Century Club

The century club is your chance to win and help the cricket club at the same time. What’s not to like. It’s a win- win.

For those of you who already have tickets I thank you for your support.

For those of you who have promised me that they will buy tickets (you know who you are) and haven’t then I am letting you know that now is the time to do so as there are two more draws to do this year. One delayed from President’s Day, due to those promises of support. This will be conducted on Friday 8th October and the second at the end of season cricket dinner on the 12th November.

For those of you not involved yet – shame on you …. why not?

Let me tell you a bit more about the Century Club. Currently there are just under 200 tickets in the draw. An individual can have as many tickets as they want in the draw. Four draws are conducted each year with cash prizes awarded. To enter one ticket for all four draws you will need to complete a standing order for £25. This enters you into the next four draws. Currently top prize is £250, with smaller prizes also available. Prize winners are notified directly and through Wizzy News. Each year a donation is made to the cricket club of half the proceeds while the other half is paid out in prizes.

So, if you want to be in the last two draws of this year and haven’t quite got yourself sorted all you have to do is Click here to download the form and send it to me on the address shown or by e mail to steve@caldersmith.net . As someone once said – you’ve got to be in it to win it !

Steve Calder Smith – Club President

Seniors Honours Boards for the season

Cricket is of course a team game but its good to celebrate some meaningful individual performances by some of our players whose contribution to their teams were noteworthy throughout the season.

The stats for the seniors were obtained from the Playcricket website and include all senior league games , senior friendlies and Twenty 20 matches

Congratulations to all the players who feature on the Honours Boards and all those whose names may not appear on the Honours Board , but whose contribution to the club is equally important.

End of Season wrap – seniors

We have had what I would describe as a mixed season – both in terms of the outcomes for our 1st and 2nd teams and one that has been interrupted by some outside influences including some terrible weather and the odd covid scare.

Season performance

The 1st XI ended up finishing a respectable, and I would say justifiable, 6th place in the league. This was after spending much of the season languishing in, or very close to, the relegation zone. This was partly driven by some very close games at the start of the season not quite going our way, frustrating cancelations, the fixture scheduling (playing more of the bottom half of the table towards the end of the season) and of course the Wisborough way of always finishing a season better than we start it! In total the 1st XL won 6 and lost 8 games with 4 cancelled due to weather. Not a bad performance given that some of the teams at the top of the league are very strong outfits.

However, the 2nd team unfortunately lost the battle to stave off relegation by just 1 point – which really does make us rue those 4 penalty points we had deducted. The outcome for the season very much contradicted the plan at the outset which was to aim for promotion – a target I still feel was achievable if not for a few more players being regularly available (across both 1s and 2s squads!). Starting with 3 wins from the first 4 games we thought we might be on course for reaching our goal – however only 1 more win from the remaining 10 completed matches meant that promotion chase turned into relegation. The main factor here I strongly believe is availability across the whole squad meaning a few 2nd XI regulars were missing for the second half of the season – most notably Frank Vickery (only managing two games after the end of June due to a new job) and Will Dixon (having cemented a place in the 1st XI for the final 6 games of the season). In total the 2nd XI won 4 matches, lost 10 and had 2 cancellations. A disappointing outcome but plenty of positives to build on.

Building our future

It was just great to be back playing cricket, certainly my first full season for a long time, after the covid impacted 2020 season. We welcomed yet another new face to our squad and our club – namely Juan Vorster who has been a great addition. It was also the first full season for a few other new players including James Janion, Ollie Stott and Tom Dawson to name a few.

At the start of the season we set out to create a culture of personal development within the club. A strong focus on promoting our youngsters, many of whom proved they have the capability, skill and mentality to succeed (notably: Richard Wilson, Will Dixon, Eddie Ragg and the Warmingtons), was a big success and a positive we take into next year. We also aimed for better commitment to training- which it’s fair to say we have a way to go. We did however find a coach who ran a number of training sessions and the feedback was really positive. Those that did come to training really felt the benefit and hopefully can continue to develop as a squad. Going forward I want to encourage many more of us to train every week – we have no excuses for where our twos ended the season given the lack of commitment to train. We have a great spirit at the club and I believe the right balance between winning and fun but I do think we can increase our focus on our personal development culture.

We also saw the return of some of our old guard – Ben Thatcher had a one game run out (prior to hurting his ankle on Franny Stag do), Tom Jenkins, Tim Dodd and last but not least Jamie Self – coming back and showing what we had been missing most of the season.

