2014 2014
Review
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Overall, 2014 wasn't one of our most memorable seasons. Apart from the Saturday 1st XI, team performances and results weren't quite as pleasing as recent years - largely because a good many of our players chose the same season in which to perform a little below their best! That said, there were a number of notable exceptions and we all know that everyone will be back to form next season.
8 batsmen clean-bowled
In the 5th XI's SNEL match against Stanford-le-Hope on 31st May, we batted first and were dismissed for a paltry 89. But after tea, our bowlers showed that aiming at the stumps can produce dividends - we clean-bowled 8 of the S-l-H batsmen(and 1 lbw) to dismiss them for 74 and win by 15 runs. Excellent.
Mr and Mrs Scorers - twice
In the 1st XI's home and away SNEL matches against Orsett on 14th June and 7th September, Pat Stephenson (Belhus) and husband Mike Stephenson (Orsett) became the first official husband and wife scorers in a Belhus match. Thank you.
14 for 5 - but then we won!
Batting first in the SNEL match against Old Southendian & Southchurch, our 5th XI were soon in dire trouble at 14 for 5. But then Amit Gohil (48) and Josh Reynolds (30)
shared in a great 6th wicket partnership of 81 to help take our total
to to a respectable 110 all out. After tea, only Seam Miller (15) of
the OSS batsmen managed to reach double figures as we dismissed OSS for
just 57 - of which 31 were contributed by 'Mr Extras'. Well played
Belhus.
Golden ducks for brothers
In the Saturday 2nd XI's SNEL match against Hutton on 19th July, brothers Ryan and Mathew Lucas were both dismissed for 'golden ducks' - helping Hutton's Graham Spooner to a hat trick in the process. Nice.
Two hat tricks in the match
The 1st XI's match against Westcliff-on-Sea on 21st June was both exciting and historical. Joe Joyce clocked up his fifth century of the season as we posted a competitive 262 all out.
Westcliff's David Bullen took a hat trick when he clean-bowled Gary Sanderson to achieve the feat. In their run-chase, Westcliff were well up with the clock until Gary Sanderson was brought into the attack and he finished off the match with a hat trick to bowl out WoS for 257 - enjoying sweet revenge for his earlier golden duck. And we won by 5 runs. A day Gary will not forget. Superb.
Gary Sanderson
Record highest losing total batting second
In the 1st XI's 50/50 SNEL match against Leigh-on-Sea on 5th July, Leigh posted a challenging total of 285. After tea, we made a tremendous attempt at the run-chase, but fell just 11 runs short of our target - our 274 being a new club record
highest losing score when batting second. A great effort.
4 batsmen scored fifties
In the Norfolk tour match against Norwich on 9th July, four of our batsmen scored a fifty - Roy Heffernan (66), Charlie Lewis (61), Danny Joyce (57) and Michael Fogg (55) - only the fifth such instance in the club's history. Batting first,we racked up a total of 328 but we only just won - by 3 runs - as Norwich replied with 325. Phew!
46 wides in the innings
In the 1st XI's SNEL match against Hornchurch on 28th June, we bowled 46 wides (thought to be a club record) out of a total of 54 extras and Hornchurch raced to 288 for 8 declared. We lost.
Record number of centuries
A total of 18 centuries were registered in the 2014 season and Joe Joyce stroked 9 of them - a new club record for most centuries in a season. His season started with 115 against Chingford (using his own bat), then 61 against Wickford (using Wayne Read's bat) and then 100 (using Martin Guilbert's bat). Joe
scored a total of 1,753 runs in 34 innings - but he also fell to two 'golden ducks' which makes we lesser mortals feel a whole lot better! Well played Joe.
Three pairs of brothers
In the Sunday 2nd XI match against Chigwell & Hainault, three pairs of brothers were in our team - Ryan & Mathew Lucas, George & Billy Maidment, Andrew & Matthew Williams.
Record winning run-chase
Gidea Park & Romford batted first in the SNEL
match against our 1st XI on 2nd August at North Stifford. Alan Croft
struck a fine century and GPR posted an innings total of 290. For tea, Ron Norris produced some spicy vegetable samosas which must surely have helped all of our batsmen to reach double figures, including a fine 119 from skipper Danny Joyce. And we chased down the runs with just 3 balls to spare - a new club record winning run-chase. Marvellous.
Last ball defeat
Southend-on-Sea & EMT scored a very respectable total of 234 against our 5th XI in their SNEL match on 19th July - although they were helped by 48 from 'Mr Extras'. In our run-chase, we didn't get off to a particularly good start, but middle-order batsmen Richard Day (55) and son Ewan Day (33) pulled the match around. And we batted through 42 overs as the consistent and reliable Don East (our 5th XI Player of the Year) was left to face the last ball of the match - with a draw looking certain. But, unhappily, Don played on. It's a funny old game.
