To finish in top 6 was a great achievement. I can honestly say in the games I played no teams were superior to us and I do believe if we had managed to keep a more settled side then promotion would have been possible. Saying that it must be remembered with 4 games to go we were near the relegation zone, just shows what was possible in this league if you managed to put a little run together.
I really enjoyed captaining a side that never gave up, the commitment from everybody was second to none and it made my job an easy one. We actually had four players skipper during the season (Matty, Oz, Graham and myself...and Bondy of course who was actually named skip at start of season ) which shows how much the personnel had to be changed from match to match (a total of 24 players were in fact used by the 2's).
Again Matty topped the bowling well supported by Dave, Les and myself with main run getters being Oz and Graham again well supported by Sammy Free until he went on to get loads for the 1's. A certain J.Floyd also played a great knock of 80* though I was unfortunate enough to miss it.
The win against Vospers probably stands out as our best performance again reiterating the never say die attitude (never heard a roar like it when Les knocked over last wkt to win by 1 run), this was in evidence again against South Wilts and Havant. Only disappointment was us folding against Highfield when they needed 100+ off last 9 overs and done it comfortably.
We certainly caught more than we dropped this year and the general outfielding was a big positive.
Dan's keeping was exceptional, and he also remembered that he can bat though shame it wasn't until August
Last year I think we relied on certain people to get the runs and wickets, this year everybody chipped in to make it a real team effort.
Sammy Floyd and Martin L will be a real asset next season, and also emergence of Fraser Moon means next year will be a real fight for places. Danny (one knee) also showed how much he was missed by scoring runs and taking vital wickets during the run in. Good to also see Reevsey come good this year, just needs consistency.
A big thanks as always to Bob for preparing awesome tracks, and to Lyn for scoring and being our Mum. Also to Dave P, Terry and Gooders for umpiring (think we certainly have the fairest in the league). Big thanks to our supporters, you know who you are.
Apologies to anybody I may have missed and it was a pleasure playing and skippering the 2's. Next season promotion as club will only get stronger.
