October Cricket News !
| Published: 7th October 2008 15:43 |
CHESHIRE COUNTY
CRICKET LEAGUE
Winter News October, 2008 by Michael Talbot Butler
sponsored by Right Move Abroad
Awards for 18 clubs atsuccessful League dinner
A RECORD number of 18 clubs received awards at the League's 34th annual presentation dinner, enjoyed by 290 players, members and guests and officers at Mere Golf & Country Club on Friday, October 3rd.
The principal award of the ECB Premier League championship trophy and flag went to Alderley Edge and was received by the club's cricket chairman Clive Elliott who spoke modestly about the honour of topping a table populated by so many strong teams. His club had also been delighted also to win the Fred Graham Twenty20 Trophy at Timperley on what he described as a highly successful finals day
It was Alderley's first major outright championship success since the League was founded in 1975.
Didsbury had one of the largest contingents of diners (23), various of their captains receiving trophies for winning the First Division, 2nd XI Premier league, Aggregate and 3rd XI Sunday First Division titles. Didsbury, who obtained Clubmark to round off their 150th anniversary season shortly before the end of the season, will be unveiled as Club of the Month in the Wisden Cricket Monthly November issue.
Macclesfield also did well, being presented with the 1st XI Twenty20 Plate, 2nd XI Division One champions trophy, 2nd XI Cup and John North Under 17 trophy.
Irby are Most Improved Club
Named winners of the prestigous Henderson Rose Bowl as the Most Improved Club, Irby's large contingent stayed late to celebrate and were transported back to deepest Wirral by coach.
Irby marked their 60th anniversary year with three promotions, the 1st XI winning the Second Division title, the 2nd XI runners-up in Division One and the 3rd XI also earning the right to move up from Saturday Division Two. They also became the first winners of the Over 40s play-off trophy, while the two grounds at Mill Hill Road continued to improve, their administration was top-class and they surged up from 15th to a creditable fifth in the Fair Play table.
Toft won the Umpires' Fair Play Trophy for the second season running, although with a new captain, Andy Bones, stepping up the podium to be congratulated by umps' chairman Ian Greensmith.
Bowdon 2nd XI batsman Patrick Ashling, aged just 18, was handed the sponsors' August & September Performance of the Month awards of a framed certificate and bottle of champagne for his League record-breaking innings of 212 against Mobberley on the last day of the season.
None of the other four individual Players of the Year whose names were disclosed on the night was present to receive their awards personally. They were:
John North Young Player of the Year: Danny Halkon (Sale). Danny, 18, scored 730 league and cup league runs for Sale, a century for the full League XI against the Derbyshire & Cheshire League and also did well in Cheshire age group cricket. He.is currently playing in Australian grade cricket and the award was accepted by his brother Mike.
ECB Premier League: Brenton McDonald (Heaton Mersey). Now back in Australia and not planning to return in 2009, the award was handed to club secretary Nicola Bennett. McDonald had a magnificent season, scoring 741 runs and taking 64 wickets.
First Division: Brian Kingham (Poynton). Kingham was his club's leading run-scorer with 708 including two centuries. No one from Poynton was present.
Second Division: Nathan Woods (Irby). The Australian batsman has returned Down Under. His award was accepted by Phil Rennie. Woods hit 730 runs, also including two ‘tons'.
The prizes were presented by League chairman David Humpage, who read a message from The Right Move Abroad sponsors CEO Jeremy Casey which apologised for the absence of his staff who were in London receiving an award as the Overseas Estate Agents of the Year. Mr. Casey said it had been a pleasure supporting the league for a second year and said he hoped his club, founder members Winnington Park, would make a speedy return after being demoted for the first time.
The principal guest speaker was television and radio impressionist Kevin Connelly, who entranced his audience with easily recognisable famous sportsmen's voices and mannerisms
The toast to the league was proposed by Cheshire County Cricket Club chairman David Bailey, who spoke about the increasingly close links between the club and league, all the players in the county's currently successful team being drawn from the league. He looked forward to 2009 when the county planned to celebrate their centenary, initially with a dinner at Portal Golf Club, Tarporley in April.
Grace was said by president Harry Sharrock, the Loyal Toast by the chairman and the MC was John Melia.
Guests included Stan Davies (Cheshire Board chairman); Gerry Hardstaff (Cheshire county club president), Peter Davies (Cheshire League chairman) and Jim Rafferty (Cheshire Alliance chairman).
The dinner was again flawlessly organised by John Bygate, with assistance from Mike Talbot-Butler and Geoff Wellsteed. A well-supported prize raffle was conducted by father and son team Gary and Lee Dixon.