Ladies debut in SNEL matches
Jackie Norris and Tracy Sloan (5th XI v Stanford-le-Hope on 23rd August) and Charlotte Hodges (5th XI v Hutton on 30th August) made their senior team debuts in 2014. Excellent.
Three generations in the same match
Believed to be the first occasion in the club's history, three generations of the same family played in the same match - Cliff, John and Zak Wilson - for the 5th XI against Hainault & Clayhall on 26th July. Wonderful.
New record 1st wicket partnership
Nick Marns and Martin Guilbert had held the record 1st wicket partnership of 249 since 2004. But this was broken by Joe Joyce (162*) and Ryan Wells (120) when they posted 251 against Waltham on 14th September. Magnificent.
2 '5fors' in an innings
It is rare for two bowlers to take 5 wickets apiece in an innings. But Amit Gohil (5 for 34) and Terry Squires (5 for 89) did just that - for the 4th XI against Basildon & Pitsea on 16th August. Unfortunately we lost.
No extras
Despite a few matches during the season where we conceded far too many 'extras', in the 3rd XI's SNEL match against Hutton on 23rd August, not a single extra was conceded in the Hutton innings of 163 (32 overs). Fantastic.
19 bowlers used in the match
Skipper Ryan Lucas
booked a coach to take the team to our Sunday 2nd XI away match against
Southgate Adelaide on 17th August. And the relaxing journey proved to
the liking of our batsmen - we racked up a total of 263 for 8 including a
fine 118 from Chris Didd as SA used 11 bowlers.
After tea, our hosts made a good stab at the run-chase - but they
closed on 198 for 9 after their 40 overs and we won by 65 runs
after using 8 bowlers.19 bowlers in a match is believed to be a club record.
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'Player of the Year' Awards
Saturday 1st XI - Dan Norris
Saturday 2nd XI - John Lewis Jr
Saturday 3rd XI - Suhail Shahid
Saturday 4th XI - Braydon Scarlett
Saturday 5th XI - Don East
Ladies Section - Rhiannan Jefferies
Sunday 1st XI - Joe Joyce
Sunday 2nd XI - Matthew Williams
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Youth 'Player of the Year' Awards
Under 9s - Lewis Blake
Under 11s 'A' - Sam George
Under 11s 'B' - George Bonner
Under 13s 'A' - Ben Garwood
Under 13s 'B' - Zak Tsouroulla
Under 15s 'A' - Sheraz Shahid
Under 15s 'B' - Eathan Morris
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In the Shepherd Neame Essex League, our 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th XIs finished 8th, 8th, 8th and 9th respectively. But our 1st XI, under the leadership Danny Joyce, finished a very respectable 4th - missing promotion by a whisker when just needing to win their last match of the season.
Our first season in the Premier Division of the Essex Sunday League
saw us finish 6th, and our other Saturday and Sunday friendly matches
saw us produce some fine but largely mediocre performances - a
frustrating lack of consistency.
Our bowlers
As in 2013, only one bowler managed to take more than 50 wickets - Dan Norris - with a final tally of 55 wickets at an average of 18.96 and an economy rate of 3.85. He was the 3rd highest wicket-taker in SNEL (1st XIs Division 2) with 38 wickets @ 17.37and Connor Day was the 4th highest wicket-taker with 34 wickets @ 20.62. Fine performances.
Across all of our XIs, our leading wickets-takers in SNEL league matches were;
Dan Norris (38), Connor Day (34), Amit Gohil (28), Alan Maidment (26), Imran Mohammed (24), Sheraz Shahid (24), Ben Garwood (21), Jim Banner (20).
The best bowling returns in SNEL for each of our XIs were:
1st XI - Dan Norris - 7 for 30 v Orsett
2nd XI - Keith Dhannie - 6 for 28 v Stanford-le-Hope
3rd XI - Alan Maidment - 5 for 16 v South Woodford
4th XI - Amit Gohil - 6 for 59 v Stanford-le-Hope
5th XI - Jack Martin-Hussey - 5 for 25 v Hutton
In all matches in 2014, bowlers who took 25 wickets or more were:
Dan Norris (55 wickets, 18.96 average, 3.85 economy)
Connor Day (43 wickets, 22.26 average, 4.35 economy)
Jim Banner (42 wickets, 21.02 average, 4.27 economy)
Matthew Williams (33 wickets, 25.94 average, 4.98 economy)
Alan Maidment (32 wickets, 19.06 average, 3.63 economy)
Sheraz Shahid (30 wickets, 33.47 average, 5.08 economy)
Amit Gohil (28 wickets, 16.75 average, 3.51 economy)
Joe Joyce (28 wickets, 25.68 average, 5.17 economy)
Jack Plane (26 wickets, 13.27 average, 3.59 economy)
Imran Mohammed (25 wickets, 23.72 average, 3.76 economy)
A total of 18 '5fors' were returned in 2014 (18 also in 2013, and 19 in 2012).
