Edition 9 Spring 2015 The Hunts Herald News about the Huntingdonshire County Cricket Club Farewell Fox It is with great sadness that we say farewell to our longstanding and highly successful team manager, coach, guide and mentor Hedley Swannell (aka The Fox). After running the Senior, Development and U19 sides for many years Hedley has decided that enough is enough, and stepped down. Over the years we have enjoyed many successes, particularly with the Under 25s (Development). The U25 competition started in 2000 and Hedley was in charge of that age group from then, winning the trophy for the first time in 2003 and again in 2010, 2012 and 2013. Hunts are the only County to have won the trophy back to back and four times in its 15 years history, a record equal with with Lincolnshire. He has been in sole control of all three County sides since 2011, but his involvement with Huntingdonshire cricket exceeds 20 years. Thank you Hedley (and his wife Jane, and son Paul) for all the time and effort that they have put in to Huntingdonshire cricket. Welcome to the Future With the Fox departing, the Huntingdonshire County Cricket Club have been faced with a dilemma. How do we find someone to do all the work that Hedley did? Well, the answer was, we didn’t. We have appointed three managers, one for each team. At the same time we have decided to follow the example of the youth teams, where each side has a manager and a coach. We would like to welcome the following to the ranks of the HCCC committee: Senior Team - Manager: Kevin Clement Coach: Nick Andrews Under 25 - Manager: Russell Marsh Coach: Dave Summers Under 21 - Manager: John Wells Coach: Michael Kay More about these fine fellows on page 2. Those paying attention will note that the Under 19s are now the Under 21s. More about that on Page 3. The Hunts Herald Who’s Who of Who’s New Senior Manager -KEVIN CLEMENT. Huntingdonshire Cricket Development Manager since 2005. Still 'bowling backwards' and taking wickets for Godmanchester Town CC and County Over 50s. Level 2 cricket coach.. Senior Coach - NICK ANDREWS. Prolific run scorer and wicket-taker from Market Deeping CC and an England Over 60s player. Played for the County in the dim and distant past and regularly stars for the County Over 50s and the combined Cambs/Hunts Over 60s team. Retired Local Government Officer. Level 2 cricket coach. Under 25 (Development) Manager - RUSSELL MARSH. Healthcare Consultant from Buckden and a qualified umpire regularly officiating in the Hunts League. Still occasionally 'dons the whites' for Buckden CC. Father of County players Alex and Lawrie Marsh. Under 25 (Development) Coach - DAVE SUMMERS. Huntingdonshire Cricket Development Officer since 2008. Level 3 cricket coach and in charge of the County Emerging Players Programme. Former player with Godmanchester Town CC where he was noted for turning the ball only when there was a 't' in the month. Under 21 Manager - JOHN WELLS. Has worked in the RAF for many years and currently has a posting at Marham. Plays for Ramsey CC where he excels off the field undertaking many essential volunteer duties. Won an ECB 'Behind the Scenes' OSCA last year for this work. Under 21 Coach - MICHAEL KAY. Has worked within cricket for much of his young life and is currently Managing Director of Cricketing Futures. Noted as an energetic medium fast bowler for Ramsey CC who has also played for the County at all levels. Level 3 cricket coach. The Hunts Herald Under 19s Grow Up This year sees a change in one of our competitions. What was the Under 19s has, by mutual agreement from all of the Under 19 competition participants, been changed to the Under 21 Competition. Counties taking part are: Huntingdonshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Bedfordshire. See the back page for 2015 fixtures Cricketing Terms Explained At the interval, everybody rushed to the bar, where local publican had thoughtfully provided a case of light ale. Unfortunately, the ale was off and halfway through the second innings, everyone was so ill that they abandoned the match. It was a case of bad light stopping play. In a far-off eastern country, the game of cricket was the most popular sport. Everybody played it, even the royal family. But one day, the king died and a new king took his place. The new king hated cricket and outlawed it, so all the games had to be abandoned. "REIGN" stopped play. HCCC Committee Chairman: Simon Black Membership Secretary: Jo King 01487 773926 Treasurer/Minutes Secretary: John Walker Team Managers: Kevin Clement (Senior Team) Russell Marsh (U25) John Wells (U21) Coaches: Nick Andrews (Senior) David Summers (U25) Michael Kay (21) Co-Opted Member Hedley Swannell All may be contacted via John Walker on 01480 477295 or e-mail [email protected]. If you can spare a little time (6 meetings per annum) to help out on the HCCC committee, contact any committee member. We will be only too pleased to see you. HUNTS COUNTY CRICKET CLUB REVIEW 2014 SEASON Overall the 2014 season did not reach the high standards achieved in 2013. There were a variety of factors involved but availability of players for selection was the main contributory factor. Examinations and work commitments understandably have to take precedence with the matches being played midweek and there were other cricket commitments such as the selection for Minor Counties cricket with Cambridgeshire. However Manager Hedley Swannell persevered and the commitments of the club were all met with one exception when a league match had to be conceded due to player availability. SENIOR SIDE The senior side lost just one of its six scheduled fixture to the weather when a waterlogged ground forced the cancellation of the fixture with the Surrey Development X1. However three matches were won and two lost. The defeats came at the hands of a very strong Northants II several of whose players played for the senior side the following day and one of the two 20/20 fixtures at Uxbridge against the RAF. However the second 20/20 match resulted in a victory with just two overs to spare. Home victories over the Army by 7 wickets and the RAF by 6 wickets were the principal performances and the averages for that group showed Michael Cafferkey topping the batting averages with 165 runs at 55.0. Kiran Adhav took the most wickets (9 for 108 from 33 overs) whilst young pace bowlers James Trafford and Sam Rippington both did well. U25 SIDE This proved the disappointing side to the season. After winning the East of England Development title in the past two seasons the side finished with the wooden spoon in 2014 as they had their final match with Cambridgeshire abandoned due to the weather without a ball being bowled. The match with Essex had to be conceded as stated above and there were defeats at the hands of Norfolk and Suffolk. The only victory was over Lincolnshire with Andy Lane scoring 148 and Jon Carpenter 55. Significantly only two players (Josh Bowers and Jon Carpenter) played in all three completed matches. Carpenter was the leading wicket taker. U19 SIDE One win, one defeat and one postponement sums up the season but there were county debuts for several 14, 15 and 16 year old players with availability difficult. It was the lack of experience rather than talent that contributed to the heavy defeat at Fakenham which gave Norfolk the East of England U19 Championship. Special mention for Farhan Adil who took 5 for 50 in the Norfolk defeat and 14 years old slow left arm bowler Harrison Craig whose 3 for 33 clinched the match against Bedfordshire. John Walker STATISTICS TO FORGET!! Anyone who’s regularly ‘turned their arm over’ will know that one day they’ll meet a batsman who takes a great liking to the offering. England and Leicestershire off spinning Jack Birkenshaw knew it wasn’t his day when he turned out for Leicestershire 2nd XI against in Hunts in 1966 and was belted for 24 in an over by County captain and Kimbolton legend, Jeff Hart. Phil Gillett, still turning out regularly for Waresley and Hunts Over 50s, could have picked a better game to make his 2nd XI debut for Northants than the one against Essex in 1978. In this match he encountered Graham Gooch, anxious to prove his fitness for England following an injury, and Graham took a great liking to his bowling – 3 overs and 38 runs later, Phil was invited to ‘take a blow’. Former Peterborough Town and County right arm fast bowler, Neil Taylor, may hold a unique record in taking all ten wickets in a Jaidka Cup match but also conceding 36 runs in an over in another match! Finally, even frugal metronomes get hit …. ask Bevis Moynan what his favourite number is and he won’t come up with 42. Playing for Linthwaite against Scholes in a 2001 match in the Huddersfield League, he had the misfortune to run into the Indian test batsman Wasim Jaffer who despatched seven consecutive deliveries for maximums. HUNTINGDONSHIRE CRICKET HISTORY Our resident archivist Kevin Clement [KC] is putting together a book celebrating cricket in the County going back to the first recorded instance of Huntingdonshire’s involvement in the game in 1741. It will centre around the County Club featuring all known scores and results, biographical information about any player who has played for the senior team since 1832 [where known], photos and career statistics. Other sections will include biographical detail relating to other players who have played in Huntingdonshire, but not for the County, along with prominent figures involved in running cricket in the county.