Buckingham Town Cricket Club

Message from 2003 Under-12 Coach Chris Wilkes

Time to reflect on a successful cricket season as you put on your football and rugby boots.

The squad

A full list of results is attached. We played 5 friendlies, losing 3 warm-up games at the start of the season before winning well in full length games against Brackley and Wolverton. We played 17 league and play-off matches, losing 4 and winning 13, not counting 4 walkovers. And our two teams played 11 mini matches in the Brill Sixes festival, losing 2 and winning 9.

In the process we won the Brill Sixes; the North Bucks section of the U13 Bucks league; the league phase of the Shires U12 league; and then the plate final.

The main disappointments were narrowly losing the semi-final play-offs of the Bucks league by 16 runs and the Shires league by 17 runs. In both cases we faced strong opponents, of whom around half the team were current or recent county players for Bucks (Ballinger) or Northants (Overstone). We seemed to have many more key players absent on holiday than the opposition. Against Ballinger we had the worst of the light and perhaps played slightly below our best. Against Overstone we had the better of the light and batted well but for once our bowling and fielding let us down.

At full strength we'd have had a good chance of winning the finals if we'd we got there and we can feel confident about at least holding our own against any team in the age group.

Teamwork

We've been fortunate in having several experienced players able to act as captain, so we've generally organised field settings, bowling order and batting order to best advantage. We're also developing the good habit of "chirping" - encouraging each other. The best example was when we got a wicket at a stage in a match against Overstone when we seemed sure to lose and Toby announced "we might still win this lads". We did.

In the field we've improved our backing up and walking in. And we usually look and think as we throw - quick, accurate, friendly throws which help get run-outs and avoid overthrows.

We've also had a good season for running between the wickets. Apart from the occasional bit of strike-hogging in pairs games, we usually respect the caller's judgement. The result has been masses of quick singles, and very few mix-ups and run-outs except in a couple of matches.

A successful team needs individual contributions as well as team efforts. Thanks to our scorers - notably Bill, Sheila, Sepalee, Dave, Jon and Geoff Deal - we've got a record on spreadsheet of all players' contributions, both in our own matches and others for the club (mainly for the U14s).

The players mentioned below have had particularly good figures for the season as a whole but the rest of the squad have all chipped in with useful contributions with ball and bat and in the field. I'll do each of you a short email on your personal season.

Bowling

Fielding dismissals

Batting

Highlights Five wickets and hat-tricks: Nick 6-10 vs Wolverton on 12 June; Toby 5-19 vs MK City on 17 July; both including hat-tricks

Fifties: Nick 56 not out vs Brackley on 26 May and 61 vs Wolverton on 10 August

Sixes: Jay (11), Goffy (6), Nick (3), Stu (2) and Toby (1)

Honours: Dil and Nick represented South Northants U13s, who won the Northants inter district festival. Dil won the Shires fantasy league, in which individual points are given for wickets, catches and bowling economy as well as runs scored

Well done to everyone!

Cheers

Chris

2003 Season - Under 12 Squad Results

2003 Season - Under 12 Squad Statistics