Goresbrook
CC – 2011 Season Review - 1st XI (by
Richard Williams)
When Dave
Whisker and Martin Rooke started up the Colts section in 1999 it was surely for
days like Saturday 20th August when a side featuring 9 Dagenham lads
who came through those Colts teams, not least both of their sons, defended 212
as if their life depended on it against a big hitting May & Baker team, the
like of which had bullied Goresbrook XI’s for most of the previous 10 years.
As on every
other occasion the 1st XI batted first this season, the boys of 2011
held their discipline, their catches and their nerve and came out winners by 26
runs, clinching a first league championship in the glorious evening sunshine in
front of a loyal band of supporters, family and players from other Club XI’s
who had gathered to watch the finest moment in the Club’s history.
The
celebrations went on long into the night and were especially poignant for
Lawrence Walsh, one of the odd two out who didn’t come through the Colts
section. He didn’t have that pleasure of course because he was one of the
founders of the Club, and it was fitting that the Club’s greatest ever player
played a key role both in the campaign and in the title clinching victory, 30
years on from playing in the first ever Goresbrook fixture.
There will
hopefully be many more days like the 20th of August in years to come
(and we had a fair stab when we retained the T20 trophy 2 weeks later), but
whatever anybody in the team achieves in sport in the future, it rarely gets any
better than winning things with your mates at the club which you’ve grown up
at.
Season
record:
League: Won
15, lost 2, 1 abandoned - Champions
T20:
Champions
Cup: Beaten
semi-finalists to eventual winners Hawks
Players
& League Stats
Kurt
Whisker (captain): 16 games, 488 runs at 34.9
7 catches
Some might
say it’s an easy job to keep a happy ship when you win 15 games, but the team
spirit was outstanding, the 1st XI in the field were a well oiled
machine, players knew what was expected and when it was expected and he scored a
few runs as well. As captain and opening bat there’s not a lot more Kurt could
have done, although a ton would have been nice. His batting in the second half
of the season was like a comfort blanket for a nervous batting line-up, when
Kurt made 50, a big total followed.
Michael
Rooke: 16 games, 408 runs at 29.1,
27 wickets
at 14.3, Econ 3.1
10 catches
Another fine
all-round season for the Rat, who carried the batting early season until his top
order colleagues turned up, was leading wicket taker and caught some astounding
slip catches. A few less tantrums when somebody slaps him around and another 200
runs would be nice, but we’re clutching at straws a bit. His bowling in
particular was outstandingly consistent and his aggressive batting after some of
the strong starts in the second half of the season took the team to another
level.
Jordan
Calverley: 16 games, 323 runs at 23.1
4 catches
After an
unsteady start, the Reverend showed up for Saturday service in the second half
of the season with three 50’s and plenty of time in the middle. A fantastic
ball striker who is still learning the ropes as an opener in senior cricket, JC
will be the cornerstone of the batting for years to come. Another tremendous
fielder with the best arm in the side, Hornchurch Athletic were so impressed
with his boundary run out in the T20 Quarter final that they took him on again
next ball just to check it wasn’t a fluke. It wasn’t.
Toby
Maund: 13 games, 234 runs at 19.5
19 wickets
at 20.1, Econ 4.1
7 catches
Another who
started the season like he’d never batted before, Toby bore the brunt of
Kurt’s axe after the Comso debacle and it proved to be the making of the man.
He dropped down into the 2’s for 3 games, scored 78 and 91*, generally looked
a class apart and came back to play a big part in the title push. Toby was also
voted the man the rest of the 1’s least like to change next to for the 5th
successive year.
Kane
Messenger: 17 games, 224 runs at 22.4
22 wickets
at 16.5, Econ 3.9
11 catches
Mr Cricket
racked up another ever-present campaign chipping in with his usual tally of
crucial innings, big wickets and match-turning catches. The consummate team man,
Kane suffered throughout the season with a side injury, but continued to run in
hard and whilst his consistency suffered, his spell in the clinching game
against May & Baker will live long in the memory. In a side notable for
their commitment, nobody gives more to the cause.
Afzal
Hussain: 16 games, 198 runs at 15.2
3 catches
A campaign
of soft dismissals and frustration for the most part for Afzal, who saved some
of his better innings for the Cup competitions. However when the season was on
the line in August, Afzal played some big innings, none better than his 46 that
sparked the batting in the May & Baker game. His ground fielding was also
outstanding and whilst Kane remain the master of the running catch, Afzal is the
king of the direct hit run-out, take him on at your peril.
