The Oxton C.C. Trivia

Monthly Newsletter April 2019 trivia: Which test match captain (must have captained 40 or more matches)

has the highest LOSS percentage @ 55.31%…past or present? April 2019 answer: Brian Lara

January 2020 trivia: 1) Which player scored the most ODI runs in ISS 06 the 2019 season with 1490? 2019 season draws to a close… JAN 2) Which player hit the most 6’s in ODI Well, that’s it. Another season has been and gone. Contrary 2020 matches in 2019 with 56? to the previous seasons that have gone by, Oxton has not closed it out wondering of what might have been… Club Kit - 2020 2019 seen the 1XI crowned champions of the CCCL 1XCI Club kit for the 2020 season will remain available Div. 1, ensuring that OCC moves back to the hallowed throughout the off-season and can be purchased from the ground of the CCCL Premier League, as the champions. Sportsville shop, either in-store or online for delivery. Elsewhere the 2XI are left thinking of what might have CLUB SHOP - CLICK HERE been, finishing comfortably in 6th position. The club now offers a representative club tie. These can be The 3XI again finished the season in the mid-table of the purchased by contacting Laurence Richards or from behind Div. B West in 6th place while the 4XI finished in 4th place in the bar. Ties are priced @ £17 and are available now. the Div. C West. The ladies enjoyed a good season in the Cheshire women’s Hotpot - 2019 Div. 2 finishing in 2nd place leading to a highest finishing Award winners: position for the club. - Dapper Danson trophy : Jack Smith Individual team reports can be found further inside the - Clubman OTY : Stuart Hirst newsletter. - Junior Clubman OTY : Ed Tilleard - 1XI Player OTY : Chris Stenhouse This season, we welcomed a series of new playing members - 2XI Player OTY : Richard Fennah into the club, who have obviously had a positive effect on - 3XI (Sat) Player OTY : Dave Wightman the playing side of the game. - 4XI Player OTY : Mahi de Silva Let’s not forget the addition of the high-profile overseas - Ladies XI Player OTY : Ellie Grisdale & Tessie player for the season, Glen. Contributing not only on Nickson (shared) Saturday afternoons, I think we would all agree that a lot of - Junior Player OTY : Jack Breheny thanks must be put in Glen’s direction for the , and - also the coaching and help he has provided to the long list Outgoing Club Chairman of players, helping the club improve throughout the levels The club would like to announce that Mark Cashin is and age groups. stepping down as Club Chairman with immediate effect. The end of season party went off a storm, reinvigorating The General Committee has appointed John Mitchell as the fancy-dress theme with a mass turnout. Great to see so interim chairman until the Annual General Meeting next many involved and bracing the immense buffet that was February. laid on by Emma Breheny and Chloe Stenhouse. More On behalf of all members, we would like to thank Mark for pictures can be found further down in the newsletter. his dedicated service to the club many years.

End of season party…

After the final league games, the club got together to celebrate the end of another season. Wives happy to no longer being ‘cricket widows’ (for a few months). Here are some of the pictures. I will leave the photos to those with a ‘PG’ rating that were taken in the first hour or so…

Team Reports - 2019

1XI - Finished 1st (394 pts) P-22, W-13, L-3, D-3, C-3 Following another previous season of what many saw as an underachievement, this season began with an away day @ Didsbury who had dropped down from the Premier League. Captain Jack Smith won the toss, and elected to bat. Oxton tallied up one of the highest totals in recent times for the 1XI with 280, Glen amassing a colossal 151 of just 114 balls. Although a draw result, this game outlined how Oxton could compete with the best teams in the division. Week 3 saw another away day after a washout the week before, this time @ Sale (a building site). A damp day and a seamers paradise saw Oxton asked to bat and at 53-7, it was looking bleak. Some low order grit saw Oxton reach 141ao, but it was what followed which captured the plaudits. A nail biting finish saw Sale steamrollered to 56-7, with Steny taking the poles. Oxton went on to bowl Sale out for 131 with a few overs to spare, another huge, early statement. Steny finishing with figures of 7-45. After a dominant draw at home to a very dogged Romiley display, Oxton went to Bollington recording an emphatic 10 win, knocking 188-0, with Jack Smith tallying up his first OCC 100 (104*), supported by new recruit Jonny Crick with 80*. After the standard annual cup exit away at Brooklands, Macclesfield were the next side to enter the Lions’ Den. Oxton bowling first and bowling Macc out for just 59! Steny again with a 6’for, another expected to be high-flying side swept aside, and the points were beginning to tally up with Oxton staying in and around the top of the table. Fast forward a couple of weeks and another nail-biting contest away @ Urmston, anyone who has played there will know it’s a good place to bat, and reluctantly Oxton invited Urmston to bat. Oxton toiled and Urmston racked up a total of 237. Fighting through some poor umpiring, and gutsy contributions down the order, we found ourselves 117-6, somewhere between a rock and a hard place, but a partnership of over 100 between Glen & Steny put Urmston on the back foot! A remarkable finish to a remarkable game saw Al Harris & Ali Crick complete an overthrow for the winning run! At the halfway point, Oxton faced local rivals Upton, and out of nowhere, Tom Corran with a superb 92* took the game right out of Upton’s hands which resulted in a Phil Brown style post-match team talk on the outfield, Oxton were flying still in and around the top positions. The second half of the season featured wins at home to Bollington, away at Macclesfield, emphatically at home to Urmston (Jack Smith and Luke Filer both notching up 100’s and sharing an opening stand of 235, the highest of the season. Entering the last few games, it was very tight at the top between Oxton, Didsbury and Bowdon all within a win or so of each other. A tricky away at Bramhall resulting in a 5wkt win in a low scoring match, followed by a crunch game at home to Bowdon. Bowling first, Oxton managed to restrict Bowdon to just 135-9 off their full 50 overs. Jack Smith leading from the front with a captain’s knock of 81* ensuring the huge victory. This win secured promotion, with champions hinging on the Didsbury result. News filtered through later that night that in fact Didsbury lost, ensuring Oxton finished as Champions & securing promotion with a game to spare. There were some superb bowling spells from young Jack Corran in this stretch of games. The last game was away at already relegated Upton, and Oxton were presented with the league trophy, and also took 25pts. Team Reports - 2019