Final thanks

I’d like to thank a few guys who really stepped up this year and took on more senior role both on and off the pitch:
• James Rainford, excellent performance as vice-captain and generally supporting the players and squad through the season,
• Steve Calder Smith – wow, what a year with the bat. All I can say is Farmer owes you those 9 league runs that you were short of 500 this year – a great performance!
• Will Dixon – tremendous in every aspect as he stepped up to the 1st XI – bowling brilliantly whenever asked to by the captain
• DJ Dominique, warrior with the gloves (even if only the 2nd best keeper at the club) and ever present at training;
• Nick Klein, some unbelievable batting displays with plenty of lusty blows really turning some matches in our favour and added to more consistent bowling we saw some great all round performances from Nick this year – best of the bunch being 60 odd and 4 wickets vs Barns Green on the last day of the season.
• Joey Calder Smith, showed real development in the pace and variation of his bowling which was great to see and painful to keep to
• Captain Farms, a very much matured and consistent performer throughout the season as well as a much developed captain
• Tom Dawson, great to have Tom around the place – a leader on the field with useful insight to support the captains
• Harry Hunter – an absolute stalwart on a Saturday and at training, some tremendous performances this year and I have no doubt he will continue to develop for next season
• Franky – for the way he leads to 2s in times when it has meant playing with 9 men and winning and the balance he strikes in giving everyone an opportunity to take part.
• Chris Marshall – superb at getting people involved on a Sunday and really helped us at the end of the season by leading the 2s.

Lots to work on in the down season – stay fit and keep your eye in! Very much looking forward to building further next season.

Dan Vickery – Club Captain

The Sunday Supplements

In previous years, Wisborough have had the odd Sunday game throughout the season. The games have always been enjoyable. They’ve given an opportunity to blood some colts into senior cricket, as well as a platform for those seniors not able to commit to regular league Saturdays.

This season we managed to fill the fixture card up with a game virtually every Sunday. The reality is that the British weather stole some of them, and we had to cancel others when we couldn’t raise a side. However, we did have some great Sunday games on the Green and nobody who played regretted it.

Chris Marshall and Richard Mellor shared the captaincy with each leading the side in different weeks. Picking a team involved seeing how many Dixons and how many Dawsons were available, and building the rest from there. Mick Holland was often quick with a “yes”, and Harry Hunter was always chomping at the bit to play. Others to don the Sunday whites were Richard Wilson, Eddie Ragg, Oscar Warmington, Charlie Maunder, Matt Watts and even the great Jonny Farmer. In an ideal world we’d get more 1st and 2nd XI regulars to use the Sunday as a chance to play into some form, but we all understand that committing to both days of the weekend is unlikely. Unless you’re Joshie.

Some great games – some we won, some we lost – but all we enjoyed. The highlight was Ran Dawson and Will Dixon’s run chase against Henfield. Needing two to win off the last ball, Will straight drove for 4. Experiences like that can only help our Saturday sides. We look forward to more of the same next season on Sundays on the Green – hopefully with a proper tea. It’s village cricket at it’s best.

Chris Marshall – Sunday Team joint Captain

Many thanks to Chris Marshall , our chief cameraman for capturing some great action shots this season

Colts

Colts Honours Boards

Congratulations to all the Colts who feature on the Honours board this year. The stats have been obtained from the Playcricket website and include Colts games only . A number of the Colts played in senior games, but the stats for those games are taken as part of Senior’s stats.

We recognose that the Playcricket stats for the Colts in particular are not perfect and not all games may have been recorded on the Playcricket website but they are the best records we have.

Under 14

A strong U14’s team are top of their league

The U14 came top of their league having played 8 matches and won 6 – a great performance by a team that knows each other well and enjoys playing cricket together. All the matches were truly team performances where everyone has had an opportunity to contribute, and everyone has contributed. It is a tribute to each member of the team who has regularly trained most Friday evenings and who has supported each other both on and off the field.