TROPHY WINNERS IN FULL
1st XI ECB Premier League (Murray Smith Trophy & flag): Alderley Edge; Division One (Foden Trophy): Didsbury; Division 2 (Bloor Trophy): Irby.
2nd XI Premier league (Halsall Trophy): Didsbury; Division 1 (Foden Shield): Macclesfield; Division 2 (Newton Trophy): Sale.
3rd XI Saturday Division l: (Benoy Trophy). Urmston; Saturday Division 2: Oxton.
3rd XI Sunday Division l (Benoy Shield): Didsbury; Sunday Division 2 (Sunday Trophy): Congleton; Sunday Division 3 East (Bloor Trophy): Urmston; Sunday Division 3 West (Bourne Trophy): Alsager; 3rd XI Division 4: Northwich.
Aggregate champions (Bass Charrington Trophy): Didsbury.
1st XI Fred Graham, Twenty20 Trophy: Alderley Edge; runners-up: Bowdon. 1st XI Plate: Macclesfield; runners-up: Oxton.
2nd XI Cup (Taylor Insurances Trophy): Macclesfield; runners-up: Widnes.
3rd XI Cup (Jack Gardner Trophy): Neston; runners-up: Heaton Mersey.
Over 40s East Division l (Wyn Talbot-Butler Trophy): Poynton Legends; Over 40s East Division 2 (Bill Brown Shield): Cheadle Hulme; Over 40s West Division (Ron Fleet Memorial Trophy): Upton. Play-off winners: Irby.
John North Under 17 Trophy: Macclesfield; runners-up: Oulton Park.
Fair Play award (Eddie Howard Shield): Toft.
Sponsors' August& September Performance of Month award: Patrick Ashling (Bowdon 2nd).
Most Improved Club (Henderson Rose Bowl): Irby.
ECB Premier Division Player of Year (Keith Belfield Memorial Trophy): Brenton McDonald (Heaton Mersey). Division 1 (Mark Alcroft Trophy): Brian Kingham (Poynton). Division 2 (Mike Talbot-Butler Statuette): Nathan Woods (Irby). John North Young Player of Year: Danny Halkon (Sale).
Also on display were three trophies won by League representative teams: North-West Colts; Chesters Challenge; Mullaney Triangular.
Player of Year ballot details
ECB Premiership (all except Widnes voted, total cast 121):
B. McDonald (Heaton Mersey) 48; J. Whittaker (Alderley Edge) 24; M. Currie (Alderley Edge) 15; J. Smith (Neston) 7; J. Kettle (Oulton Park) 5; S. Marshall (Alderley Edge) 4; J. McCoy (Widnes) 3; A. Punja (Urmston), R. Wilkinson (Bowdon) both 2; J. Warrington (Nantwich), D. Berry (Hyde), N. Muirhead (Toft), G. Cross (Bowdon), C. Finegan (Neston), G. Batticciotto (Nantwich), A. Catlow (Heaton Mersey), D. Fitzsimmons (Heaton Mersey), P. Stimson (Neston), O. Sadler (Nantwich), A. Day (Alderley Edge) all l vote.
Division One (all except Bramhall and Cheadle Hulme voted, total cast 96):
B. Kingham (Poynton) 13; I. de Silva (Christleton) 12; Andy Birley (Oxton 10; P. Sperring (Didsbury), S. Turner (Poynton) both 6; R. Moore (Christleton) 5; S. Stokes (Oxton), Mo Ali (Bollington), R. Edwards (Timperley, T. Twiney (Timperley) all 4; S. Stoneman (Didsbury), D. Stringer (Poynton) both 3; C. Davies (Oxton), G. Dixon (Cheadle), M. Dawson (Bramhall), P. Manser (Didsbury), R. Hough (Bollington), C. Maudsley (Cheadle Hulme). A. Watson (Upton) all 2; N. Cantello (Bramhall), Jordan Potts (Cheadle Hulme), E. McCray (Cheadle Hulme), M. Rowland (Oxton), P. Gould (Poynton), C. Stenhouse (Oxton), R. Dixon (Upton), M. Bolger (Bramhall) all 1 vote.
