendly matches to allow non first team members of each age group to take part in competitive cricket. These combined with the league and cup fixtures provided a full calendar (rain permitting!) As well as the league, cup and friendly fixtures a number of tournaments were entered:-
The highlight of the season was the CEDCB cup finals day on 2nd September. Brentwood hosted the U11, U13 and U15 finals and an U9 tournament. In the glorious weather at last the Brentwood U9s were unbeaten in the tournament making them joint winners and the U13s triumphed in a thrilling final – a fitting end to the season. In other activities, we ran two coaching clinics during 2007 – one at Whitsun and for the first time a second clinic in the summer. The Whitsun clinic was attended by around 65-70 individuals (not all attending every day) but rain affected the clinic requiring late booking of indoor facilities. The Whitsun Clinic saw Brentwood reach out to the local schools for the first time offering free places by nomination through the Gifted and Talented co-ordinator. This allowed us to “scout” for some older talent but also provides evidence that Brentwood Cricket Club is inclusive and reaches out to the local community. The summer clinic was a smaller event attended by around 35 boys. The combination of the two clinics raised close to £4,500 to reinvest in the club. Key Changes Planned for 2008 At this stage there are no plans to close books to new members accepting that there will always be some churn between seasons. This will be reviewed in 2008. In order to improve the overall offering to our young members, the Colts Sub-Committee has approved the creation of additional U11 (A, B and C) and U13 (A and B) league teams but numbers dictate that for this year at least there should remain just one U15 team and, as per the Matchplay competition, only one U16 team. This brings Brentwood more into line with virtually all other local clubs who have routinely entered A and B teams into the league at most age groups. The Colts Sub-Committee has recognised that in order to sustain a Colts community of the size now reached, coaching capability has to be increased significantly. A coaching training programme has been launched aimed at the older members of the Colts and those moving into the Adult section. A Young Leadership course is being run during the winter period which will result in 15-20 Colts attaining basic coaching qualifications. A good number of these will also have achieved First Aid certification and will have attended SPC training. A number of adult members have expressed and interest in taking coaching qualifications - this is welcome news and will help to encourage the “one club” culture. Any training requests can be made via the Colts Sub-Committee and these will be dealt with. For the first time Brentwood Colts is aiming to implement both general and advanced coaching groups. Membership of the advanced groups will be by invitation and will require a return commitment from those invited (e.g. supporting the coaches of the younger children). A level 3 coach is engaged in working these plans through which include developing full coaching plans for both general and advanced groups. Documented plans such as this will be required when re-applying for Clubmark. Winter league teams have been entered at U11 and U15 but unfortunately we have been left disappointed at U13 following the postal strike getting in the way of forms from Essex to Brentwood. David Barbone
Colts Training at the Old County Ground Under-9's End of Season Report It was decided to reduce the minimum age to under five, which proved to be very successful, with membership increasing by 50%. It was decided that I would undertake to look after the U9 group. Apart from the Friday evening training all of them played at least one game. The inclement weather at the start of the season didn't help, but we did manage to play two intra-club matches with the U5's and U7's. Many of these had never played cricket before. This proved to be very successful and I've never seen a group of colts enjoy themselves so much. They kept asking when they could have some more. The U9's were entered into a four way tournament with Hutton, Shenfield and Upminster. Unfortunately they never won a match but so many of them improved their cricket. I would like to mention Aaron Doyle, probably the player to show most improvement. From this tournament three players were chosen from each club to play against Essex U9's. Edward Abbott, James Berry and Matthew Bell were chosen. We lost again, but more experience was gained. These three players progressed to U11 cricket. We ended the season with an U8 and U10 tournament, including Ardleigh Green, Ilford and Wanstead. It was also very successful with Wanstead winning, but most importantly it provided cricket for many of the youngsters. Luke Bradley, who is 7, is probably the best spin bowler at his age within the club. On 2nd September Brentwood Cricket Club hosted the CEDCB (Central Essex District Cricket Board) finals