Looking Back on 2022
The season 2022 was hot. The weather was sunny to the point of being overwhelming. For the first time that anyone can remember we didn’t lose a single league game to the weather.
Hutton’s form was also pretty hot with almost all our teams having successful seasons.
Celebrating 10 Years of Women’s Cricket
It’s normal for me to begin this report with the 1st XI and then work through the XIs and end up with the Women. This year I’m doing something different.
The Women and Girls programme celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. There was a huge celebration Friday with current and past players coming to the Polo Field for a big party.
The section started in September 2012 with a handful of girls playing softball and has grown to us fielding 2 senior league sides (there will be three in 2023), indoor and outdoor girls sides across the age ranges and us winning the inaugural Essex Premier League in 2020.
At the heart of this from the very start has been Carole Manek. So I want to begin this review with a special thank you to her. He achievements were recognised a couple of years ago with an OSCA and this year with a special cake and a souvenir photo album. She even got a mention from Nasser Hussain on Sky TV. Thank you Carole!
In the league, the 1st XI finished comfortably mid-table. Erica Hobson (438), Madison Griffin (414) and Amy Hills (383) all finished in the top 10 run scorers in the league. Suzanne Shaw finished 3rd top wicket taker with 16.
The Friday night team finished a creditable 4th out of 8 teams and as Hutton Hildas we entered the softball league for the first time A major highlight of the soft ball season was reaching Finals Day and playing at the County Ground.
Both the U15 and U13 girls won their Essex competitions and reached the regional finals of the County Cup Competition.
Men’s League Cricket
Turning now to the men’s league side, the 1st XI enjoyed a very good first season in the Premier League. We finished 5th out of 10 and were only one wicket away from finishing 3rd.
Tom Murray from Australia was the 4th highest score in the league with 701 at 39, Ben Parry scored 560 at 33. Sean Sullivan was our leading wicket taker and 6th overall with 35 at 16.3. Ben and Sean were selected for the League XI against East Anglia. Those of us who went to the county ground saw a tremendous game of cricket won for Essex by Ben hitting boundaries off the last two balls of the match the last being a ramp behind the keeper.
A special mention here for James Southgate – in the 1st XI game against Hornchurch he took the best catch that I have seen in any form of cricket. A true champagne moment!
The 2nd XI finished 3rd having been in a season long promotion battle with Chingford. We looked to be winning that in the head to head game when we were 140-1 chasing only 206. There then followed 5 LBWs and a dodgy caught behind and we lost the match by 11 runs and with it the chance of promotion.
Adam Spooner was the top scorer in that division with 902 runs at 66 including 3 hundreds and 7 50s. Carl Lees scored 646 including a top score of 151 against Wickford – this was the highest score of the season for the club. Henry Hunwick and Mitch Fenn both finished in the bowling top ten with 23 and 22 wickets respectively.
The 3rd XI recovered from a horrible start to finish 4th as the form team. Skipper Luke Harris was the leading batter with 495 including 2 centuries and 3 50s. Ian Crispin (403) and Simon Fitzgerald (390) had good seasons and a promising youngster named Simon Thurston made 369 at an average of 41. Another oldie Craig Miller was top wicket taker with 17 at 22.
The 4th XI came 2nd in their division by a margin of only 5 points and beating the team in 3rd place by 99 points. However, for the 2nd successive season we missed out on promotion because of the league pyramid system. We are pushing to have this changed.
Dan Latham (497 at 45) and captain Ollie Grey (446 at 73) starred with the bat. Mudasir Nazir made 103 in his only appearance for the team. Dan Rickard was top wicket taker with 26 at only 12. Andy Bliss took 20 at 15.6. Congratulations to Andy on his recent wedding.
The 5th XI continue to fill the valuable role of providing development opportunities to young players giving them their first taste of league cricket and to the older players wanting to keep playing competitively. Skipper Alex Burton has the most difficult job in the club but continues to get a side out most weeks whilst still keeping a smile on his face.
There was an outbreak of centuries in the 5th team with Tom Overington (108), Jon Wilson (117*) and Alex (125*) himself all getting into three figures. Off-spinner Chris Willoughby was leading bowler with 17 at 13.9.
