A Review of the 2017 Season
Results in 2017 were as follows:
|
Team
|
Won
|
Drawn
|
Lost
|
Abandoned
|
|
Sat 1st
|
16
|
2
|
8
|
1
|
|
Sat 2nd
|
11
|
3
|
7
|
2
|
|
Sat 3rd
|
4
|
0
|
18
|
1
|
|
Sat 4th
|
12
|
2
|
3
|
1
|
|
Sunday
|
9
|
3
|
11
|
2
|
|
T20
|
1
|
0
|
3
|
|
|
Midweek
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
|
|
Club
|
2
|
0
|
0
|
|
The highlight of the year was undoubtedly winning the League Cup for the second time in Club history. In an enjoyable final played at Wickford against Belhus, a century from skipper Alfie Taylor (105) was crucial in guiding us to 285-8. In reply Belhus totalled 211, with a great spell from Ben MacGregor (4-21) proving vital. On the way, we overcame Wanstead in a titanic semi-final to emerge winners by 29 runs.
In the re-instated Conference Cup we comfortably negotiated a tricky looking away tie at Radlett before losing at home to West Indies United. In the T20 we failed to progress from the group stage
The Essex Premier League Campaign was dogged by erratic form illustrated by six straight wins in June/July and a double over Wanstead being countered by a winless run of 5 games in July/August so we found ourselves stuck in 6th place for the majority of the season and that is where we ended. With the bat the usual suspects of Alfie Taylor (965 runs) and Ben MacGregor(699) dominated proceedings and Rahul Patel contributed well with 660. With the ball Liam Lannen (50 wickets) led the way ably backed up by overseas Mat Dzodzos (47) and Ben MacGregor (39)
In the 2s in Division 1 under Alex Stokoe, at the midway point of the season we were well placed for a return to the Premier but a disastarous run of 1 win in 8 games put paid to any thoughts of promotion and we ended 4th. With the bat both Malik Kashif (672 runs) and Kishen Patel, who smashed 501 in just 8 innings, were outstanding and with the ball Richard Offord was again leading wicket taker with 23 wickets.
The 3rds back in Division 1 finished bottom. Although 18 games were lost, this statistic hid the fact that in most games we competed, but a lack of batting quality and firepower meant we really struggled to get over the winning line. With the exception of Randheer Ponnakunath with 422 runs and skipper Faizan Awan 354 the rest of our batting lacked the quality needed to win games. Bowling wise we performed reasonably well with Nishant Varshney (37 wickets) and Faizan Awan (29) the stand out performers.
The 4ths under Carey Harborne finished the season disappointed to finish 3rd after winning 11 of 16 completed games, but ultimately a lapse in form in July which saw just 1 game won in a spell of 4 games cost us. With the bat Ali Butt (785runs) and Qaiser Shahab(485) were outstanding, well supported by Usman Younas was 272. With the ball Ali Butt again led the way with 27 wickets and great promise was shown by leg spinner Joe Smith who bagged 18 wickets in his firsast season of senior cricket
The Sunday xi under Michael Blake represented the Club in the National Cup and an exceptional performance (without any 1st xi players) saw us comfortably beat Hornsey before losing to a strong North Middlesex side in a rain affected game on run rate. Nine games were won but only 2 of these were in the Chess Valley League where we finished 8th in Division 2. There were outstanding batting performances from Amit Ashok (1036 runs) and Malik Kashif (763) but the loss to the side for various reasons of three of the top four run scorers from 2016 was a real handicap. Additionally the bowling again lacked the penetration to dismiss batsmen at the level we play so at times we failed to contain the opposition batting. Leading the way with the ball was Tanvir Hasan with 38 wickets at 19 apiece but he again lacked support of the required bowling standard. .