Captains Log: 18-11-09
Goresbrook's 1st XI captain Richard Williams reviews his team's 2009 season:
2009
was a strange season for the 1st XI, on the one hand we won five more games than
the previous season and were in with a chance of winning the league on the final
Saturday of the season, on the other, despite a long unbeaten run, we played our
worst cricket in the final month of the campaign, when our habit of losing
wickets in flurries and losing any semblance of discipline with the ball came to
the fore, so the season ended on a bit of a low note.
Still, taking
off Michael Rooke's cap of pessimism, we produced a gutsy performance in
the Cup Final with a very young side and continued the upward curve of
recent seasons as all sides improved substantially on their points hauls in
2008. With improvement comes pressure however, and assuming we hang onto
all of our players, we've reached a stage where I feel that anything less than
the league title will be a disappointment in 2010.
Other
sides will have something to say about that obviously and I would imagine that
the 2010 Premier Division will be stronger than this season's version. I
felt the standards dropped off in 2009 noticably from the previous year,
when the bottom two sides Belhus and May & Baker were decent outfits
(although Belhus were blooding a lot of youngsters in preparation for their
Shepherd Neame bow). This year, Hawks were basically a two man side and were
deservedly bottom, Tennyson battled hard, but could only ever field 5 or 6
players who were competitive at this level, and with the stars having
disappeared, Fords were another poor side. That meant six automatic wins for any
side worth their salt, and although neither of our games against Tennyson was a
stroll, many of our worst habits weren't exposed whilst we kept
winning.
With
Asians and Cosmo capable of beating or losing to anybody, depending on whether
their top order batsmen came off, the league came down to five sides who
basically had very little to separate them, with Grays essentially winning the
league by virtue of finishing a game when everybody else was rained off.
Team
Review
Kurt
Whisker followed up his league leading 700 plus league run campaign by making
two fateful decisions in 2009, one was to expand his range of strokes early on
in his innings, which lead to a few elegant 13's and 20's before chipping
up a catch to mid-on. His second key decision was to dive full length to
stop a ball crossing the boundary in the later overs of the Middlesex
League's innings in the Rep game. The best possible outcome of that
decision would have been that the Middlesex League only made 270
instead of 272, the worst possible outcome was a separated shoulder, 6 weeks out
of first team action and his mum having to put his jacket on in the morning
before going to work.
It
was therefore not a vintage season for the generously eared opener, however a
return to plan A, i.e. bat as long as possible looking to score in his
strong areas should make it a relatively easy bounce back and I confidently
predict 500+ runs and a stronger Goresbrook batting lineup in 2010.
Next
up the a dissection of a myth that seems to have been accepted as fact
in post season discussions about the 1st XI in the bar, namely that Lol came
back from a disappointing 2008 season with a bumper year and Toby had a
shocker of a season with the bat.
As
both averaged a shade over 22 in the league, it's probably fair to say that
neither had amazing years, but Lol's average was actually higher in
2008, after which campaign he was heard muttering darkly about a run
in the 2's to get his confidence up. Where Lol's 2009 campaign differed from the
previous season was in opportunities to play a long innings, as Kurt's injury
and Toby's struggles in the second half of the season gave him the opening slot
for virtually the entire season. He played 3 superb innings over the course of
the year, match-winning knocks against Barking in the league and Hawks in the
cup semi-final, and a fine 79 at Hornchurch Ath that would have been a
match-winning knock if we'd have bowled anything like acceptably. After that,
there was a good 50 at Fords as Toby took hold of the run
chase and not a great deal else, but the memories of the big innings
linger....
The
knock against Hawks was similar to a number of innings he played the previous
season, coming in at 5 or 6 and holding the innings together and it's in this
role that he'll probably start next season. Bowling wise, his overs dried
up a bit, mainly due to a much bouncier than usual Annex pitch, which favoured
the seamers all season, but 11 wickets and a couple of key spells, plus a couple
of screamers at slip proved his usefulness to the side in all capacities
and he's still an automatic selection in the 1's as he approaches his 29th
season with the Club.