Division Two (all except Burnage voted, total cast 116):
N. Woods (Irby) 16; D. Bertling (Marple) 13; S. Titchard (Grappenhall) 11; C. Connolly (Hale Barns) 9; R. Green (Grappenhall), D. Lewis (Tattenhall) both 7; S. Abbas (Burnage) 6; J.P. Lee (Sale) 5; A. Hussain (Mobberley), C. Wood (Bredbury) both 4; I. Hussain (Stockport Georgians), A. Greasley (Marple). D. Carr (Bredbury), D. Halkon (Sale), C. Park (Grappenhall), G. McCaffery (Irby) all 3; G. Cash (Marple), D. Collyer (Irby), D. Bates (Middlewich) all 2; J. Hope (Tattenhall), W. Sharp (Grappenhall),. J. Taylor (Sale), S. O'Neill (Winnington Park), D. Ahmed (Tattenhall), L. Parkinson (Grappenhall), G. Forster (Tattenhall), S. Khan (Mobberley), J. Cornford (Middlewich), R. Halkon (Sale) all 1 vote.
Voting for the other individual awards was done by the Cricket Committee.
Cruikshank vs Peterson?
CHESTER Boughton Hall's 22 year-old West Indian all-rounder Daron Cruikshank has been selected as a ‘rookie' for Trinidad * Tobago's Stanford Super Series team. Daron, who distinguished himself by scoring 537 runs and taking 34 premiership wickets for CBH last summer, reports his thrill at being chosen for the historic series starting on October 25th. The fixtures involved are T & T v Stanford Superstars (October 25); T&T v Middlesex (October 27); T&T v England (October 28). The big match Stanford Superstars v England is on November 1st. All games are in Antigua and will be shown live on Sky television.
Lauren in World Cup squad
FOLLOWING her successful stint in the academy squads, Chester Boughton Hall's top woman cricketer Lauren Griffiths has been selected for England's 2009 World Cup squad in Australia.
Lauren, 21, recently jetted off to Melbourne where she will be playing club cricket this winter, before meeting up with the rest of the England squad in Sydney in March. She has
played at Boughton Hall for many years and captained the treble-winning side in 2008.
LEAGUE NEWS IN BRIEF .....
PETER BABBAGE ILL. Long-serving Bramhall chairman and former player Peter Babbage is seriously ill in Christie's Hospital, Manchester. Inquiries should be directed via Richard Cragg tel. 0161 439 3895.
ROBIN RETURNS. After five seasons at Chester Boughton Hall, left-arm spinner Robin Fisher is returning to his first club Alvanley in 2009 following a year out with a broken leg sustained while on a police sports activity. Robin has also played for Cheshire and Bootle.
FIFTIES FINAL. Oxfordshire beat Lancashire by three runs on the nursery ground at Lord's in the final of the ECB National 50 Plus county championship on Sunday, September 28th. Oxford scored 186 and Lancashire needed four off the last ball only to lose their last wicket at 183.
Cheshire Fifties, who had lost to Oxford in the semi-final, have chosen Grappenhall to stage their annual dinner on Friday, October 17th.
NEW FORTIES PLAN. Following a late application from Neston, a proposal is being circulated to all Over 40s clubs for a four divisional set up of seven clubs each for the 2009 season. This would replace the three-divisional set up agreed at the recent Forties meeting.
The proposal would reduce irksome Wednesday evening travel, but eliminate promotion and relegation and reduce fixtures to 12 each, leaving four clubs with weekly open dates.
JUNIOR PRIZE NIGHT
The League Junior section prize night took place at Warrington Sports Club on Sunday, September 21st, when President Harry Sharrock made the presentations. .
The Under 9s competition was won by Stockport Georgians A.
Under11s champions: Alderley Edge.
Under 13 champions: Bramhall. Shield: Toft; Plate: Macclesfield Academy; Medal: Poynton; Cup: Mobberley.
Under 15 champions: Congleton; Shield: Brooklands; Plate: Neston; Medal: Upton; Cup: Bollington.
David Vallance has taken over as section secretary from Jane Williams and will continue as Fixture secretary.
Entries for the various age group competitions in 2009 need to be handed to Mr.Vallance by the date of the annual meeting on November 6th.
COCKSPUR CUP. There will be no National Club championship in 2009 following Cockspur's decision to withdraw their sponsorship. Cockspur will instead sponsor the Twenty20 Cup play-offs in late season, culminating in a Finals Day at the Swalec Stadium, Cardiff, in September to be televised on Sky.
Cockspur sponsored the televised finals at Cardiff on Sunday, September 28th when South Northumberland (as North-East premier league Twenty20 winners), beat Stanmore (Middlesex League winners) in the final. The previous week, Ormskirk, representing the Liverpool Competition, had pulled out of a trip to the North-East at 24 hours' notice
REGISTRATION OF PLAYERS. All ECB Premier League clubs will be required to register their players direct with the ECB through Play-cricket.com in 2009 rather than to the League Competition secretary.
