Juniors Season 2004
SQUAD SYSTEMS
Everybody is excited by the emergence of new talent, even those who must stand aside to accommodate those who possess it. In the words of the Noel Coward song.
"I've had my fun
All that is done
Why should I ask for more?
There's a younger generation
Knock - Knock - Knocking at the door".
Young people will always knock on doors, even if it is only to be rebuffed. The pool of talent must be replenished otherwise it dries up and we are all the poorer. In any process of regeneration, however, there are casualties. Not every performer, marked out for future reference in glowing terms, eventually treads the paths of glory. That's why squad systems must prevail at Junior levels. Everybody must be given a chance to attain the highest accolade possible.
The Lost Juniors
Many cricket clubs have thriving junior members to the age of fifteen but this falls dramatically for those aged sixteen to eighteen. St Annes Cricket Club is no different and we had to officially withdraw our under seventeen side from the league. There are three reasons why junior membership falls off post fifteen, the discovery that girls exist, GCSE examinations and the set up of junior cricket.
Junior Cricket is organised on the basis of biennial age groups. Only the very best cricketers can play in age groups above themselves and it is not surprising that many sixteen year olds find themselves not good enough to play with those of seventeen. Only when leagues institute an under sixteen and an under seventeen age group will this decline in junior membership be arrested.
However, if the player is good enough by seventeen, he should be playing adult cricket in a full match of forty five overs rather than twenty overs.
Ask yourself, what is your teams average age at junior level? Do you have many senior players? What does the future hold for your club without juniors?
You simply have to include kids early and not just hope that they are content to field for forty five overs and get the odd five overs in mid-August.
UNDER 11'S
The under elevens coach said, I feel it has been an enjoyable season apart from the one or two major conflicts of interest within the Club environment.
My aims were to give players defined roles, as the type of cricket they play is so unique. Simple clear ideas work best, with each player knowing precisely what he has to do. This also helps a player to think for himself and take some responsibility. As coach, I do not seek to be high profile but prefer an active, thoughtful and level headed behind the scenes management role. The Squad have remained a close knit and well disciplined unit because of this and cope with their roles within the squad admirably.
The under elevens under the youthful eyes of the team manager, Dave Hartley have performed exceptionally well as they were thrown together one Monday night at nets and appeared the following Sunday at Blackpool as a fully functional squad! Thanks to Dave Hartley for all his efforts and enthusiasm and getting out of bed at 8:00am on a Sunday morning. How many eighteen year olds would do that? Well done David.
The under elevens finished tenth out of twenty four teams. Dave Hartley said this was an absolute magnificent effort.
They beat Blackpool, Fylde, Thornton Cleveleys, South Shore, but lost to Lytham, Preston, Fleetwood and Freckleton. Three of those sides won through to the last eight so it shows what a good squad this is. A summary of the matches are included later in this report.
There were some notable performances and the man of the match awards went to: -
| Jack Bickerdike |
3-0-11-4 |
Against Thornton Cleveleys |
|
3-0-5-1 |
Against Fleetwood |
The Bolus Brothers
Nathan and Mitchell |
Scoring 31 Runs
in four overs |
Against Preston |
| Jack Todd |
3-0-9-1 |
Against Lytham |
| Luke Wilks |
20 N.O.
17 N.O. |
Against Fleetwood
Against South Shore |
| Chris Clayton |
2-0-5-4 |
Against Fylde |
The outstanding performance of the season must be Chris Clayton's bowling at Fylde where he bowled two overs for five runs and took four wickets (including a hat-trick).
The League averages are as follows: -
| BATTING | RUNS SCORED |
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| 1. Luke Wilks | 103 |
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| 2. Sam Little | 62 |
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| 3. Jack Bickerdike | 35 |
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| 4. Jack Todd | 33 |
|
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| 5. Nathan Bolus | 32 |
|
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| 6. Matthew Williams | 31 |
|
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| 7. John Kenyon | 27 |
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| 8. Callum McCombie | 23 |
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The batting award is awarded to Luke Wilks.
BOWLING
| Name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average |
| Chris Clayton | 10 | 0 | 47 | 9 | 5.22 |
| Including one hat-trick |
|
| Andrew Walkden | 13 | 3 | 32 | 3 | 10.66 |
| Jack Bickerdike | 22 | 0 | 102 | 9 | 11.33 |
| Tom Glover | 11 | 2 | 24 | 9 | 12.00 |
| Jack Todd | 20 | 0 | 57 | 4 | 14.25 |
| Callum McCombie | 8 | 0 | 47 | 3 | 15.66 |
| Ben Willis | 20 | 0 | 63 | 4 | 15.75 |
| Sam Little | 11 | 0 | 32 | 1 | 32.00 |
The bowling award is awarded to Chris Clayton
The best all rounder award is awarded to Jack Bickerdike.
UNDER 13'S
The under 13's under the ever "youthful" eye of Doug Wilks reached the final of the Subaru Cup beating Garstang but losing to Eccleston in the Lancashire Quarter Final. They finished eighth in the league out of thirty one teams and qualified for the quarter final playoff, where they beat Chorley. Their quarter final was against Garstang who they had already beaten. However due to the "Holiday Season", the team had to withdraw.
In the Subaru Cup they had a bye in the first round. They beat Lytham in the second round. They travelled to Garstang for the semi final where they tied with Garstang. The replay later during the week was going to be a tense game. However this proved to be a wrong assumption as the St Annes bowlers were in fine form restricting Garstang to seventy six for six wickets in their twenty overs. St Annes opening pair of Peter Kenyon and Alex Walkden put on seventy runs for the first wicket, both retiring, and saw St Annes home comfortably.