In the Junior Sussex Cricket Festival, the team played in the Bowl competition (strongest U14 sides in the County) and won 2 out of 4 matches – we should have beaten Horsham away and the following day played some extra-ordinary cricket to win against a strong Chichester Priory side. Crawley Eagles struggled against our probing bowling attack and then we were outclassed by the eventual winners (Preston Nomads).
Now for some impressive statistics:

The Batting:
• Ran Dawson scored 344 runs in 12 innings with a high score of 74 at an average of 38.22
• Oscar Warmington scored 246 runs in 10 innings with a high score of 69 not out at an average of 49.20
• William Dixon scored 149 runs in 11 innings with a high score of 42 at an average of 29.80
• Mathew Ritchie scored 137 runs in 10 innings with a high score of 39 at an average of 19.57
• Isaac Paisley scored 122 runs in 9 innings with a high score of 41 not out at an average of 30

The Bowling:
• William Dixon bowled 38.5 overs and took 15 wickets for 116 runs
• Mathew Ritchie bowled 33 overs and took 9 wickets for 140 runs
• Joseph Reed bowled 32 overs and took 7 wickets for 142 runs
• Oscar Warmington bowled 41 overs and took 6 wickets for 146 runs
• Fraser Williams bowled 10.5 overs and took 5 wickets for 73 runs
• Charlie Conway bowled 13 overs and took 5 wickets for 77 runs

The team fielding certainly improved over the course of the season with the understanding that by attacking the ball and keeping intensity up in the field you can put additional pressure on the batsmen and force errors. Many catching opportunities were taken and although we can further improve in this area it is great to see increasing confidence within the team under the high ball and when the ball is hit hard. Oscar Walmington topped the catching statistics with 7, followed by Ran Dawson (4), Will Dixon (3), Isaac Paisley (3) and Sam Williams behind the stumps with 2.

Each member of the team should be proud of their contribution to the 2021 season, and we look forward to more fun and excitement next season when we will be competing in the U16 league. Wishing you all a safe and enjoyable Winter.

Tarnie Dixon

Under 12

Our U12s did themselves proud again this season. We regularly had over 20 players at Friday night training sessions which light permitting often went on for 2 hours. I am especially grateful to Kami Naghdi, Wolfie Finger, Peter Klein and David McCullagh for assisting with the coaching, enabling us to split the group and rotate around the disciplines.

Annoyingly, the rain hampered the league, allowing only 4 out of 8 games to be played of which we won 2. A couple of friendlies in July were convincing victories for our boys and girls. We felt well prepared with a very strong squad going into the Sussex Junior Cricket Festival late July where we achieved two big victories and a loss with one game unable to be played due to Covid. The season finished on a winning high with a friendly One Hundred format game against Steyning which was as much of a challenge for the umpires as it was for the players! The 2022 season looks very bright for this crop of players.

Jon Finn

Under 9 and 10

After Covid meant that the 2020 summer was virtually a write off we were excited to welcome back the u9’s and u10’s to the green for Friday night cricket.

After several weeks of training the fixtures were underway. In both the U9 and U10 area leagues we were mid-table but competitive in each fixture, a handful of runs being the difference in several games.

By the end of the season it was a real pleasure to see all of our players had become more cricket savvy. An indicator of a good team is in how hard they work in the field with backing up, communication etc. This group really came on in this area supporting each other well and demonstrating a real understanding of the nuances of the game.

Well done to 9 of our U9’s/U10’s players playing in the U11’s Sussex Cricket Festival in August, a courageous achievement played with a hard ball against older and more experienced opposition. A week which will prepare them all well for next year.

A massive thank you to all the parents who helped by giving lifts and scoring/umpiring.

As the shadows lengthen we can look back on a season that was so enjoyable they will probably make a film about it. I wonder who would play the coaches and helpers…..?

Thanks to the following for making it all possible.

Tom Dawson (Jude Law)
Charlie Foden (Bruce Willis)
Shaun Rawlinson (Ben Affleck)
George Nicholls (Jason Statham)
Kirsty Dawson (Emily Blunt)
Wendy Maggs (Penelope Cruz)
Isabel Maggs (Arianna Grande)
Peter Klein (George Clooney)
Jon Finn (Richard Gere)

Looking forward to next summer,
Philip Maggs (probably played by Norman Wisdom)

Phil Maggs

Girls Cricket

It was been a great year for girls cricket at Wisborough Green, with a U15 and U13 girls section now training and competing.

Throughout the year the girls have been coached by Alan Smith with Steph Oland and Sophie Ragg supporting, honing in on the basics of the game.

We had our first-ever girls match in the history of the club on the green with our U13 girls playing Chiddingfold CC and we won! This was followed by our U11 girls playing Horsham which we also won.

The season was topped off by several of the girls going to watch England Ladies play New Zealand a the Sussex Ground in Hove which was a great source of inspiration.

In 2022 we have big plans including launching a U11 girls section, 2 cricket training camps, and more fixtures to get the girls teams used to applying what they have learnt in training within the game itself.

Alan Smith has confirmed he will be coaching the Girls Wisborough Cricket Team in 2022 which is great news.

Sarah Murer – Head of Girls Cricket