As a club Staines and Laleham had a largely successful season the only real detractor being the relegation of the 2nd XI from the Surrey Championship. The club rarely struggled to field 4 League sides and on a couple of occasions managed to raise a 5th XI which was a fantastic achievement.
The 1st finally finished 6th and whilst it wasn’t always a forgone conclusion that they would remain in the Division proved that over 18 games they had the quality and team spirit to do just that. The successes were built on team performances although one or two did stand out. The little maestro Susant Kumar returned a fine all round season with 411 runs and 18 wickets, quite an achievement for a guy that started at Staines a couple of seasons ago in the 4th XI! Skipper Adam Smith and mercurial Chris Bolton both weighed in with over 300 with all-rounder Karun Jethi, Aussie Jack Agnew and Matt Begg also contributing throughout the season. Karun added 25 league wickets but the outstanding performance with the ball was from Ciaran “Doggy” Dunne who matured into a genuine 1st Team opening bowler with 33 league wickets. A success story for a true Staines and Laleham home grown player. The spirit in the side is great and they play as a team of mates. Long may it continue. For the 2nd XI it was disappointment. In an extremely tight Division they couldn’t win when they really needed to and so it’s back to the Fullers League in 2018. It was an unsettled season with skipper Mitun Patel moving out of the area, vice-captain Andy Hall suffering a serious double break to his leg following a freak accident meaning that the side had more than one stand in captain. Hard hitting “Shani” Mehran, a new member to the club, was a highlight recording 377 league runs. He was well supported by the evergreen all-rounder Peter “Saint” Roberts with 356. Another new member Harmanpret Brar was the star with the ball and he’ll see plenty of 1st XI action in 2018 all being well. The aim will of course be promotion back to the Championship but it won’t be easy! A good season for the 3rd XI, saw them finish third. Notable highlights come through David Gyves (29) for his Bowling and Ben Nannery with both bat (244) and ball (26). A few wash outs and a couple of weeks where the club found itself short of players probably being the difference between a fight for top place! A notable couple of games from the season were the win against Egham at the start of the season which saw Ghulam Mallah hit 103* with the bat and 9-3-30-2 with the ball. The other being the win against Chertsey which saw the 3s prevail with an over to spare! Plenty to build on going into next season which hopes to be another promotion push and continued growth as a club. The 4th XI had one of their best seasons finishing 4th. An influx of players meant there was some consistency of selection a massive contributing factor. Skipper Gary Bonnick led tirelessly and he deserves huge credit. Gary made 298 league runs and he was well supported by Dasgupta (298) and Shashi Padi (289) both of which will undoubtedly see action higher up the club in future seasons. Captain elect Nathan Sheldrake led the way with the ball (14) and 2018 promises to be a great season.
In closing a huge thankyou to the League and its officials, to the club captains for their hard work, Jane for her tea time tit bits, Chris Notton for the improving ground and finally everyone that turned out for Staines and Laleham making it a club to be proud of.