Toby
showed signs of becoming an aggressive partner for Kurt in the first
half of the season in which he scored 230 runs, however the second
half only yielded another 100 as his footwork against the new
ball disentegrated and he ended the season still in search of a spot in the
order from which to stamp his undoubted ability on teams. If Toby was probably
over-batted by the skipper, he was definitely under-bowled, not bowling his
off breaks at all until mid-June (including in the nets....), but finishing with
14 wickets and the best strike rate in the side. There is no reason at all
why Toby can't break through and have the sort of season Rat just had, but he
needs to groove his off-breaks so he can land them on the spot, and
work on a method of getting to 25 consistently, because once he gets there he
can take teams apart.
It
isn't just going to happen though, as Albert Einstein said, insanity is doing
the same thing over and over again and expecting different results....
One
man who did make the leap in 2009 was Michael Rooke, as 557 runs and 25 wickets
saw him walk away with the Young Player of the Year award for the league.
Batting wise he carried the side on a number of occasions and has all the shots,
and the only criticism I would have is that he shouldn't worry about a lull in
scoring rate for 2 or 3 overs, as if he stays out there he'll score runs. His
bowling continued to improve from his late 2008 form, and if anything, there's a
couple more yards of pace once he develops any kind of muscle. He should be
looking to improve both run and wicket tallies next year. And if he cheered up a
bit it wouldn't go amiss.
Keith
Friend came into the 1's early on in the season and produced exactly what the
team needed, some experience and runs in the middle order and a sense of
perspective when all around were throwing their wicket away after playing out 2
maidens. For a perfect illustration of how much he was missed when he wasn't
there, please look up the scorecard from Cosmopolitan away.
If
you took Lee Ramduth's start to the season and Jordan Calverley's end,
then there's ready made first team batsman. Lee's 87 against Leyton County was
the highest score in the 1's this season against an attack (featuring Walcott,
Pierre, Sharma, Sweeney and Ubhi) that offered very little in the way of
hittable bowling. He scored all around the wicket, with some superb touch shots
that very few players at the club can match, so therefore it was a big
disappointment (not least to Lee I'm sure) that his season ended in the 2's
after a rash of lbw and bowled's as he shuffled across the crease.
After
a couple of big scores in the 2's Jordan demanded selection for the 1's and
finally at the end of the year, looked to have put his nerves behind him as he
made scores against Tennyson and then Hawks in the Cup Semi and Cosmo in the Cup
Final. An opening slot looks to be his for the taking at the start of next
season and his unique combination of looking like a complete village as he
leaves the ball, and then jumping all over anything loose will no doubt wind up
the Premier Division opening bowlers next season.
Richard
Williamson returned to the fold midway through the campaign and his attitude and
hairstyle as much as anything lifted the side. It took him a while to get
going (as it does when you stop doing something for 18 months), but after a 50
at Hawks that was notable for numerous warnings from the umpire for cutting up
the pitch as he took guard on a good length, he started to look more at home and
ended the season with some useful contributions from the 6 or 7 spot, turning
170's into 210's with aggressive batting.
Bryan
Atkins was another whose season got started at Hawks when his 71 off the last 10
overs took the game away from the hosts and was the best display of hitting from
a 1st team batsman all season. He's in the same boat as Richard really, both
blokes you want in your side for what they bring in terms of competitiveness and
athleticism, but both players who need to turn good starts into 50's to force
their way up the order.
Adam
Ivey finished the season with the most dismissals in the league according to
Play-Cricket which was a deserved honour, even if half the teams don't
bother to put the catcher in the scorecard. Adam's keeping rarely dropped from a
high standard, which given the number of times he was diving down the leg side
trying to stop 75 mph wides, is no mean achievement and the fact that his first
team place was never in serious danger despite failing to crack 20 in the league
with the bat all season is testiment to how good he was behind the stumps.
It
remains an immense frustration to me however that the cleanest striker of the
ball in Club couldn't add more with the bat though, as even batting at 8 or 9
there were a number of occasions when he could have made a quick 30 or 40 and
made his move up the order.