The Sunday league team came third in their league. The stand-out performance here being a 40 ball century by Cam Tredgett against Stallions.
The mid-week T20 team had an excellent season including reaching the final of the competition before losing to Springfield.
Other Adult Cricket
President’s Day at the end of August was an indication of how well the club is regarded at county level. the day was a celebration of Hutton cricket featuring matches between the club and the county at junior and adult, men, women’s and mixed cricket. We also involved the All Stars and Dynamos youngsters.
The highlight was a competitive mixed gender and ability game which Hutton won with a few balls to spare.
In early August we held a successful Cricket Week involving external teams and youth v oldies matches.
In mid-September we hosted the final of the national Over70s competition which saw Kent beating Suffolk by 17 runs.
The season ended with the Orchid Charity 6 a Side played in glorious sunshine. Glorious that is having been totally rained off the previous week. Thanks to the Trojan work of Nicola and David Parry we raised over ÂŁ3,000.
Youth Cricket
Our youth section continues to be busy thanks to the hard work and time of all our coaches managers and parents. We ran a complete league and friendly programme of hard ball and soft ball cricket introducing our young boys and girls to competition and helping then develop their skills.
Both the U15 and U13 girls won their Essex competitions and reached the regional finals of the County Cup Competition.
A highlight of the season was the Mini-Matchplay event which tool place over two nights at the County Ground in Chelmsford. This allowed our younger players to experience playing under lights on a first class ground.
We joined in the national All Stars and Dynamos programmes which are giving young people their first taste of cricket. We had a total of 40 players on the sessions and some are already getting involved in more formal coaching.
Finance & Facilities
The committee has worked hard to ensure that the club is managed in a financially sound manner investing in the club’s programme and facilities whilst at the same time keeping a prudent level of reserves. As can be seen from the accounts we hold reserves sufficient to meet our winter outgoings.
During the winter of 2021/21 we entered into a number of sponsorship arrangements with Strettons, Pearl & Coutts, E6S, the ClearSpace Group, Vogels and Office Storage Solutions. We are grateful for their support.
In the absence of a main sponsor we donated the space on our shirts to the Orchid charity.
The summer’s good weather and the hard work of John Southgate and his team meant that we generated good income from the bar. We used this to carry out £3,500 or repairs to the pavilion at the end of the season in addition to post season ground works.
We took out an interest free, five-year loan from the ECB to buy a new roller for the Mountnessing ground.
We received a grant from the ECB via Essex Cricket in the Community which we used to buy video streaming and recording equipment. All first team home matches and many others are now streamed live. We are investigating how to generate advertising revenue from this.
The financial outlook for coming years is challenging. We face increased costs of energy, grounds maintenance, water and general supplies.
We propose to use our reserves to keep subscriptions at the current level for the coming season but there will be an increase in match fees.
Social, Bar & Catering
For the first time since the pandemic we were able to offer a full social programme including our Quiz Night, Race Night and Karaoke. The 2021 Annual dinner was a great success with Mark Ramprakash being an excellent guest speaker.
Lisa and Charlotte Sparkes provided an excellent match and social catering service despite the uncertainty of the league’s position on match teas.
We enjoyed record turnover across the bar. John Southgate’s hours of hard work, tears and sweat were acknowledged by him receiving the Essex League’s Volunteer of the Year award. Never was a trophy more richly deserved.
This was a swansong for John as he as well as our social secretaries Ali Southgate and Cathy Bough have announced that they are standing down from their positions from the end of the year. They have all three given outstanding service to the club and I am pleased to record my personal thanks and the appreciation of the entire club for what they have done over the past dozen years.
Thanks & Appreciation
My profound thanks also to the other members of the club committee and to our team of volunteers who manage teams, score, empty bins, coach, fix drains, mark boundaries and all the myriad jobs that keep our club going. You are the heart of the club. A thank you to each and every one of you.
Hutton Cricket Club is in good shape
We look forward to 2023.
Jim Lynch
Chairman
Hutton CC
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