Bryan
Atkins: 15 games, 162 runs at 14.7
8 wickets at
16, Econ 5.1
3 catches
One of the
players in the side who needed to find their niche at the start of the season,
Bryan found it in no uncertain terms as the middle order hitter and partnership
breaker. Wielding a big bat and roving up and down the lineup with a licence to
swing, Bryan won the first game against Asian with a last over assault when all
looked lost, a victory which was huge in terms of the belief that it gave the
side. He then performed similar feats against Hornchurch Athletic, Hawks and
memorably against M&B when his 29 from 8 balls was equally huge, taking us
over 200 and setting a score that everybody felt we could defend. Given that
track record, 34 from 18 balls to win the T20 semi-final against Asian came only
as a surprise to Asian skipper Amir Khan.
Richard
Williamson: 7 games, 124 runs at 20.7
1 wicket at
15, Econ 3.5
5 catches
A truncated
season for Dicky, as a summer job at Lambretta ate into his Saturday
availability. His 81 against Hornchurch Athletic showed his class, the most
valuable 20 not out of the season at Asian to win the match in the final over
showed his bottle. Well worth his Championship medal. Which he will probably try
to sell for a packet of fags as Meggsy nicked all his during the course of the
season.
Richard
Williams: 16 games, 114 runs at 16.2
11 wickets
at 27.9, Econ 2.9
1 catch
With the
pace now moving from the middle towards the slow lane, the Club’s resident
Yorkshireman is strictly a stock bowler these days, but in 45 over cricket, you
can never have too many bowlers who go for less than 3 an over. A few more
notches in the wicket column wouldn’t go amiss given the pressure on places
from the Club’s crop of young seam bowlers, but with some important knocks
down the order also in the credit column and a man of the match award from the
T20 final on the sideboard, there is hopefully another season or two from
Dagenham’s foremost Max Walker impersonator. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jHPC2gHckg
Lawrence
Walsh: 16 games, 99 runs at 11
22 wickets
at 13.3, Econ 3.3
6 catches
With 20,000
runs in the bank, Dagenham’s answer to Piers Morgan has clearly decided it’s
time to concentrate on the bowling and the old boy’s renaissance was one of
the delights of the season. Lol regained his loop, got his leg-break turning and
threw it up fearlessly against a succession of flashing blades, almost always
coming out on top. Walshy picked up Asian’s star Ifthikar Ilyas in both games
this year, bowling him round his legs in the pivotal clash at Low Hall Farm, and
his spell at Barking where the home side’s batsmen queued up to hit the ball
down long off’s throat chasing 150 with plenty of overs in hand, was another
point at which the title run could have come off the rails but didn’t.
Chris
Burke (keeper): 17 games, 99 runs at 11
19
dismissals
Burkey’s
batting opportunities were limited this year, but on the plus side, if you’d
offered him as many runs as Lol at the start of the season he would have bitten
your arm off… Chris is in the side for his keeping however and after a game
against Cosmo where the sideline barracking and a wayward Izzy drove him to
distraction, he re-focused, was excellent for the remainder of the season and as
an ever-present, the heartbeat of a superb bowling and fielding side. Standing
up on some of the tracks in this league is a licence to get some dental work
done, but Burkey made it look easy, although he does lose points for moaning
about byes being given instead of wides, despite that decision saving the team a
run!
Shaun
Ross: 10 games, 32 runs at 6.4
7 wickets at
20.2, Econ 3.4
1 catch
Still yet to
really establish himself in the 2’s at the end of last season, Shaun started
the season with a series of impressive displays leading their attack, came into
the 1’s for the game at Hawks and never left. Shaun is not the finished
article yet, but he runs in hard (whether bowling, approaching a catch or
fielding a ball) and produced some superb spells, notably at Barking and
Thurrock where with a bit more luck his figures could have been much better.
With other bowlers returning in 2012, the pressure for bowling places will be
on, but Shaun showed that he is more than up to 1st XI cricket.
Israel
Ochwo: 10 games, 18 runs at 6
25 wickets
at 13, Econ 4.7
2 catches
Izzy started
the season like he was going to break every record in the book ripping through
Barking with 8 for 40 and then demolishing Fords with 5 for 21 on a very flat
pitch. His season was sadly curtailed, first due to a hand injury and then due
to the pressure of exams, but there are plenty of things in life more important
than cricket (not least golf betting if you listen to the middle order whilst
Kurt is batting) and Mr Ochwo will undoubtedly be back.
The team
rose to the occasion and went through the second half of the season unbeaten
even without their talisman, but life would be easier with the odd early evening
in the bar when Izzy has run through the opposition.
Also
played: Craig Irving, Matt Friend, 1 game each