2XI - Finished 6th (277 pts) P-22., W-8, L-6, D-2, C-6

The 2nd XI kicked off their 2019 season at home to Warrington CC looking to target a top 4 position. Unfortunately, it was not the winning start that the side hoped to get off to and resulted in a disappointing 5 wicket defeat on the first day. Up next was what looked to be a tricky visit to Heaton Mersey only for the game to be a complete washout and it was to be the weather which proved to be a big obstacle throughout the campaign and go against us throughout the season with 5 cancelled games due to the poor summer weather which was particularly frustrating for the skipper who had arguably some of the strongest sides available at his disposal to choose from in recent seasons on these occasions. A good win at home to Sale was cancelled out with defeat the following week to Romiley who took full advantage of their home conditions.

A convincing performance at Stockport Georgians was also backed up by a hard-earned draw away to top of the table Macclesfield and another 25 points secured at home to Urmston. With confidence and morale high, yet again the rain intervened with back to back weekends away to Brooklands and Bramhall both falling victim to the weather. Sadly, Oxton could not capitalise in the next 3 games against the teams at the top of the table with weakened sides to support the 1st XI, school fixtures and GCSE revision and exams.

Oxton passed the half way mark with losses to Bowdon (eventual champions), Timperley and a 2nd defeat to Warrington. The match against Timperley was extremely tough to take after ending on a sour note after the opposition admitted on the field to blatantly cheating and the player involved going on to win the game for them as they pursued a promotion push. Nevertheless, Oxton were in a healthy 3rd place at the half way point, adrift by less than 30 points, but with the top 3 teams picking up 75 points during Oxton’s poor run, it was always going to be an uphill struggle from that point on. The second half of the season saw Oxton perform with some credible performances and well-deserved wins against Sale, Bramhall, a very hard fought 25 points against Heaton Mersey, as well as a satisfying final win on the last day of the season to prevent Timperley from being promoted to the premier league. More games were lost due to the weather but Oxton eventually finished the season a few points off 5th place wondering what might have been, without really being in a dominant position or in top gear to really challenge for promotion.

Overall, even though the atmosphere and team morale on and off the pitch was fantastic, the statistics tell the story of the season and with only skipper Ian Gauntlett scoring over 300 runs in the season, this showed clearly that although some games were low scoring affairs, not enough players contributed with the bat with enough consistency to go on and score big runs that would win more games for the team.

There were some excellent performances with the ball as usual with Richard Fennah again showing his consistency and accuracy finishing as the highest wicket taker for the side during the season. A stand out performance actually came when he didn’t actually take a wicket but bowled a superb spell of 15 overs, 10 maidens and only going for 8 runs. There were excellent contributions also from James Fraser, Callum Andrews and Molly Price and although Molly did not take lots of , she was always reliable and dependable and never let her captain down. She has a bright future ahead in the game.

It was very pleasing that that the skipper was able to blood some younger players too including Will Clayton, Adam Horrocks, Mike Baker, Oli Mitchell and Tom Bradley and it is hoped that these boys will step up next season and continue to improve, come out of their shells more and push some of the senior players for a regular spot in next year’s side. A big thank you to Stuart Hirst for his continuous support and efforts to umpire Oxton’s home games and to Lucy Andrews when she was able to score for the side.