day. The U9 jointly won the Kwick Cricket tournament with Hutton. Congratulations to all these very young colts on a very enjoyable season with a steep learning curve for the very young. I would certainly wish to continue managing them next season. Finally my sincere thanks to Kevin Brailey and Mickey Payne, because without them I would never have coped. Jan West Under-11A's End of Season Report Despite the atrocious weather the Under 11'A' team enjoyed a successful 2007. Of the eleven matches played, seven were won with three defeats and one abandoned. Only the league fixture against Springfield remained unplayed. From the very first game against Bentley, the team played excellent cricket. The team, ably led by James Coleman, played in a spirit befitting Brentwood Cricket Club. The boys were enthusiastic and committed and always played with a smile on their faces. They won their opening five games beating Bentley, Shenfield and Stock comprehensively. The high point of the season was perhaps the cup victory over Shenfield when on a rare baking June morning the boys produced almost the complete team performance. However, our chances of league and cup success were thwarted by defeats to Cloghams and Chelmsford respectively. Richard Horswill, who missed a number of games due to Essex commitments, was our leading run scorer with 104 and he was well supported by James Coleman 84, Douglas Maxwell 71 and Kristian Ali 49. Coleman's off spin earned him 12 wickets and Maxwell and Dominic Swallow both got 6 A special mention should also be made of James Berry who at 9 years of age clearly showed considerable ability and a temperament to match. Every member of the squad worked hard to improve their skills and I would like to thank the boys for making it such a hugely enjoyable season. There is considerable talent at this age group which suggests a very bright future for Brentwood Cricket Club.
Ian Coleman Under-11B's End of Season Report We began the season with a squad mostly made up of boys who had not played a competitive hardball cricket match before. I can still remember the day when I sat down with the squad for the first match and asked if there were any questions and the first one was "what happens if we lose?" Well we did lose more than we won but the difference in the team - both as a team and as individuals by the end of the season was phenomenal. The "rabbit in headlights" approach was a thing of the past and we began to score upwards instead of downwards(!) and we finally got our win against Upminster - and very nearly beat Writtle in our last match. The selection for the squad was on a rotational basis rather than on ability with the aim to give as many boys as much experience as we could It is hard to pull out any individuals as they all improved so much throughout the year but the statistics (not including the intra club and the Mums and Dads vs Lads) show that Toby Fielding was our highest wicket taker with 8 wickets followed by Matthew Dicks and Oliver Allan on 5 which all bodes well for next year. Other bowlers who may not have taken as many wickets, but showed true team and competitive spirit were, Edward Brown, Aidan Pritchard and Dominic Short. Highest Run scorer was Simon Wood with 48 runs followed by George Wingrove (who has made the switch from baseball with ease!) and James Coleman.
2007 Season Colts U11B
Under-13's End of Season Report As with most teams the bad weather played a huge part in the season. A superb start with three superb victories in cup competitions was halted by Cloghams getting some revenge in the League after we knocked them out of the District Cup. This set the pattern of things to come with very good performances in the Peter Coe and District Cup but not so good in the League. Despite several attempts to replay missed fixtures we only managed to play four League fixtures all season. Fortunately due to our Cup run we were not short of fixtures. We had a very strong U13 squad for this year, however we did miss some key players at times who were representing Essex; this was made evident when we played a very strong Wanstead side in the County Cup, probably the only side who I can honestly say had the edge on us all season, but we still gave them a run for their money. The Team went on to lose only one Peter Coe fixture on a rain affected wicket after some very professional displays the team reached the CEDCB (Central Essex District Cricket Board) Cup Final v Bentley. Bentley had gone unbeaten in the League and had themselves had very strong performances in all competitions. Brentwood held their nerve to win an excellent Cup Final by 7 Wickets. I would like to thank all the squad listed below for their efforts in the Season, by the end they believed in themselves and their team. Batting
Bowling
