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ISIS CRICKET CLUB 2010 Ground: Queens College, Abingdon Road, Oxford |
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Last Update: 05/09/2010 © Keith Whiter, April 2003 k.whiter@elsevier.com |
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2006 AGM - Captain’s report (Olly Walter) |
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I’d like to start with saying what an honour it was to be captain of Isis in 2006. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this season, and in particular it’s been great to see a heap of new, young faces join the club and fit in so well. After about half the season, I had it fixed in my mind that I wanted to finish the season with more wins than losses, and it did become a bit of an obsession with me. As the season drew to a close, the remaining games seemed to get tighter and tighter, with more and more at stake. Fittingly in the end, we won our final game and ended up on a respectable 19 wins and 19 losses. Not quite my goal, but with hindsight, I think a pretty fair reflection of the season.
Captaining a cricket club can throw up a lot of challenges, and can be a pretty intense job. I’m very grateful this season for the support around me, in particular, from several key figures who have made my job easier and given me great support throughout the season:
· Vice-captains, Nick Wyatt and Paul Jacobs for taking over the reigns when I have been unavailable (or severely hungover!) and their general support and advice. Thanks also for each doing a large proportion of team selection, which can be a real headache, particularly with the squad size and number of fixtures that we have. If you’ve never had to sort out teams, believe me, it’s a really demanding job. All three of us have this season had manic Friday/Saturday nights phoning round several “mates” (and their brothers, sons, dogs) just to get a team out for the next day due to a late cancellation!! · Keith Ponsford for as always, his humour, support and general air of “stability” that surrounds him and his chairmanship. Moreover though, I think I speak for everyone when I say that it is great to see him playing again, having missed virtually all of last season through injury. · Keith Whiter for providing us with a superb set of fixtures. We only enjoy our cricket for 5 glorious months a year because for several months in the winter, Keith is sorting out fixtures, and he came up with a cracking set of fixtures last year.
Individual acclaim
The season saw some outstanding performances, in all three disciplines of the game, bat, ball and in the field, I’d just like to mention a few who deserve a special mention for their achievements.
· Joe Walter – Joe’s improvement in the last few years has been in my opinion, hugely impressive, and this season, he proved his worth to the team time and time again. In cricket, it is often the familiar faces who take the plaudits, but with 31 wickets, Joe was 3rd highest wicket taker, and with 416 runs, 5th highest run scorer. Although he’ll always go for the odd boundary with his customary occasional leg side full toss, such is the nature of slower bowlers; the important thing is that they also take wickets when others are struggling, and this Joe does excellently. Batting wise, he has added good attacking play and more of a belief in his shots in addition to his Boycott-esque defence. · Keith Whiter – if ever a bowler deserved 50 wickets in a season it was Keith, and in that final game against Ipsden, it was a great Isis moment when he took the all-important wicket. Keith really does bowl his heart out and his will to win and succeed is huge. It’s not easy being an opening bowler; more often than not you have to deal with stubborn opening batsman like myself who are determined to “see him off”. However, Keith’s line and length this season has been very impressive, and I know, just through speaking to other captains, his bowling has great respect from those who we regularly lock horns against. Add to his bowling 318 runs, including a 50 against Holton, and Keith has had a fine season. · Nick Wyatt – although knowing Nick as I do, he will be reluctant to lose the most wickets in a season statistic, he like Keith, has had a season to be proud of, still bagging 52 victims. For batsman like myself, who occasionally in a crisis, are forced to turn their arm over, we wonder how it is possible to stick 6 balls on a similar spot of the pitch without bowling at least one cafeteria delivery. This is where Nick excels, his consistency to bowl in the right areas, which in turn, asks batsman serious questions about their technique. I have to also mention his fielding as well, and the now familiar, “Wyatt slide”. Very impressive indeed. · Lester Whitby – after a slow start on some slow pitches, Lester’s class with the bat was always going to rule, and so it did. 637 runs at an average of 31.85, including 5 x 50’s is a very good total, and when in full flow, Lester’s batting is simply majestic to watch. His fielding has also been a huge asset. · Jack Hart – To get a century throughout a career is something to cherish; to get it in your debut season is the sign of a class bat. It’s not easy joining a cricket club as a batsman; you always feel like in the first few innings you should have scored more runs than you have and the pressure can build. Just through watching Jack bat though, it is obvious that runs would flow, and after a tricky start, he went on to have had an excellent debut season. Very good at playing off his legs, his century at Evenley was not only fully deserved, it was also a match-winning innings. · Brendan Lewis - Another debutant, Brendan’s measured, clever bowling has bought 18 wickets and excellent control throughout the season. A brilliant fielder, he has made the position of cover his own, and his enthusiasm and encouragement for his team-mates is a pleasure to see. More than a useful bat, his highlight, in my opinion was a mature debut 50 on fittingly, the final game of the season, which, in a tight run chase, effectively won the game for us. · Dale Jacobs – It really is remarkable to see how much Dale has progressed this season, and he’s developed into a very important addition to the Isis bowling attack – a genuine wicket-taking bowler. Woe betide any batsman who judges Dale purely by his age – with 21 dismissals, the 4th highest wicket haul of the season is an accurate measure of his ability. · Pete Wiblin – He may not have scored as many runs as last season, but nobody has given more to Isis than Wib. His stories of Stickies on a Saturday night in themselves justify his being mentioned, but from a captains viewpoint, he is also a batsman of great skill and character, and crucially, a batsman who can genuinely win you games. His innings against Lord Williams school was a masterclass in how, against a bowler of consistent length, good footwork allows you to turn good length balls into juicy half volleys.
Season highlights – 3 of the best
In a season of some 55 fixtures, picking only 3 was a difficult job, but my 3 choices are:
8th June 2006 - Cairns Fudge away 20/20 cricket is a whirlwind 3 hours that can sweep lesser bowlers off their feet if they don’t keep their heads, whether with the bat or with the ball. An excellent display in the field restricted CF to a mere 89, Brendan’s 4-13, Joe’s 2-13 and Jack’s 3 catches and 2 stumpings being the highlights. In reply, Isis struggled to match the run rate due to some very tight bowling, and lightening quick fielding. In the end, amid great tension, a crucial ugly but effective 40 run partnership between myself and Wib drew us close. With deliveries running out, it was left to KP and Nick Hardy to add valuable support, and thanks to some insane running between the wickets, we got to our target, with 2 balls to spare.
3rd Sept 2006 – University Offices away A superb bowling performance – I think our best all round bowling performance of the season. KP and KW were outstanding in their opening overs to bog down the openers, then Jonners simply blew the middle order away with his pace, with Nick as always, penetrating at the other end. Azam and Brendan also bowled very tidy spells. Offices 92 all out. Enter: The perils of chasing a small target – just ask the Aussies. Isis laboured in their reply, possibly an attitude of “it doesn’t matter if I get out, it’s a small target” got into our mindsets, and after a shocking batting collapse and some pretty ordinary cricket shots, we were on the brink of defeat with 9 wickets down. Only thanks to a miraculous last wicket stand of 45, with Nick and Jonathan bravely seeing their best bowler off, before agonisingly accumulating the runs, did Isis snatch victory. Anyone who will have seen me on the sidelines, chewing my nails to bits, will know how true the phrase is “you’re a long time out”. And just goes to show 2 things: you’re never beaten in cricket until the last wicket is taken, and you should value your wicket and guard it like your life.
24th Sept 2006 – Ipsden away Roy of the Rovers stuff. Isis went into this game needing a victory against a strong side who comprehensively destroyed us last time we played them. Bowling first, we were absolutely superb in the field, and Keith Whiter produced a Herculean-like bowling performance of 7-45 to rip through their batsman, including the all important 50th wicket of the season for him, prompting a gigantic roar of delight. With Jonathan bowling superbly at the other end (how did he not get a wicket!?!), and KP tidy as always, Ipsden managed 150. In reply, against an excellent attack I played some nice shots before being comprehensively bowled by a jaffa. Enter Brendan though, in his performance of the season, to hit a superb, mature 53 to steady the nerves, with great support from Joe, who made 32. After these 2 parted, we eventually got there, with Ben Karlin and JP safely negotiating the fading light to see us home, and a famous victory was obtained. Ipsden, showing great sportsmanship congratulated us on a great performance and we spent a good couple of hours chatting and enjoying the dying embers of a terrific season. |