Our batsmen
Joe Joyce (for the fifth successive season) was the club's leading run-scorer with a total 1,753 runs at an average of 56.55 from 34 innings. He was also the leading run-scorer in SNEL (1st XIs Division 2) and the 3rd highest run-scorer out of all of the batsmen in the 39 clubs in SNEL. Magnificent. And John Lewis Jr was second highest run-scorer in SNEL (2nd XIs Division 2).
Across all of our XIs, our leading run-scorers in SNEL league matches were: Joe Joyce (881), John Lewis Jr (722), Danny Joyce (699), Jake Wolfe (422), Suhal Shahid (346), Jim Banner (322), Mark Sansom (315).
The highest individual scores for each of our XIs in SNEL were:
1st XI - Joe Joyce - 123 v Westcliff-on-Sea CC
2nd XI - John Lewis Jr - 150* v Ardleigh Green CC
3rd XI - Jake Wolfe - 146 v South Woodford CC
4th XI - Peter Clark - 103* v Loughton CC
5th XI - John Wilson - 63* v Hutton CC
Joe Joyce
In all matches in 2014, those who scored more than 500 runs were:
Joe Joyce (1,753 runs, 34 innings, average 56.55)
Danny Joyce (1,272 runs, 39 innings, average 39.75)
Wayne Read (873 runs, 36 innings, average 26.45)
Roy Heffernan (800 runs, 35 innings, average 25.81)
John Lewis Jr (760 runs, 19 innings, average 44.71)
Jim Banner (610 runs, 29 innings, average 22.59)
Michael Fogg (534 runs, 25 innings, average 23.22)
The season's highest score was 162*- registered by Joe Joyce for the Sunday 1st XI against Waltham on 14th September. A total of 18 centuries were recorded (20 in 2013 and 18 in 2012), 9 of which were scored by JJ. John Lewis Jr (150* for the 2nd XI v Ardleigh Green on 28th June ) and Jake Wolfe (146 for the 3rd XI v South Woodford on 28th June ) scored their highest centuries for the club, and Charlie Lewis scored his maiden century for the club with 113 v Lowestoft Town on 9th July. Three maiden fifties were posted in senior matches in 2014 - by Jack Plane with his 56* for the 3rd XI against Stanford-le-Hope on 17th May, by Lee Benson with 58 for the Sunday 2nd XI v Mount on 1st June and by Ben Garwood with 54 for the 5th XI against Stanford-le-Hope on 16th August.
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The 90s Club
Only 3 additions were made to The 90s Club in 2014 - and all were registered by Wayne Read with scores of 90, 91 and 92!
The Hat Trick Club
One hat trick was registered in 2014 - by Gary Sanderson (in his first season with the club) in his 4 for 38 in the exciting 1st XI SNEL match against Westcliff-on-Sea on 21st June (see below).
9 outfield catches
No less than 9 catches were taken by 1st XI fielders in their SNEL League Cup match against West Essex on 26th April. Unusually, not one catch was taken by the wicketkeeper. But 9 catches is not a club record - this was set by the 1st XI on
5th September 1976 against Chadwell Heath when 10 were taken.
3/4 catches in an innings
Our
batting and bowling feats in 2014 might not have been on a par with
recent years, but we certainly held a good number of catches. Those who
took 3 or 4 catches in an innings were:
Wayne Read - 3 - 1st XI v West Essex on 26th April
Roy Heffernan - 3 - Midweek XI v Old Victorians on 14th May
Amit Gohil - 3 - 5th XI v Chingford on 7th July
Lee Ranson - 3 - 5th XI v Wickford on 12th July
Wayne Read - 3 - 2nd XI v Stanford-le-Hope on 26th July
Michael Fogg - 3 - 1st XI v Horndon-on-the Hill on 26th July
Joe Joyce - 4 - 1st XI v West Essex on 26th April
Chris Baker - 4 - 2nd XI v Downham & Bellingham on 3rd May
Michael Fogg - 4 - 1st XI v West Essex on 24th May
Paul Bennett - 4 - 1st XI v Waltham on 14th September
And in all matches, Wayne Read took most catches in the season - 26.
Club Member of the Year
Peter Bright
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