By Jon Swain, Chairman
Despite atrocious weather,
unhelpful planners and a number of other ‘issues’ the Cricket Club has enjoyed
a really wonderful season. It seems astonishing that it is over already.
No-one can remember the Manor Park ground looking so lush in August. The
2008 ‘summer’ has meant the wicket was almost always damp, but our groundsman,
Justin Lewis, always managed to prepare the best possible playing surface
for a bewildering variety of teams of wide age ranges.We began the season with the uncertainty surrounding our practice facilities. We had lost our appeal for the nets. However, it’s an ill wind… We made contact with two very helpful and generous suppliers of equipment and the Club is now the proud owner of a ‘Flicx’ mobile, artificial surface and two ‘3D’ mobile cage nets. The beauty of these great products is that we can place them anywhere on the ground. In conjunction with the acquisition of a bowling machine, with a generous donation from Bucks County Council via Councillor Tricia Birchley, we can now provide high class practice facilities for all ages.
What was the result of all this? The results have spoken for themselves.
We are particularly proud of our young players. The Under 9s won a 6-a-side
tournament at Chesham, beating the biggest clubs in Bucks to do so. Our U11s
were runners-up in the County KO Cup and League and undoubtedly had the worst
of the weather in the Cup Final at GX. Many of the team are U10s, playing
up a year, so this was doubly good. The U12s carried on where they left off
last season and won their league and then a play-off against Chesham to contest
the County Final at Stowe School. Once again great team work, which characterizes
this team, meant they were the winners of the trophy. It is an exceptional
side and we hope they will play together for years to come. The U14s may
not have had the equivalent results, but they just improved with every match
played. The great success for this team is the number of players it provided
for the adult teams. We could see the players growing in confidence as they
played adult league cricket. They are the future of the Club and we are sure
that the sides of the next few years are going to be outstanding. Harry R
won the much coveted new trophy, the ‘Glanfield Fairplay Shield’, awarded
to the player felt to play cricket in the finest traditions of the game.
All the coaches and managers were terrific and much appreciated by the players;
the Club is indeed indebted to them.Onto the adult sides now. We were delighted when the 1st XI won Division 1 of the Mid-Bucks League. This puts us back in the Premier Division and will provide competitive cricket for our players. It was a close campaign with two great games against Ibstone, who came 2nd, clinching it for The Lee. It was a great team effort over the season, but mention must be made of Nic Hanekom, who scored over 500 runs, with an average well in excess of 200! An innings of 133 not out at Ibstone was the finest innings I have seen played for the Club, with a cast-iron resolve matched by scintillating stroke play against a top-drawer attack. We needed to beat Ibstone in the last match of the campaign and did so at The Lee on a rare warm and sunny afternoon with another performance bristling with character. The celebrations went on long into the night. The 2nd XI didn’t hit the same heights, but more importantly it was the vehicle for many of our young players to make their league cricket debuts. They all performed very creditably, with George P winning the ‘Bowler of the Year’ for the side, which was run enthusiastically by Ray Munnery. I predict that the 2nd team will be a real powerhouse for the Club as the young players get older and start to push us oldies out of the way. The Sunday XI was in a similar position, and would benefit from a larger pool of players next season.
There were
some really good performances in all the teams. Three players took hat-tricks
for the club, one colt Fraser P, and two adults, Jono Humphreys and Guy Morgan.
With the new facilities, the Club was able to offer excellent coaching for young players in particular. We promote ourselves as a big asset to the community and this is one of the main aspects of that. We are now hoping that plans submitted to the Local Planning Authority will be approved and essential improvements can be made to our ageing Clubhouse, so that we can provide physical facilities to match the coaching.
Friday nights have been ever more successful. We have up to 150 kids learning to play and improving their fitness. It is an impressive operation to organise this and the coaching is headed by Andy Devoy, with the off-field arrangements down to enthusiastic parents. We appreciate that there are side-effects and we have worked hard to deal with any inconvenience caused to our neighbours.
As the 2008 season draws to a rather muddy end, we all look forward to next season with well-founded optimism for the health of our wonderful village Cricket Club.