End of season report 2006/7
Author M Butler
Cornwall 3b green “Mainstream”
We started off the season as 14 strangers but finished it off as 14 great mates. Each an everyone of us thoroughly enjoyed our season despite having racked up 10 consecutive losses at the start of the season. It would be fair to say more enjoyment was created off the field than on it! From a captains point of view, figuring out where peoples roles were in the team was indeed an interesting exercise to say the least. We had people who wanted to be opening bowlers, who turned out being opening batsman and batsman who turned out to be bowlers! Still the “teething process” was indeed entertaining and we all quickly discovered we had one thing that we all had in common, appreciation of alcohol!
Unfortunately result wise the first half of the season being rather dismal, we quite often found our games being over by 4pm, however this did make a great excuse for us to drag our sorry selves back down to the club and drown our sorrows. This usually meant we are unable to remain sober by the time results were being read out, and few if any were able to remain or recollect being there for it. It is rather ironic though that our sponsor decided to introduce free beer as an incentive to start winning for the 2nd half of the season. With the promise of one dozen for every win and a six pack for batsman of scores of 30 and above we suddenly found ourselves actually winning games. Gone were the days of team scores of 70 all out, and scores of 200 plus were becoming obtainable. Special thanks to Ryan, Simon, Rubyn and myself for adding to the team beer fund with all these people obtaining half centuries for the season. With higher team scores being posted, I found myself in the unfamiliar yet pleasing position of actually having bowlers bowl there full 10 overs, this obviously meant greater chances of taking wickets, and whilst nobody ever got a 5 wicket bag, there were on many occasions 4 wicket bags. Special mention to Patrick who became our leading wicket taker for the season with 26 wickets.
On a personal note, being captain for the first time was challenging yet rewarding. Learning fielding tactics, batting and bowling line ups and perhaps most importantly of all remaining there mate on and off the field! So with the likelihood of further sponsorship next season, along with free beer it is not surprising that all 14 players have expressed there desire to come back and pick up where we left off. Finishing 6th in the comp may have been appropriate for us this season, not making the top four play offs next season will only be disappointing to say the least. |
