In the batting stakes, Kurt Whisker's fine record of consistent accumulation isn't good enough for top spot, as despite nearly half of innings ending in a score of 50+, he is beaten out by a couple of one season wonders from the same family.

The Rat's swan-song punishing Division One attacks before taking off for Singapore sees him in 2nd spot, but uncle Steve's 2016 campaign terrorising Division 11 'bowling' pips the red-trousered right-hander to the post, his 449 runs at 56.13 setting the leading mark so far, although with a promotion to Division 9 this year, Jack will be hard-pressed to maintain that average.

In 4th place comes rejuvenated 2nd team skipper Lee Ramduth, the Rush Green Ranatunga scoring runs consistently from the middle order in the 2's as well as unleashing his left arm darts at prime time.

No surprise in 5th place, the Great Wall of Keith Friend is never a man to give his wicket away and his record, mainly in the 3's as the man to bat around, is outstanding and a couple of runs per game better than the new 1s skipper who comes in 6th.

Batting

Name	Apps	Inns	NO	Runs	Best	100s	50s	Avge
S Rooke	11	11	3	449	102*	1	3	56.13
M Rooke jnr	14	14	5	495	117*	1	1	55.00
K Whisker	47	45	7	1,985	132*	2	20	52.24
L Ramduth	22	17	7	510	90*	0	5	51.00
K Friend	40	39	14	1,142	97*	0	8	45.68

With the ball, the 1st team bowlers have largely had their averages nudged upwards by the quality of batsmen in the Premier Division, so it's a chance to shine for some of the lower XI stalwarts and emerging players led by u15 seamer Nirbhay Bist who has made an encouraging start to his senior career with 20 wickets at just 9.75 in the 4s and 3s.

Tommy Puncher's occasional skidders make a surprise appearance in the number 2 spot, suggesting that he could be somewhat under-bowled when not taking the gloves.

The Cobra Mumtaz comes in at number 3, his wicket taking potential and extreme politeness was sorely missed by the 2s and 3s last season, so rumours of a change in Saturday shifts to accommodate cricket in 2017 are encouraging.

Brad Winsley makes the only appearance by a spinner in the top 5, his mixture of unplayable turn, bounce and regular half-trackers to keep the batsmen interested have consistently taken wickets at 2s and 3s level.

The 5th spot is nailed down by the Ugandan Express, Izzy's 70 wickets in 29 games would translate to 40 wickets a season if he played the full campaign and he narrowly edges out the club's leading wicket takers over the past 3 years Gillham snr (80) and Shane Barwick (86) who both average in the 13's.

Bowling

Name	Apps	Overs	Wkts	Average
N Bist	12	51	20	9.75
T Puncher	38	44.2	17	11.06
Q Mumtaz	23	172.3	38	11.42
B Winsley	32	181.4	53	11.43
I Ochwo	29	221.1	70	12.14

Next up are the men you can rely on in your fantasy XI, men for whom Saturday weddings, social events or holidays are largely non-negotiable in May to August, men whose vocabulary doesn't include the word injury.

Gillham Snr's 51 games should really be 52 given that he still drove all the way to Old Chelmsfordians for a cancelled game, fuming the entire way, just to check that the pitch was playable at 1pm after 3 hours sunshine following an early abandonment (it was). Although in fairness his Mum did live close by.

The remaining names are very much those that the selection committee can rely on.

Appearances

Name	Apps
D Gillham Snr	51
J Barwick	50*
J Calverley	48
C Ivey	48
A Kumar	48
A Livett	48

* Full game awarded even when leaving at 6pm

Finally the men you want to be bowling at when they first come to the crease (or in some cases at any time), men for whom the concept of playing themselves in either involves a half hearted prod at ball #1 followed by an attempted lofted drive over cover or a succession of play and misses and silent prayers.

Soon to be ex-LBBD council stalwart Keith Maund leads the way here by virtue of the golden duck tie-breaker, but this most hotly contested crown could well change hands again soon with ball one bashers Chapman and Ivey making charges in recent years.

Nestled in behind are the 1's bunny Billy Smith, whose appearance at the crease in the 1st innings generally prompts frantic waving to the tea-lady from Premier Division skippers and the silver-fox, who was the steel-fox two seasons ago before a few comprehensive stump reorganisations vaulted him into duckboy contention and increased stress levels in the Wilkinson household to the extent that he's since been barred from walking within 200m of the Venezeulan embassy due to his striking resemblance to Julian Assange.

Ducks

Name	Apps	Innings	Ducks
K Maund	39	32	7
C Ivey	48	34	7
B Chapman	37	32	6
B Atkins	26	20	6
B Smith	45	20	5
J Wilkinson	45	41	5