MONTH ONE RECAP
At time of writing, May 15th, we're a month into the 2025 season, and we've already seen some stunning performances from our players. It's been an unusually dry start to the new campaign, which has allowed the new drains to bed in (and also cause fairly unprecedented amounts of watering to the square!). With that in mind, the wickets that KC has prepared have been superb, offering pace and bounce and giving full value to the batsmen.
Starting with the juniors, it's really heartening to see the early season progress. For the first time ever we're fielding no fewer than five sides - U9, U11, U13, U15 and U18. Thanks to the great efforts of our coaches (Gav, Hayesy, Clive, Sam and more), results are picking up and there have been wins against powerhouse opposition such as Greenmount and Ramsbottom. Not only that, but a number of the juniors are featuring in all three senior weekend sides, right up to the 1st XI.
Moving on to the seniors, it's been a tough start results-wise for the 1sts, not helped by losing the captain, wicket keeper and both opening bowlers to injury before the season even started. There have been some plus points, not least the amazing form of Phil Hayes who has notched up a ridiculous 435 runs in 5 innings with two magnificent tons to boot. The irony of course is that the one time he "failed" by only scoring 40 we won the game, chasing down over 300 in a fantastic team effort! Lachie and new recruit Vish are starting to find their feet, and there have been useful contributions from Nathan, Smalley and Lewie. The bowling unit have struggled, not really surprising in the batsmen-friendly conditions - their time will come!
The 2s have also suffered from missing players due to a whole raft of reasons - injury, first team call-ups and a trip to Vegas - and have started the season in their usual up and down way. A couple of hefty wins have been offset by struggles away from home, but again there have been some noteworthy performances, not least a magnificent unbeaten 150 partnership between Ruffers Snr and Jnr in the cup and some encouraging bowling efforts from Fez and young George Sowden among others. We expect more in the coming weeks.
Katie's 3rds have also put in some good efforts, not least a match winning all-round performance from the skipper last week. The return of Tom "Tom" Richards, who helped himself to an unbeaten 70 in his first game back, is most welcome. Again, a wide range of junior players have been called up and are getting stuck in to their work. It really does bode well for the future.
It's important also to note the fantastic support from the public, who have packed the Meadows out each week, and the wonderful efforts of all the groundstaff (KC, Dickie, James in particular) and the bar workers who keep things going on a matchday and ahead of the games. Thanks also to the usual Saturday morning folks who have worked tirelessly in the lead up to the season to get the ground and facilities looking so well. We really do salute you all.
