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The momentous scoreboard at Coldharbour.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Rollx DT's season review
The club’s 29th year saw us use 5 new players bringing the total number of players who have represented the club up to 167. In total 28 players (plus 2 Umpires) were used, all of whom batted, 18 of whom bowled with 12 of these taking wickets and 14 players took catches.
Our full record was: Played 13, Won 3, Drew 1, Tied 1 and Lost 8 with, one game lost to rain. Our tied final game (only the 2nd tie in our history) was a fitting end to a season which saw the record books torn up (and I have a lot of record books) and rewritten following our great victory over Coldharbour CC. Three victories was one more than the last two seasons and it was as good as four victories as rain denied us a victory, which we were all set for, against Norton St Philip in Somerset (which would have made it two wins from two on tour for the first time ever).
The stand out moments of the season were the two exciting 20 / 20 / 20 / 20 matches (one win and one loss) against West XI and Platt CC, as usual, another very good Somerset tour and the dramatic tie, 207 each, versus Ex Blues. The undoubted highlight though was at the picturesque ground of Coldharbour CC when the club posted its highest ever LSSC score - 302, it’s highest ever individual score – 119 by John Griffiths, its highest ever partnership – 229 between John and Trevor Mayhew (who also scored a ton and his best ever score of 109) and the first time any bowler has taken the first 5 wickets of an opponents innings – by Peter Berkeley. A great day and for those who still doubt that this happened, you can read about it in the match report on the website.
Five players received nominations for Player of the Year but without doubt the deserved victor was John Griffiths for his much improved batting, topped off by ‘ that ‘ innings, consistent bowling and the fact that he didn’t upset anyone this year by shouting at them in the field (as he has been wont to do in previous years). He polled almost 50% of the votes cast (8 out of 17) and almost three times as many as the 2nd placed players, Dave Nanton and Trevor Mayhew. To show the full extent of John’s improvement, and faith showed in him by the Skipper, his previous highest score in 84 previous innings was 33 and proves to everyone in the squad that there can still be life in the old dogs yet.
On the batting front it was the first time since 2004 that two batsmen have scored over 200 runs in the season (John and Trevor). Trevor topped the averages on an excellent 58.20, in the process going past 3,500 club career runs. Last years player of the year Damian Chalmers was again very consistent (averaging over 20) and solid contributions all season were made by Mark Barber, Dave Nanton, Peter Berkeley and Clive Dunn, proving that our youth policy is starting to show signs of paying off.
On the bowling front, the wickets were shared around with no one bowler dominating. The skipper just squeezed ahead with 13 in the final game of the season with Pete Berkeley and a rejuvenated Johnny Quinn with 12. You could close your eyes (and we often had to cover our ears) and imagine that this was the same JQ as used to take the new ball for the London Saints in the early 80’s. Steve Keenan and Dave Nanton also took 11 wickets each and special mention must be made to Finn Quinn whose 7 wickets did not do justice for some great spells throughout the summer. Finn will only get better each season and we can only hope he continues to ply his trade with us for a few more years to come as, along with Dave Nanton, we now have a formidable opening bowling attack
On the fielding front, Pete took 7 catches with the others fairly evenly shared around .It’s fair to be said that none of us are getting any younger and there are times when we would hope for some more youthful legs in the field. We may not be the most dynamic team in the field but what we lack in agility we make up for in style, for example there is not a more beautiful sight on the field than seeing Lord Lucan stroll around the outfield as he ‘ chases ‘ after a ball hit towards the boundary. There were many good catches this year but none as outstanding as Paul Wathan’s dramatic (because he moved in the field) diving catch in the penultimate over in the first leg of the Somerset tour as he dismissed their best batsmen and ultimately turned the match in our favour. I though Mark Barber’s brilliant catch last year in The Nelson Cup (which won the 2008 Champagne Moment) was outstanding but Paul’s matched it and will be a hot contender for this years Champagne moment..
The Duck Trophy went down to the last game as Steve Keenan produced a wonderful effort to keep up to the pace set by Finn Quinn. Steve could have won the trophy with a golden duck in the last game but despite a large, and concerted, appeal from the boundary by the LSSC hordes the umpire turned down the lbw appeal and the trophy was Finn’s. To say he won it in style is an understatement as 5 ducks in 6 innings (a percentage duck ratio of 83.33%) showed that he belongs in the ranks of the LSSC true great quacksters. His 5 ducks equalled the all-time season record of Neil Hotston in 1991, Garry Burrell in 1988 and Little John last year. It is still good to know though that of the 28 players who batted this year, 15 of them made a duck (almost 54%), there were 5 goldens and 2 diamonds, so the talent for a good contest in 2010 is there.
Some noteable milestones were achieved in 2009: Steve Keenan played his 100th game and Dave Nanton his 50th. Trevor scored his 3,500th LSSC career run with Dave Nanton and Paul Pearce scoring their 500th. London Saints career best knocks were achieved, as already mentioned, by John and Trevor as well as Damian Chalmers, Mark Barber and Clive Dunn. On the bowling Steve Keenan took his 100th wicket and the skipper, at last, took his 400th (the mark which he said would see his retirement but the old bugger has decided to still soldier on)! Special mention should be made to Gary Speedtwin, who after a ropey first appearance of the season came back with some excellent performances, like the old days, and took his 50th career stumping.
So, all in all, it was a mixed season with results improving towards the end of the season to such an extent that we didn’t want the season to end. It was a struggle many weeks to get out a full team and we fielded ten players on more occasions than ever so, as usual, we are always looking, and open, to new players.
Next year is our 30th anniversary (only seems like yesterday that we were celebrating our 25th)
and we have a couple of events planned. Obviously not on the scale of Sri Lanka (which took about 18 months to organise) we are hoping to go to Europe and play in Luxembourg and Belgium and, as reported exclusively in The Times on Sat Sep 12th, we plan to have an inter club Under 47’s (Young Tarts) versus Over 47’s (Old Farts) match of past and present players. 47 was the rough cut off point when the match committee discussed the concept on the train down to watch England play Australia at The Rose Bowl but this may change depending on who is available. Hopefully as many people as possible will support this event, and the club’s 30th anniversary, as it takes place as a curtain raiser to the season at a ground to be decided.
