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Without our 27-point deduction (about which enough has been said) we would now be 18 points behind Clifton 2's with a game in hand. As it is we'll probably have to beat all the stronger teams in the division. I'm very keen that we do that for a variety of reasons;
i) To enjoy more competitive games next year. (5S has really been two leagues this year with the top 4 quite a bit stronger than the rest, leading to lots of big margin wins for those teams).
ii) To support our 1st team - if they are in Div 1 we really need to be in 3S to provide quality support. (The same of course applies to Clifton whose 1sts are in the Premier!).
iii) I just want to see a new set of grounds next year!
We have had some interesting problems this year not least being unable to field our strongest sides against the best teams despite having a lot more players to chose from - if we had we should have beaten one of these teams and drawn with another – we were well beaten by the league leaders.
Individual performances have been good with four players (Ant, Elmo, Mace and John White) in the bowling averages (and Kev White returning after a lay-off) and four in the batting (Dickie, Ant, Turner and Bygraves – I would be but I'm one innings short of qualification). Nick also appears in the fielding. However when we've played at our best as a team this year (Allestree, Staveley, Elvaston, Stapleford, Old Derbeians) it has been huge fielding efforts in support of accurate bowling that have carried us through.
Not showing in the averages but still having done well are Olsen, Wendel, Poyner, POTY, Woody and of course our captain on the field Dave Stevo, who by his own admission has under-performed with the bat but has captained, fielded, bowled (when required) and kept (when needed) very well indeed. I'd also like to thank the juniors who have stepped in when called upon to do what has been mostly fielding duties - many thanks.
Now I'm going to talk about practice and how things can change quickly. Last year I started the season with a trot of 15, 6, 1, 0, 1 - things couldn't get any worse...they did. After a first ball duck at Clifton, and a first ball duck run out without facing a ball at Alfreton, I was pretty down about my own form and, to be truthful, cricket in general.
Help came from a surprising source. The Buxom Warrior told me a couple of things, first that I played as straight as he'd seen most local cricketers play (!!) and second that I should be capable of scoring 400 runs a season in 4B (as it was last year). He told me I needed to practice. Now everyone knows that 95% of what Ant says is wild exaggeration. I chose to take his comments on this occasion as being part of the other 5%. Friday night he bowled in the nets and I played OK. Surely things would improve on Saturday.....we were rained off!
Next Friday we practised again. I got 11 on the Saturday, 66 on the Sunday, 117 not out (my first ton for 20 years) the following game I played and another 50-odd later in the year. For a player of moderate ability I was performing pretty well. So thank you Mr Antill! And the moral of this tale is.....if at first you don't succeed – try, try again.
The same sort of thing has happened to Dickie this year - after a dreadful trot early on he now leads the 5S league averages and has scored his first ton! And if ever a case for practice needed to be made then take Dave Wood who despite hardly ever playing before this year has had a couple of great scores and hit some huge sixes all done on the basis of winter and summer nets.
There are some issues as a club we need to address for the longer term including; better practice facilities, a third league team, giving our juniors more senior games, hard ball cricket for our u11's, two or three more players of Div 1 standard, next years pro etc,etc but I'll leave that to the committee who seem pretty much on top of the situation. In the meantime I think it's important we enjoy the rest of the season – so, here we are... on we go! - Adios.
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