Season Review – Saturday 2nd XI
Starting off with notable thanks to several members of the team and club
- Jason, Chris & John with their words of wisdom during my first year of a captain at certain times was able to help me greatly
- Superb teas once again from Stella
- Pitches prepared by Chris & Crock, noting that in the 2nd XI we did not have an incomplete fixture at home all season
- Martyn, for all his help throughout the season
Moving onto the performances this year with several players either no longer available, suffering from injuries or moving into the 1st XI we finished a respectable 8th place with a record of 8 wins, 4 draws, 8 losses and 2 abandonment’s.
Notable performances include:
- Martyn bowling 170 overs in a season at an economy of under 3.50 and picking up 25 wickets showing there’s still some life in him yet
- Andy, the other half of what is probably the oldest opening partnership the league as he too bowled well throughout the year to keep an economy of 3.68
- Simon who had a mixed season as he was injured for a large part and his control was sorely missed as he was restricted to just 8 games this year
- Max who missed of the start of the season took a while to get going but by the end of the season remained the outstanding fielder of the side and a consistent member with both bat and ball. Max also achieved his first 50 for the club and I look forward to seeing him develop over the next couple of years
- Liam again developed well this year and took one of the catches of the season
- Cameron was probably the most improved player this year with the bat and in the field, I look forward to seeing him push on next year and cementing a top order place
- John unfortunately also restricted to only 6 games but scored 350 runs at an average of 58 with 2 centuries
- Jason scoring 392 runs with 1 century at an average of 30 combined with his keeping where he took 12 catches and 5 stumping’s
- Myself, scored 811 runs at an average of 62 with 2 centuries and even played some defensive shots this year, maybe the responsibility helped there…
- A thanks to several others who helped out during the season such as Dan Wood who I hope to see more of at the club next year, Chris Townsend for rolling back the years and scoring a memorable 88 with several 6’s, Pete Whitehead with his bullet arm and many others
During the course of the season there were several highlight games such as at Home against Astwood bank where we chased 267 in comfortable fashion with the support of the 1st XI which we then followed up with another win in the closest game of the season against Halesowen where we won off the last ball with Will bowling their number 11 to secure the 24 points.
In my opinion the performance of the season came against Claverley as they were bowled out in 40 overs for 116 and we then knocked off the runs 1 down in 22 overs and this spurred us on to 4 wins in a row during which time I scored my maiden century and Chris scored his first Saturday century.
As the season drew to a close we enjoyed our final win against Kempsey in which John showed a batting masterclass to score 138 and we posted 311-6 before bowling them out for 178 and then we ended our season at home against Old Vigornians with a winning draw.
Overall I feel it was a successful season as we achieved our aim of staying in the division and did so comfortably and ending up mid table, I found it a challenging experience but enjoyed it thoroughly and to give one final thanks to all who played this season and hope you enjoyed it as much as myself. Finally, I would like to wish good luck to the captain next year and look forward to seeing further development of the clubs youth as we look to build at this great club.
#YOTM
Josh Cound, 24/01/2018