Bowling
wise, the season belonged to Shaddai Smith, a man whose belief that he
belonged in the first team never wavered even when most other people's did. The
season didn't start that auspiciously for Shaddai, despite 3 for 15 at Grays,
his next 6 overs against Leyton County and Barking went for 60, but a controlled
spell against Hornchurch Athletic and then a superb spell at Fords when we were
under the cosh, showed a new found ability to bowl to a field, which as a
captain is the main thing you ask of a bowler.
From
that point on Shaddai rolled through the league until he hit the wall with 3
games to go. He took 21 wickets in the 9 games after Fords including devastating
spells at Tennyson and at home to Grays and he lost his line a bit in the last
month of the season as the effort of running in full blast every ball caught up
with him, but for half the season at least he was hands down the best bowler in
the league.
Izzy
Ochwo produced more than respectable figures in a campaign where he missed 5
games whilst at Uni, however the main change in Izzy's bowling with each
successive year seems to be another yard of pace, when what he really needs is
the ability to harness what he's got into areas where we can set a field
containing some catchers. At the moment we go with 7 men scattered behind
the bat depending on the alignment of the planets and Izzy still picks up 70% of
his wickets clean bowled and goes for 70% of his runs in wides and edges.
If
this is the best bowler Izzy is ever going to be, then he's still a great weapon
to have, but with any sort of control at all, he could be absolutely
devastating. One area of Izzy's game that I can't say enough about is
his batting improvement, I can't say anything in fact as he might bat above me
next year if anybody else notices.
Andrew
Mitcheson's season was a tale of 2 halves. For the first half of the season he
lacked confidence and whilst his effort in the field never wavered, it wasn't
happening for him at all. However in the second half of the year after a run in
the 2's saw him take 8 wickets in 2 games at Barking and Goodmayes, he came back
up to the 1's and took another 8 in 3 games. Mitch has a lot to offer the Club
and hopefully 2010 will be his year with the bat as well as the ball, he
certainly ended the season on a high as his superb knock in the Cup Final
basically saved the game as a contest after we had lurched to 110-8.
Thanks
to all the players mentioned above, plus Afzal, Kane, Cakes and Dan
Williamson who all made appearances in the league this season, for making
2009 a memorable season and although it's probably my last as a Goresbrook
skipper and we ended up a few yards short in all competitions, then at least
that's a good motivation to get down the gym and get to nets in January so that
we finally lift some silverware next year.
2009
Highlights:
Best
Innings
Runner
Up - Rat's 74 to set up a winning chase after we were 10 for 3 at Leyton County
Winner
- Lol's 77, 9th man out against Barking, held us together in the most important
game (at that stage) of the season.
Best
Bowling
Runner
Up - Rat's 4 for 24 at Hornchurch Ath, after the first 4 overs went for 50, we
needed something special to get back into the game
Winner
- Shaddai's 7 for 22 against Grays, ripped through the eventual Champions with
hardly a loose ball to relieve the pressure
Best
Catch
Runner
Up - Rat's diving catch at 2nd slip to get rid of Mitra off Shaddai against
Grays, you could sense the air of panic when their best player went
Winner
- Kurt's running over the shoulder diving catch to get rid of Walcott at home to
Leyton after he'd got 30 in no time
Best
Opposition Bowler
Runner
Up - Andrew Hills of Grays, never seems to bowl well against us at their
place, but was all over us at ours and is as quick as anybody
Winner
- Shabbir of Asians - one of the few bowlers who bowled well against us both
games this year, awkward slingy action and good aggressive bowler
Best
Opposition Innings
Runner
Up - Tony Jeffrey in the Cup Semi Final for Hawks, fantastic defiant innings
from a proud bloke when his teammates weren't up to the task
Winner
- Paul Lewis 72 at Tennyson, the only player who made batting look easy on
a poor pitch over there, nearly won the game single handed and would have done
but for a great diving catch.
Cheers & apologies for the length of the article, it seemed a long season......
Richard