With so many members, it is always a challenge to give everybody as many games as they would like whilst also remaining competitive where required. As ever, the primary focus was on providing as many games as possible. Sadly the weather won on a few too many occasions as it did on many Monday and Friday training sessions. Nevertheless, all ages managed to have a full fixture list with 160 games arranged in total. Competitions were won by the U16s (Trevor Bailey Matchplay Shield), U13s (Len Stentiford Trophy) and U11s (Mid-week League and James Foster Cup). In addition, the U14s and U15s reached the semi-final of The Alastair Cook Trophy and the Cox and Kings, both losing to very good teams who went on to win these respective competitions. The U13s also represented the club in the National T20 getting through the first round but narrowly losing in the second round against a strong Shenley side. Our Fundamentals team, comprising mostly u8s, did brilliantly to finish runners-up. A common factor with all these teams was the amount of practice they put in both as teams and as individuals, making full use of the nets.
The club was fortunate to have had a team committed to growing the participation of girls at the club. An extremely high level of coaching was provided throughout the summer and the coaches worked tirelessly to arrange matches and develop links with other clubs. The enjoyment of all taking part was evident at all the sessions. It was great to see our youngest girls playing their first matches and enjoying the festivals organised for them. A challenge is to find opposition for our girls to play against and that is something to build on next year.
Huge thanks must go to all our volunteers, managers, coaches and administrators who allowed all this cricket to take place. Many were volunteering for the first time, and it was particularly pleasing to see our junior coaches supporting Friday training so that our youngest juniors can learn.