Under-15's End of Season Report The U15 were unfortunately knocked out in the first round of the cup. They only won 3 League matches, but were interrupted frequently by rain. The team overall played well together, considering they were young and experienced. Some of the players also play U16 Matchplay. I think they will come on leaps and bounds next season. Jan West Under-16's End of Season Report After such a successful season in 2006 when the under 15's won the CEDCB division one league and were runners up in the CEDCD cup final the club had high hopes that as under 16's this team would qualify for the latter stages or even win the Matchplay competition for the first time since 1989. Unfortunately many factors stopped us from having any chance of doing either. Firstly rain, rain and more rain decimated our fixtures list and many of the early season games were postponed, resulting in dropped points against potentially beatable opposition. Secondly a regular loss of our best players on Sundays scuppered our game plan. Thirdly a couple of games that we should have won, we literally let slip through our fingers, due to poor fielding. As the old adage says, "Catches wins matches." Team selection for Essex, playing men's cricket on Saturdays, school cricket commitments at the week-end, all affected some squad members from playing ‘back to back matches' as fatigue, illness and loss of form took its toll. We were due to play nine games in our group stage; however, we only managed to complete five. We won one game, lost four, three matches were abandoned because of rain and another was cancelled due to the opposition being unable to field a side, however, we were awarded the game on default. Inevitably we were never able to regularly select our best team and with this competition you rarely get drawn against really weak opposition, it was therefore going to be difficult for us to qualify for the latter stages. However, on a more positive note, this did allow more of our younger Colts players the opportunity to take part in this prestigious competition and hopefully gain some invaluable experience for future seasons. Young players such as James Bowler, Kristen Ali, and James Dawes and under 15's Scott Harper-Horn, Jack Greenwood and Will Ashby all contributed to our teams efforts. In terms of the established players and their individual performances I think it is fair to say that this season we did under achieve, especially with the bat and too many of our players were out cheaply. Also some basic fielding errors cost us dearly. Whilst Aaron West was only able to represent us on three occasions he did score a brilliant 80 runs against his previous club Ilford and a 54 against Hadleigh & Thundersley. Ed Nation was probably our best and most consistent batsmen and scored an excellent 74 against High Roding with Jack Turner scoring a cameo 30 in the same match. Other main contributors with the bat throughout the season were Matt Lowman and Chris Stockwell. On the bowling front fast bowler Matt Lowman took most wickets for us in the group stages ending up with five and a very respectable average and economy rate. His technique of swinging the ball around gave many opposition batsmen a few headaches. Jack Turner and Chris Stockwell were also successful with the ball throughout the group stage. In terms of this years under 16's Colts Awards, Ed Nation was awarded "Player of the Year", for his all round efforts with bat, ball and his Captaincy of the team. Matt Lowman was given "Most Improved Player" after his bowling successes, grit with the bat and team spirit. "Clubman of the Year" went to Jack Denman for all of his efforts organising for each match play team member to have named and numbered shirts for this year's competition. Overall it has been a pleasure to have been the Brentwood Colts U16's Team Manager for this season and manager of the 15's and 16's last year. I am now going into management retirement having had some great success and many happy memories of times past. This bunch of lads were great to work with over the last couple of seasons and many have the potential to continue their cricketing successes with the men's teams for many years to come. Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank Steve West and Dave Stockwell for coaching the lads, Jan West for organising, scoring and managing the side on a couple of occasions when I was unavailable. Pat Blyth for supplying the teas for home games, and this seasons resident U16's umpires Colin Thorogood and Roy French. Last but not least, Dave Barbone Chairman of the Colts Committee for his enthusiasm, and support throughout the last couple seasons. Good luck to the club and team managers for next season. Peter Lowman Batting
Bowling
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Five years ago at the end of my first season in charge of the Fourth Team in which we had run away with the title and won the league by 60 points, I wrote in my end of season report that I wondered if the 4th XI Premier League represented the best platform for the development of our precocious youth. My concern was that the standard wasn't testing enough and the fact that we couldn't strive for promotion would stagnate the progress of our colts and endanger the long term motivation of the senior players.
