It was great to have cricket back to some form of normality this season with the clubhouse and changing rooms open. It was a very interesting season for us in the Seconds where early on in the season I thought we had a good chance of promotion but then midway through the season I thought there was a chance of relegation as injuries and availability hit us. We eventually finished a very respectable 4th, winning 8 losing 7 and having 3 no results.
Frustratingly if we hadn’t suffered injuries to key players such as Chris Jackson and Marcus Martin who we lost for over half a season I really believe we could have challenged for the second promotion position, especially as we comfortably beat West Herts in the home fixture who came 2nd by a distance. Lutonian were far too good for the division and won all 16 games they played by large margins.
Although availability was a real challenge this year we did have a core group of players who I would like to mention. Matt Bowles and Julien Fynn were fantastic with the ball taking 17 and 16 wickets respectively, they both also contributed with the bat at important times. Rupert Martin and Anirudh a new player for this season both also took more than 10 wickets and were very reliable when called on. With the bat Kallum Ward was extremely consistent scoring over 350 runs. Talking of attacking batsman Mike Robertson was great for us this season too averaging over 20 and always giving the innings impetus that we required. I’d also like to thank Richard Barlow for stepping up to keep wicket a couple of times when required and doing a great job.
The games that stand out to me this season were three successful run chases. The first one was away at Harpenden where we were chasing 190, at drinks we were 85 for 2 and the game felt like it was in the balance but by the 35th over we had won the game with Kallum smashing 66 with 6 sixes and Sam Osborne finishing 50 not out. Sam started the season brilliantly for us averaging 40 with the bat and taking 7 wickets at 13, so was deservedly called up to the 1st XI. The second run chase was away at Southgate Adelaide where we were chasing 240 on an extremely hot day, pretty much the whole team contributed with the bat but the stand out was Phil Frenay who top scored with 85 before deciding to run himself out, however at 165 for 6 the win looked unlikely but then George Garrott and Julien Fynn put on a great partnership to see us home, with Julien hitting a 6 in the final over to get us over the line. The final run chase was at home to Harpenden where chasing 264 we got there in the 40th over with Mike Catt hitting a brilliant 94 not out and Kallum crushing 61.
In summary I believe it was a really good effort from the team to come 4th in the league but there’s definitely opportunity to gain promotion next season with stronger availability and key players back from injury.
I would like to thank our two Umpires for this season Richard Apperley and Paul Watts, Richard is leaving us to take on panel umpiring so best of luck to him and Paul is officially hanging up his umpire jacket this year so a huge thank you for the many years of umpiring he has done for us.
Ed Garrott, Captain, RCC Second XI.