Exciting times at the club and with the 1st team being promoted back to the premier league where we belong, the skipper hopes this will attract other local players to the club to add competition for places in both the 1st and 2nd teams and have a knock-on effect of strengthening the whole club in 2020.

Team Reports - 2019

3XI (SAT) - Finished 9th (260 pts) P-22., W-6, L-11, D-2, C-3 The season got off to a stable start for the 3XI, winning on the opening day away @ Timperley, and followed by a couple of good wins against Tattenhall & Runcorn away in the T20 cup competition. Things turned a little south with losses on the bounce but that was soon put right with a crushing win over local rivals Neston bowling them out for just 94. Another run of losses saw the 3XI slump a little down the league table but notable performances from Alex Parr and Dave Wightman were positives and looking to set the record straight. A late rally saw Oxton take a few wins in the run in to put themselves just above the relegation places and finished just 15 points safe. 2019 saw John Mitchell hand over the reins to new Captain Bruce McWilliams for the 2020 season after an uncountable number of years. Best of luck to Bruce and thanks to John!

4XI - Finished 4th (310 pts) P-20., W-9, L-6, C-5 A winning start at home for the 4XI against Christleton was followed by a few consecutive losses to The Groves, Burton & Chester County Officers. Fortunes were soon changed around as a run of wins followed. A smashing win at home to Irby and then the week after bowling Frodsham out for just 30!!! The season finished with another win against Frodsham and another scalp of Caldy finishing with a tense loss to Upton on the final day which was a great effort. Key performers with the ball were Jamie Price & John Fairclough, both finishing the season with 23 wickets, and with the bat Mahi De Silva finishing with 445 runs @ 34 and the emergence of Ollie Perry as a destructive middle order batsman!

3XI (SUN) - Finished 2nd (36 pts) P-13., W-7, L-2, C-4 A season that was marred with concessions and cancellations only seen the Sunday 3’s play 9 games this season. The first win came away at Tattenhall, with Oxton batting first and racking up a mammoth 269-6 off 40 overs, with the Claytons both notching up half-centuries going on to win by 152 runs. Other results saw a win away at Caldy in a shortened game due to weather and a defeat to local rivals Neston, losing on run- rate. The final game saw Oxton win away at Alvanley chasing down 158 and winning by a convincing 5 wickets.

Ladies XI - Finished 2nd (231 pts) P-14., W-8, L-6 It has been a fantastic season for the ladies’ cricket side this season with some excellent team and individual performances. The team had three of the league's top 4 wicket takers and another in the top 10 just for good measure! Ellie Grisdale was top with 21 wickets, Alexa Harrison and Kate Renshaw finishing joint second with 20 each and Freya Davies also taking 16 which was joint 7th best. It doesn't stop there though. Oxton also had three of the top four fielders in the league too. Emily Renshaw got 8 dismissals, including 5 run outs, to finish top with Tessie Nickson and Kate Renshaw joint second on 6 as well which includes the wicket keeper’s dismissals. The batting statistics did not achieve the heights of the bowling figures and is something to work on over the winter and next season. Alexa and Tessie were both in the top 10 league run scorers and should be very pleased with that. A lot of players made telling contributions in individual games which is a great sign and just a little bit more experience, not to mention belief - as Lucy Andrews and Freya's fantastic and ultimately match-winning partnership towards the end of the season

Well done to everyone involved but particularly Ellie and Hannah for such a great effort in keeping the team going when things got tough. This group of players has so much potential and the future looks bright for next season.

2019 Christmas Lunch

The close to another year saw the clubhouse packed out for the Christmas Lunch. The day was action packed with, as ever, excellent support from so many club members. Kudos to the catering team led by Rachel & co. for laying on a superb Christmas dinner along with Mike Withy rocking the mic! The lunch was followed by a visit from Santa Claus and a performance from the Wirral Community Choir reciting some of the classic carols.

2019 Honours Board

Batting Bowling

1XI 1XI 20/04 – G. Batticciotto 151 vs. Didsbury C.C 04/05 – C. Stenhouse 7-45 vs. Sale C.C 18/05 – J. Smith 104* vs. Bollington C.C 25/05 – C. Stenhouse 6-27 vs. Macclesfield C.C 01/06 – G. Batticciotto 115 vs. Urmston C.C 15/06 – A. Harris 5-58 vs. Bramhall C.C 17/08 – J. Smith 117* vs. Urmston C.C 13/07 – C. Stenhouse 5-27 vs. Davenham C.C 17/08 – L. Filer 102 vs. Urmston C.C 31/08 – G. Batticciotto 6-16 vs. Bramhall C.C

3XI (SAT) 2XI 11/05 – E. Filer 130 vs. Appleton C.C 18/05 – R. Fennah 7-18 vs. Stockport Georgians C.C 13/07 – J. Fraser 5-39 vs. Heaton Mersey C.C 4XI 4XI 13/07 – I. De Silva 102 vs Burton C.C 20/07 – J. Price 5-55 vs. Burton C.C

Departing Overseas

Thanks a lot for the season boys. Couldn’t be happier that the club has been promoted. It was a goal of mine to make sure Oxton went up.