Play-cricket.com executive Cliff Higginbottom is to conduct a meeting at Toft on Friday, October 24th to explain the details of the electronic link-up. All Premier League clubs are urged to send a representative.
SUSPENSIONS. Late season suspensions issued by the Disciplinary Committee are:
Matt King (Sale) one week for dissent; Waqar Rashid (Heaton Mersey) one week for dissent; Greg Dixon (Cheadle) one week for abusing cricket equipment, this latter suspension to apply from start of 2009 season.
A case involving Didsbury players had yet to be considered.
CRICKET BALLS OFFER. Following the league decision to remain with the same cricket ball suppliers in 2009, Readers have offered a three-year contract at the unchanged price of £15 including VAT together with a sponsorship offer of £2,500 per year subject to the league ordering 1,200 balls per season. This offer has yet to be formally accepted.
Treasurer Brent Wilkinson asks clubs to present their cricket ball orders to him by November 30th. They must be paid for by March 31st, 2009 and will be distributed at the pre-season management meeting in April. Clubs who do not make contact will be allocated the same quota as in 2008.
Treasurer Wilkinson reports a balance of almost £23,000 in the Bradford & Bingley Building Society at the end of September - a sum which he says is covered by Government assurances.
A small profit on the financial year 2007-08 is expected.
UMPIRES AGM DATE
UMPIRES ASSOCIATION AGM. The annual meeting of the League Umpires & Scorers Association is at Toft on November 12th.
Speaking at the September management meeting, John Lofthouse said discipline had shown "a distressing downward trend" during the season capped with news of a junior player being verbally abused in a senior Saturday match.
Umpires' recruitment courses are planned during the winter at Hale Barns that month and at Oakmere in January.
GROUND IMPROVEMENTS. Grounds chairman John Bygate has asked all clubs with plans for ground improvements to notify him so he can include details in his annual report. He told the September management that the quality of grounds continued to improve and congratulated clubs on the work they were doing.
CHESHIRE GROUNDSMEN. Nick James, chairman of the Cheshire Association of Groundsmen, told the September management meeting that he had become an accredited pitch advisor, joining Paul Agar. Two thirds of clubs in Cheshire were now members of the Association although several high profile clubs had not yet joined, even at the modest annual fee of £10. .
Mr. James can be contacted via his website www.cag.org.uk or through the Cheshire Cricket Board link.
2009 SEASON DATES
THE 2009 season will open on Saturday, April 18th and end on Sunday, September 13th.
Fixture secretary Sandy Scrimgeour has produced the 1st and 2nd XI programme. Games on the opening day are:
Premier League: champions Alderley Edge v promoted Oxton; Bowdon v promoted Didsbury; Chester Boughton Hall v Neston; Cheshire Cup winners Hyde v Toft; Nantwich v Macclesfield; Oulton Park v Widnes
Division l: Bramhall v Warrington; Christleton v Cheadle Hulme; relegated Heaton Mersey v Cheadle; Poynton v promoted Grappenhall; Timperley v relegated Urmston; Upton v promoted Irby in Wirral derby.
Division 2: relegated Bollington v new boys Oakmere; relegated Birkenhead Park v Bredbury St. Mark's; Middlewich v Stockport Georgians; Mobberley v Marple; Sale v promoted Brooklands; Tattenhall v Burnage.
A full list of all fixtures received will be available on the website and by e-mail shortly.
Averages please .....
CLUBS are advised that must submit their averages to the appropriate Results secretary by October 31st.
1st XI stats have so far come in from eight Premier League clubs: Alderley Edge, Chester Boughton Hall, Heaton Mersey, Hyde, Nantwich, Oulton Park, Toft, Urmston; six in Division One: Bramhall, Cheadle, Cheadle Hulme, Didsbury, Oxton, Upton; nine in Division Two: Bredbury, Grappenhall, Hale Barns, Marple, Mobberley, Sale, Stockport Georgians, Tattenhall, Winnington Park Don't forget those wicket-keeping figures.
CLUBS are encouraged to submit any with pictures taken during the 2008 season - especially title or cup-winners - which they would like considered for use in the handbook
And finally .........
LABOUR Foreign Secretary George Brown, who was known to enjoy a tipple, was representing the Government at a glitzy reception at New Delhi in the 1970s when he got chatting to an apparition in purple and asked for a dance when the orchestra suddenly struck up.
Came the reply: "Sir, I will not dance with you for three reasons; firstly you are very drunk; secondly this is not a waltz, but the national anthem of the Republic of Dominica and thirdly, because I happen to be the Conti di Cavour and Cardinale of Bologna
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