Bablake Old Boys Cricket Report For 2014

Following the publication of 'The Wheatleyan' for 2013/14, we have received the following Bablake Old Boys cricket report via Mr Walter Horseman:

Senior Cricket

2014 was another largely successful season, albeit a wet one. We continued to run four senior sides on a Saturday in the Warwickshire Cricket League with the 1st team, captained by Steve Swaffield, finishing 5th in the Premier division, a league that included former Warwickshire and England spinner Ashley Giles within its ranks.

The strength of the side was in its bowling with Steve Swaffield (8 for 36 v Nuneaton) and Dan Brooks (7 for 18 runs v Rugby) often leading the way. They were ably supported by the likes of Tom Cowley, Adil Hussain, Matt Payne and the latest to come off the club's conveyor belt of spinners, 15 year old Nadeem Khan. On the batting front, both Jason Pyott and Josh Manning hit centuries and it was good to see former pupil, Hong Kong international and Warwickshire over 50s player, Mark Eames provide a steady influence at the top of the order. We selected many U18s, including Tom Betts, Matt Kettley, Nadeem Khan, Matt Naylor and Matt Payne, so the future looks bright

The 2nd team, captained by former pupil George Rubery, finished runners up in the Premier Division. The highlights, results wise, were the two games against league champions Bedworth- falling short by one run in a drawn game at home and following it up with an away win, Bedworth's only loss of the season.

The regular runs from experienced pair Gary Brooks and John Lidster, at the top of the order, often gave the likes of Guy Eames, Matt Kettley and Richard Bennett the freedom to score freely when the chase was on, while the nagging accuracy of the slow right arm bowling of George Rubery was well complemented by the more attacking bowling of Nadeem Khan, Lee Leatherland and Mohammed Qais. It was also good to see veteran all-rounder Michael A Brown return for a few games at the end of the season and help the side secure the runners up spot.

The 3rd team who play against many other club's first teams, were captained by Steve Fish. It had a fantastic season securing promotion to Division 4 of the Warwickshire League and recorded a highest score of 360 for 5 v Olton & WW, including an undefeated 161 from Rakibul Hassan. On the bowling front, Wasim Chaudary and Liam Hastings were the pick of the bowlers.

The 4th team finished a very creditable 5th in its league and was captained by another former pupil in Dr Paul Stidworthy. The outstanding performance with the bat was from another former pupil Nathan Stevens, who hit an undefeated 134 v Olton & WW, and with the ball Nick Newbold, who took 6 for 30 v Nuneaton.

The Midweek Wednesday night team was promoted, and continued to provide opportunities for players to sharpen their skills, especially Saturday captain Steve Swaffield, who managed to claim a hat trick in one game.

On a Sunday, we competed in the Arden League Premier Division, and, by the narrowest of margins, were relegated in what was a very difficult season for a very young side, captained by 18 year old Clark McCallum. Even in a tough season against strong opposition, the team did have a century from Matt Payne to cheer. 

Something Special

On Saturday 23rd August at the Clarence Road ground of Four Oaks Saints CC in Sutton Coldfield, we had the truly remarkable achievement of Guy Eames hitting 6 sixes in an over in a Saturday 2nd XI match. To celebrate this tremendous performance, the club presented him with a framed copy of the report from the Coventry Telegraph, a copy of the page from the scorebook and the 'wagon wheel' of the over.

...& Something Different

We also had two unusual decisions during the season:

1. Liam Hastings was timed out when batting at number 11; in the chaos of late wickets falling, he reached the wicket too late.
2. Joe Henry was given out handling the ball whilst batting. He played the ball to his feet and then picked the ball up to throw it back to a fielder; the visiting team captain appealed and Joe was given out.

Junior Cricket

The season proved to be another successful one, under new head coach Michael Steady. At U9s, both sides reached the final of the Coventry District Softball cricket tournament for the second season in a row. This meant that both teams went to play on the outfield at Edgbaston in the County finals, where both put in creditable performances to finish 4th & 5th.

In hardball cricket, the U10As & U11As both won their 8-a-side pairs leagues, with the U11s also winning the 11-a-side league. This meant all made it to the county stages of their respective competitions with the U10As and U11s making the semi-finals, while the U11As made the quarters. At U13s, the team also won its league and made it to the semi-finals of the county competition.

The U16s, fielding a team with a significant Bablake contingent, also won its league with some excellent performances, particularly against Berkswell from the Birmingham League, and finished a best ever 3rd in the Midlands Finals day of the Lords Taverners' Trophy. This was only the second time we have reached Finals day, but we hope the elusive county win may only be a matter of time.

We again added to our coaching staff in 2014, with 5 new qualified coaches joining our ranks. The club pays for the courses, as it sees them as a vital part of improving our coaching and helping ensure we can continue to offer great coaching for years to come. We can now call on over 15 qualified coaches to help out with teams and training, many of whom are former products of the junior coaching at the club- it is great to see them all volunteering and giving something back.

As well as having close to 100 junior cricketers training and playing over the summer and winter, we continue to be well represented at both Coventry District and County level and support the 'Chance to Shine' programme, helping promote cricket in local primary schools.

…And Finally

While we’ve not picked out individuals in the above junior reports, there is one junior performance that cannot go without a mention: Joshua Blaylock, playing for the U11s v Cov & NW, returned bowling figures of 3 overs, 3 maidens, 6 wickets for 0 runs with all 6 wickets being clean bowled- truly phenomenal!

We thank Bablake Old Boys for the report and look forward to the 2015 season review.