It’s a testament to the hard-working people and players both on and off the field. Teneille and I also thank each and every one of you for making us feel welcome and being very supportive throughout the whole stay. (Even when I didn’t perform how I would have liked) we have really enjoyed our time at the club and meeting such a great group of people. I think we all now have created a good belief within the playing group now that we can win from any position. All going well I’ll hope to return next year.

Either way, keep in touch and we have a spare room in QLD if anyone is heading to Brisbane.

2020 – Transfer Centre

Preparations are well underway at the Lions’ Den for the 2020 cricket season. Club captain Jack Smith has been keen to strengthen the 1st XI squad ahead of our return to the ECB Premier League. Jarryd Basson joins from Barrow CC after an impressive season which saw him score over 800 runs in 22 games, averaging 42 for his club side. He has also been training with the MCC Young Cricketers and is hopeful of breaking into the side next year. Jarryd also made appearances for the Cheshire Academy XI during 2019 with stand-out performances of 85 against the MCC and 86 against Staffordshire. Originally from Zimbabwe, Jarryd has represented his native country at U14, U16 and U19 level as well as being contracted to the national academy in 2018. Olly Thompson will also re-join for next season after a short hiatus in Australia. He became a very popular member during his previous season with us in 2018 and the club are delighted to have him back! Celebrations are also in order after his recent marriage to Tori in Sydney - congratulations from all of us at Townfield Lane! Henry Dobson joins us from fellow premier league outfit Nantwich as a top-order batsman, having spent the last 3 seasons there and scoring 660 runs last season. Henry is currently studying Psychology at Leeds Uni. His exploits at his previous club even included an appearance at Lord's for the National Cup Final in 2019! Other previous clubs include Tattenhall as well as appearances for both Leicestershire & Lancashire academies. Andy Roberts has also joined Oxton from local rivals Upton. Andy is an experienced WK Batsman. 2020 Winter Nets @ Birkenhead School Wednesdays : (Start January 29th 2020 - Finish 1st April 2020) - 7pm to 8pm - Ladies/Girls - 8pm to 9:30pm - Seniors ONLY

Fridays : (Start January 31st 2020 - Finish 27th March 2020) - 6pm to 7pm – Juniors u9’s - 7pm to 8pm – Juniors u11’s - 8pm to 9pm – Juniors u13’s

The charge per person per session will be £3, payable on the night, across ALL age groups (including Seniors). It would be preferred that this is collected as a one-off upfront payment of £30 (10 weeks at £3) at Week 1.

Click here to pay online payment of £30 for Junior Nets Click here to pay online payment of £30 for Senior Nets

Or an upfront 1 off payment for proposed weeks of attendance (i.e. Pay £18 if only attending 6 Weeks) Please Note: There is NO REBATE for non-attendance.

2020 Sportsman’s Luncheon – Cheltenham Gold Cup

Date is set for the Lunch which is always a popular event, running over the Cheltenham Festival, on Gold Cup day. There will be a 3-course meal on offer included with ticket purchase along with a speaker (Robert Croft – ex-England and Glamorgan player). As per, the Cheltenham Gold Cup day will be shown LIVE. Please contact John Mitchell (07808099787) or Laurence Richards (@ Clubhouse) for any ticket bookings/enquiries.

Perry whitewash down under…

Jack Perry was selected in the squad for the England LD team to take on Australia in three One-Day Internationals and five IT20s, all taking place in Brisbane back in October 2019. Scores with the bat of 27* in the opening match and a 6*along with a DNB showed the superior strength of the England team over the Australia XI in this series and Jack got his hands on the trophy. Congratulations winning the series 8-0!

Pricey cuts the grass…

Thanks to the best groundsman in the county, Chris Price, Oxton have championed not only the 2019 league, but also the ground markings over the 2019 season, both for the wicket and outfield tables. Thanks for the continued effort and support.

What’s on?

29/01 – SENIOR / LADIES Winter Nets (then every Wednesday until 01/04) @ Birkenhead School (7pm/8pm) 31/01 – JUNIOR Winter Nets (then every Friday until 27/03) @ Birkenhead School (Time per age group) 01/02 – Chinese New Year Extravaganza @ Oxton C.C. (7pm) (ticketed event – see poster) 13/03 – Gold Cup Sportsman’s Luncheon @ Oxton C.C. (midday-7pm) (ticketed event – see poster) TBC – Club AGM @ Oxton C.C – Check Website in due course (TBC) For hiring out the Oxton C.C. clubhouse - pricing & availability: 07872468606 or email [email protected]