CTCC Review 2014
As usual in a cricket season the club has seen its fair share of ups and downs but overall we should be delighted how the season has turned out.
We have sent out 5 teams each weekend, 3 of the teams have finished in the top 4 of their respective divisons, the 1st XI coming within 5 points of winning division 1 of the Two Counties league, the Sunday 2nd XI getting promoted from Div 5 of the Piri Piri NECL, the Sat 3rd XI finishing fourth after challenging for promotion most of the season , the Saturday 2S rallied to finish comfortably mid table and although the Sunday 1s struggled they did introduce some younger players to a very high standard of Sunday Cricket.
The 3s bounced back from a start of 5 consecutive losses by going on a run of 9 wins in the next 10 matches which included bowling out Maldon for 40, Copford for 38 and Boxted for 60. This run put them in a promotion challenging place for much of the season and although the 4th place finish may seem disappointing Bens boys should be rightly proud of their season.
I think its fair to say that the bowlers underpinned the performance in 2014 and that is more impressive given the young age of the core bowlers. Paul (Senior Pro) Brown led the way with 15 wickets at 14 and a best of 3 for 4! Abley supported by Sam Docherty with a bowling average of 9.83, Rory Miller with 19 wickets at just 18 and a best of 3 for 2, Lorcan McCabe chipping in with 5 wickets at 27 just pipping the Senior McCabe Donal who averaged 31.33. Special mention should go to Mark Butler for his 6 for 9, Charlie Gibson’s 5 for 14 and Sam Docherty’s 5-17.
The grey haired made more of a contribution with the bat. Alex “the knees” Wickens averaged 34 with a hi score of 81, Richard Grey Averaged 26 with a top score of 40 and Kane Addison for the “inbetweeners”averaged 26 with a top score of 29. John Blackwell continue to roll back the years with some fine hitting especially at EAG and Senior Gibson sneaked in with a cheeky 53 average when the hard work had been done.
Captain Ben should be rightly proud of the way his team have performed, the development of the youth, the team spirit and his own 213 runs at average of 19 with a top score of 47!
With his usual blend of enthusiasm and immaculate organisation (!!) Barry Edwards led the 2nd XI in a very tough Two Counties division 3 and the fact that they finished mid table is a testament to the Captain and his team. Barry began the season captaining mostly from a different country as his playboy lifestyle took him around the globe but the safe hands of Craig Lesiak meant the team was well drilled even if there were no teas! Craig finished the season with an average of 35 and a top score of 120, putting him in the league top 20. His support came from 2s stalwarts Sam Blackwell averaging 28 top score 64, Darren Green 28 with a top score of 98*, Jack Simons 25 top score 67 and Charlie Green 25 top score 55. Additionally Adam Robinson chipped in with welcome runs including 3 60S and a 50 last weekend.
Barry himself chipped in with valuable runs including 43 against Needham Market. The fighting spirit of the 2s means they live to fight another day in Division 3 in 2015.

The 1st XI under new captain George Blackwell have had a tremendous season and only missed out on the league title by the smallest of margins. With the bat Dane Cleaver scored over 1000 runs at an average of 54 a top score of 119 and 3 other centuries, Byron Ovenstone averaged 34 with a top score of 97 and 5 other half centuries, Oliver Blackwell averaged 27 with atop score of 86* (taking the family honours in 2014!) Rob Jagger, Will Blackwell, Rob Cross and Jimmy Rees all averaged in the 20s with respective top scores of 85, 78*, 33 and 70. Clearly showing the strength in depth of this side.
For the bowlers Dale Bailey led the way with 42 wickets at 15.8 putting him 6th in the League wicket taking list closely followed by Captain George on 40 at 16 putting him 9th the top wicket takers list. They were supported by Rob Jagger with 16 at a miserly 12, Will Blackwell with 25 at 23 Carl Bragg with 19 at 27, Rob Cross 13 wickets at 29 and Lloyd Edwards with 11 at 30.
George would no doubt like to thank Alan Butcher for his help this season and wish him well in his recuperation.
On Sundays, our 2nd team “the ginger Juggernaught” were led by no less than 3 captains throughout the season Chris and Jonny Girling and Tom Pickles who all continued the development of the CTCC youth policy by playing mainly players who had come through the CTCC colts section in the majority of matches and they had no regrets as after playing 11 they won 9 and we hope will be rewarded with promotion to Div 4.
Tommy Pickles had a fine season scoring 3 hundreds and averaging 65 with a top score of 179! Support came from all-rounder Adam Egg averaging 39 and a top score of 51*, Charlie Green averaging 31 with a top score of 73* and Ryan Parker 31 and 74*.
The Div 5 league bowling averages look interesting for CTCC as right near the top of the averages are 3 of our young players ! U13 Jonjo McCabe played 4 matches took 7 wickets at an average of 4 and a best of 4 for 8, Kane Addison took 5 wickets at an average of 7.4 and Louis Gibson who played 5 matches took 7 wickets at 9.5 and a best of 3 for 9. Yet credit must go to the guys who did a lot of the hard work Adam Egg, Ryan Parker , Kane Addison, Tom Pickles, Jonny Girling, Glen Shuter, Rory Miller Andy Fairhurst and Fergus Wishart who allowed the (really) young ‘uns to shine.
The Captains and the whole team should be proud of the way they have integrated the young colts in to senior league cricket allowing them to show their skills and gain experience whilst the team as whole challenged for the title.
A final mention for this team must go the slightly older colts who donned their whites thanks to the persuasive powers of the Girling twins, Steve Plampin, Paul Green, Patrick Girling, and Donal McCabe.
The Sunday 1st team experienced the hi’s and lo’s this season as they started off strongly but unfortunately faded as the season drew to a close. Playing 2 games a weekend at 1st Div/premier level is a huge ask and one which will be addressed in 2015. The batting highlights of the season were again Dane’s 480 runs at an average of 68, supported by Chris Girling averaging 40, Rob Cross averaging 31. The bowlers were led by Dale Baileys 9 wickets at an average of 33 and a best of 3 for 33, followed by Rob Cross with a best of 3-35 and an average of 29. The younger element did step up and Lorcan and Jonjo McCabe, Rory Miller and Kane Addison all chipped in with wickets.
Overall there is much to celebrate at the club we should all be rightly proud of our successes this year.