In the final against Freckleton, St Annes amassed the formidable total of one hundred and twenty four for three wickets. Freckleton never recovered from James Southern's first over when he took three wickets. Game over. St Annes won by thirty seven runs.
Against Eccleston in the quarter final, they completely lost their direction and form and lost by twenty five runs.
Their league form until the last two games was a revelation. They beat Blackpool, South Shore, Leyland, Thornton Cleveleys, Fylde and Fleetwood. They lost against Lytham and Freckleton. A summary of the matches are included later in this report.
There were notable performances both with bat and ball: -
| Luke Olsson |
3-0-8-2
3-0-16-3 |
Against Lytham
Against Freckleton |
| Greg Whitehead |
1-0-3-0
And 25 N.O. |
Against Thornton Cleveleys |
| Peter Kenyon |
3-0-19-2
3-0-7-2 |
Against South Shore
Against Freckleton |
At under 13 level batters retire at twenty five.
Peter Kenyon, James Southern, Tom Andrew, Alex Walkden and Ben Shillito did this once. Greg Whitehead twice. Lewis Williams in his four innings retired in each and scored one hundred and four runs.
The bowlers are allowed to bowl three overs each.
Peter Kenyon and Luke Olsson took three wickets once in their allotted overs. Peter Kenyon was the leading wicket taker with seven
The League averages are as follows: -
Bowling
| Name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average |
| Luke Olsson | 9 | 0 | 40 | 5 | 8.00 |
| Will Rees | 11 | 0 | 39 | 4 | 9.75 |
| Peter Kenyon | 19 | 1 | 72 | 7 | 10.28 |
| James Southern | 9 | 0 | 30 | 2 | 15.00 |
| Greg Whitehead | 16 | 0 | 61 | 3 | 20.33 |
| Lewis Williams | 12 | 0 | 53 | 2 | 26.50 |
The bowling award is awarded to Luke Olsson.
Batting
| Name | Games | Runs | Not Outs | Average |
| Tom Andrew | 3 | 43 | 2 | 43.00 |
| Ben Shillito | 3 | 40 | 2 | 40.00 |
| Jame Southern | 3 | 66 | 1 | 33.00 |
| Greg Whitehead | 5 | 84 | 2 | 28.00 |
| Alex Walkden | 3 | 54 | 1 | 27.00 |
| Peter Kenyon | 6 | 97 | 1 | 19.40 |
The batting award is awarded to Tom Andrew.
The Subaru Finalists squad members were: -
- Peter Kenyon
- Joel Taylor
- Greg Whitehead
- Tom Andrew
- Alex Walkden
- Sam Graham
- James Southern
- Max Rothwell
- Lewis Williams
- Ben Shillito
- Will Rees
- Luke Wilks
The Cup averages are as follows: -
Batting
| Name | Innings | Runs | Not Outs | Average |
| Lewis Williams | 4 | 65 | 3 | 65.00 |
| Greg Whitehead | 4 | 59 | 2 | 29.50 |
| Peter Kenyon | 4 | 82 | 1 | 27.33 |
| Tom Andrews | 2 | 23 | 1 | 23.00 |
| Alex Walkden | 4 | 58 | 1 | 19.33 |
| James Southern | 3 | 18 | 2 | 18.00 |
The batting award is awarded to Lewis Williams
Bowling
| Name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average |
| James Southern | 15 | 3 | 54 | 4 | 13.50 |
| Peter Kenyon | 15 | 0 | 71 | 5 | 14.20 |
| Greg Whitehead | 8 | 0 | 49 | 3 | 10.28 |
| James Southern | 9 | 0 | 30 | 2 | 16.33 |
| Will Rees | 12 | 0 | 55 | 3 | 18.33 |
| Alex Walkden | 13 | 1 | 59 | 2 | 29.50 |
The bowling award is awarded to James Southern.
The best all rounder award is awarded jointly to Peter Kenyon and Greg Whitehead.
We mustn't close this report without thanking the coaches, Richard Thomas, Gerry Thomas, Shaun Bickerdike and Neil Bradley and our professional Jimmy Adams for all their efforts and valuable support.
A huge vote of thanks must go to Dave Hartley and Doug Wilks for their efforts and enthusiasm and to the ground staff, once again for preparing excellent wickets.
We cannot thank enough the parents who are the main influence on the participation of young children in cricket. It is the parent who introduces, transports, finances, encourages and sustains the childs participation. Thank you.
JUNIOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR AND JUNIOR CLUBMAN OF THE YEAR
We have, once again, some notable and worthy candidates for the above awards.
It is also very gratifying to see previous winners of the trophies continuing to make progress and reaching their aspirations of playing cricket to a high standard and some going on to play representative cricket.
The nominations are: -
- Peter Kenyon Peter has recognised he is on a learning curve as Captain and will get better and better. The responsibility of Captaincy takes a lot of adjustment in which you have to find a balance between your needs and those of your team players. Peter has also recognised you have to find time for yourself to do your job in the team as best you can. He has done this very successfully.
- James Southern I have seen someone who is exceptionally talented and if all goes right he could have a very good career in cricket.
- Greg Whitehead Greg has come on considerably this season and if he keeps going the way he is he'll be able to prove how good he is. He's a genuine all rounder, always in the game and an asset to the team.
- Luke Wilks He's a very exciting young player. His strengths are his determination, his concentration and a quiet confidence. He wants to go all the way and there's no reason why he can't.
- The award for Junior Clubman of the year is Luke Wilks and the Junior Player of the year is Peter Kenyon.
Gerry Thomas
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