Third Eleven

Captain:  Rob Blaber

Third XI Season Report – Surrey Championship Div 2

After finishing the 2010 season 14th in the league, we had high hopes of challenging for higher things in 2011. However, we ended the season narrowly avoiding relegation. This was down to a number of reasons, mainly poor availabilities throughout the club, leaving us less competitive and unable to put out a settled team from one week to the next week.

Highlights of the season were the wins over Esher and Hampton Wick Royals, the tied game at Kempton and the winning draw secured by Chris Dixon at Woking and Horsel. The win against HWRCC was extraordinary as they finished the season on top of the league. In short, we played 16, won 2, drew 2 (1 winning, 1 losing), lost 10, tied 1, and abandoned 1. Fortunately for us, this was just sufficient to avoid the drop from the Championship.

From a statistical perspective, only four batsmen made over 100 runs in the season: Geoff Dryden 164, Steve Wallace 127, Dave Kenyon 123 and St John Farley 105. In the bowling department, Lee Simons 24 @ 20.29, James Fellows 13 @22.69 and Andy Cassie 11 @28.64 and Akash Kapoor 9 @ 16.67. In general, we struggled to chase totals with the bat, having put in good all-round fielding, and bowling performances where although the bowlers were just too good for some opposition batsmen, they did not gain the success they deserved. Here is hoping that we can be challenging at the other end of the table in 2012.

A personal note of thanks for their help throughout the season goes to our seasoned Third XI regulars: Steve Wallace (Third XI player of the season), Andy Cassie, Geoff Dryden, St John Farley, Dave Kenyon, Rich Spiler and Lee Simons. Additional thanks goes to to all those new to the club this season who played their part throughout the season: Akash Kapoor, James Fellows, Sam Fellows and Chris Rigby and all the other members that were called upon throughout the season. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank Shayne Cossey for his tireless work chasing player availabilities week in and week out.

 Rob Blaber