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2019 Senior Award Winners

2019 Senior Award Winners

Dave Brown21 Oct 2019 - 08:59
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The red carpet was rolled out...

… somewhere else! There was no gourmet banquet, no posh frocks and tuxedos, but there was Pizza, beer and a screening of the film, The Edge. On Saturday the Senior Awards evening was held at the club.
Awards are about rewarding and celebrating individual achievements, but there is also the opportunity to recognise and celebrate collective success. 2019 has been a huge success for Chenies & Latimer with the 1st XI winning the league, the 2nd XI consolidating their place in division 8 after winning promotion last year, and the re-invigoration of Sunday cricket. The awards spotlight the individuals who have enjoyed exceptional seasons, but the contribution from every player (each run, each wicket, each catch, each sliding stop to prevent a boundary) and administrator (each fixture organised, each pitch prepared, each tea served, each pint pulled, each £ of revenue collected) is no less important just because it is not mentioned below.
As previously announced, the 2nd XI were placed 3rd out of 173 Thames Valley League teams in the fair play rankings. At the beginning of the awards ceremony all those who had represented the Saturday 2nd XI this season were asked to stand so that they could be recognised and acknowledged for this superb accomplishment.

The 2019 award winners:

The Gordon McLean Trophy for the 1st XI Player of the Year
Harry Dahiya won this award in 2018 and he was a strong candidate this term with 432 runs at an average of 54. Charlie Anderson also put forward a strong case with 408 runs at 51 including a century. But for 37 wickets in the league the 1st XI player of the year for 2019 is Dave Brown. Dave has also picked up the leading bowler of the division award from the league.

The Russell Simmons Cup for 1st XI Performance of the Year
On the bowling front there were 5 wicket hauls from Dave Brown (twice) and Roger Vessey. In the batting department Charlie Anderson scored 130 versus Wooburn and, having been promoted to the 1s half way through the season, Alex Martin settled into the higher level quickly, scoring centuries in his 2nd and 3rd matches for the 1st XI; 118 at Datchet and 101* versus Wooburn. As a result he is duly awarded the 1st XI Performance of the Year award for 2019.

The Peter Hubble Cup for 2nd XI Player of the Year
The 2nd XI awards encapsulate performances for both the Saturday 2nd XI and the Sunday / Friendly XI. There were 2 strong contenders for player of the year; Mike Pickard who scored 1000 runs (473 on Saturday and 527 on Sundays) at an average of 45.5 and including 2 centuries and 6 fifties. He also scored 120 runs for the 1st XI. The second contender is Alex Walker who took 41 wickets (21 on Saturdays and 20 on Sundays) at an average of 13.8 and including 2 five wicket hauls. His excellent performances saw him promoted to the 1st XI for the last 3 league matches where he picked up 1 more wicket.
1000 runs in a season is no mean feat and therefore the 2nd XI Player of the Year for 2019 is Mike Pickard.

The Derrick Mead Cup for 2nd XI Performance of the Year
There were many contenders for this award: Alex Martin for his 92* versus High Wycombe and 96* versus NPL, Ian Gilmour for his 5-32 vs Cookham Dean, Alex Walker who had 2 5 wicket hauls but his 4-32 vs Beaconsfield was his best performance and Emily Brown for her 4-45 vs Hayes.
The magnitude of the innings and the difficulty and ultimate success of the run chase means that for his 96* versus NPL, the 2nd XI Performance of the Year award for 2019 goes to Alex Martin. Alex is off to New Zealand next week to enjoy a southern hemisphere summer of cricket. Good luck Alex and we look forward to hearing all about it.

The Les Monk Founders Cup for a colt showing early promise in Adult Cricket
Contenders for this award were Youie Nichols and Emily Brown. Youie has had a very promising first year behind the stumps, establishing herself as the first choice 2s wicketkeeper and showing batting potential, especially when guiding the lower middle order through a successful run chase in the late season friendly vs Northwood. After playing a couple of matches at the end of last season, Emily played 20 matches this year and has cemented her place in the Saturday 2nd XI opening the bowling. She took 26 wickets (17 on Saturdays and 9 on Sundays) at an average of 20.7.
John Moffit says “this was without doubt one of the best first seasons I’ve ever seen” and awards the Les Monk Founders Cup to Emily Brown.

The Pat Andrews Endeavour Cup for the Most Improved Player
A long list of candidates for this award includes Luke Marsden, Shan Patel, Alex Walker, Emily Brown and Youie Nichols. The award goes to a bowler who has worked hard to improve his accuracy while maintaining his pace. The hard work is paying off and he picked up 15 wickets over the season, most of them in the 2nd half as his accuracy developed. The Most Improved player for 2019 is Shan Patel.

The Alan Rance Trophy for the best performance by a Colt in Adult Cricket
In 2019 colts have not just exhibited enthusiasm for playing senior cricket, but they have stood up to be counted with fantastic performances. This has been a tremendous success for the club and especially for John Campbell and the Colts Section coaches and managers. It is also a credit to the skippers Mike Pickard, John Moffit and Roger Vessey who have been willing to introduce the youngsters into their teams and challenge them to perform. The list of performances is very long but the most notable are:
Alex Walker – two 5 fors plus his 4-32 versus Beaconsfield mentioned above
Emily Brown – 4-45 versus Hayes
Mattie Brown – his maiden half century, 56 versus Northdown
Plus 2 ‘partnership’ performances where both contributors were colts:
Mattie Brown and Alex Walker’s batting partnership of 71 for the 8th wicket versus Northdown.
Alex Walker and Emily Brown’s opening bowling partnership vs NPL which reduced NPL to 34-5 off 12 overs. Emily also came back at the end of the innings to take her 3rd wicket which meant that their combined return was 6-37.
Awards are about celebrating individual achievements, but cricket matches cannot be won by individuals acting alone, and being able to celebrate partnerships of this nature, especially from colts is a reminder to us of the importance of the team ethic on the cricket field.
These 2 partnership performances were both deserving of the award but one had to be chosen and after much debate the decision was to award the best performance by a colt in senior cricket to Alex Walker and Emily Brown.

Congratulations to all the award winners and to all those who pushed the winners so close.

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