Dave's Review 2006

Haughton Cricket Club 2006 Season Review

The 2006 season can be best described as a season of consolidation. Each team started the season with contrasting performances, the firsts started their league campaign in fine fashion and after 8 games were top of the league, solid performances with the bat by Colin, including at one time having an average of 160 from the first four matches, supported well by Gary hitting 64 not out against Dales and Sam 32 against Heighington. They also performed well in the cups, with fine victories over A Division opposition in the form of Witton Le Wear in the Fenwick Trophy and an absolute cracker of a victory, by fewer wickets against Ingleton in the Egglestone Cup. They followed that up with another fine victory in the 2nd round of the Egglestone by beating Cockerton before finally bowing out of the cup after another good performance against a very strong (and eventual winners) Barningham team. In the other cup matches the team was unsuccessful losing against more A Division opposition, Barningham in the Rain and Spennythorne and Harnby, as well as losing to Rockliffe Park in the 7 a side cup and B Division cup (though due to early season fixture being rained off the Rockliffe 2nds defeat was mainly their first team). The league mid season form took a dip with unavailability of some seasoned regulars due to holidays, work commitments and the world cup as well as Colin being unable to play regularly because of injury, a few new faces braced the team with Matthew East proving to be a very good keeper, Paul finishing his University and getting a career best 41 not out against East Cowton Dave proving he could bat when he scored 42 not out against Barningham in the cup and Neil, Sam, Danny and Gary continuing to develop into useful players. Tom Smith also made several useful contributions with both bat and enthusiastic wicket keeping and newly exiled Steve Richardson finally proving he could bat when he scored a fantastic 48 against Dales while the rest of the team collapsed. On the bowling front Lunny, Neil and Gary continued to develop, old timer Davie Edwards took his fair share of wickets and had been available to play more often would of easily of taken the most wickets in a season, the same could be said of Senor Steve who was the leading wicket taker before he left for warmer climates with his 6 for 48 against Spennymoor the best bowling of the season for the first team. Sam also proved to be more than useful with his unique style of spinning but was on a hat trick against Rockliffe in the seven a side cup after 2 great stumpings by Dave. Both Jeff and Keith chipped in with useful wickets and Paul and Lewis also took a wicket each in the end of season victory against Barton 2nds.

By contrast the seconds started off poorly with the team often made up of many untried juniors and on 3 occasions only 10 players, heavy defeats by King James, Aldbrough and Catterick Village in the league and cup where followed by a battling defeat against Barningham 2nds and Eryholme where Ashley scored a season best 77. Steve Richardson also played for the 2nds against Middleton Tyas where he took another 6 wicket haul, more defeats followed against Cliffe, Raby Castle and Lands before, finally in week 11 a victory against Trimdon CCA 2nds, a fantastic all-round performance by Martin with 74 not out and 6 for 17, ably supported by Dave, Craig and a welcome return by Richie proved to be the springboard and they followed this up with a fantastic victory away at King James, Craig the batting hero with 65, Steve Allanby 32 and Adam Weatherburn 23 helped the team to a great win with fine bowling by Brownie (3 for 13), Martin (3 for 35) and Adam Weatherburn (2 for 16) . The match of the season was no doubt the game away at Cockerton, Haughton posted 228 in their innings with Dave 37, Danny 26, Ashley 56, Tony 32 and Peter 30 all playing well, unfortunately Cockerton squeezed home with the 2nd to last ball of the innings despite heroic efforts by Martin, Shanny and Adam Weatherburn in the bowling attack, though the defeat was hard to take it gave the team a great deal of confidence and they won 3 of he last 4 games against high flying Catterick Village, Raby Castle and the last game of he season against Trimdon CCA in a 9 a side match. Some really encouraging performances with many of the juniors showing improvement during the season, in particular the bowling of Adam Weatherburn and John Sturgeon, and Shanny also getting wickets, solid batting from Dave, Danny, Ashley and staring performances by Martin, Craig and Senor Steve. Norman again got amongst the wickets against Barningham, Dave was a revelation behind the stumps. With the juniors another year older and wiser to league cricket all bodes well for the new season were an overall improvement is expected.