Season 2007 Reflections

[Mr Belly]

Well another season over. Where did it go?
Mixed fortunes for our teams this year - and still to learn the fate of the Threes

Anyway, an opportunity for us to reflect on the good, the bad and the downright plain ugly this year. Your thoughts on things we do well, things we could do better as a Club, new things we should do, general ideas, suggestions whatever!
Thick-skinned as we all are, try to avoid personal style attacks or slagging though!

[monty]

First of all, a big thank you to all those who put effort into arranging and managing the club on and off the field. Clubs like ours are always indebted to a relative few. Great job by the Saturday, Sunday and Midweek skippers, Elsec, Suporting P & VPs and others (perhaps even the Treasurer!).
I play cricket to win, enjoy the sunshine (?), have a bit of a laugh, minimise the annual rate of waistline growth and just a wee bit of competition. Apart from the sunshine there was a bit of all of the rest - though thanks to the weather not as much as I would have liked.

Having had the pleasure of playing 1s and latterly 2s I could not help be struck by the difference in belief in the sides (on and off the field). Old cliches and adages about winning and confidence no doubt apply but perhaps we need to think what we can do (apart from winning!) to get ourselves mentally tougher when things ain't going so well. Without getting too clever for Div 5 or whatever, maybe we need to have a plan for when things go pear-shaped in the field in particular.

It was noticeable that there were more regular 1s players at summer nets than the other teams most of the time. Did this have an impact?

I agree with other points about fielding practice rather than just catching practice - and we could even do with addressing running. Ignoring the fact that some can run faster than others - the lack of backing-up by non-strikers, standing admiring lofter shots which plug in the outfield, blind turning and lack of calling cost runs in every match I played in this year. These are basic things we can sort out relatively easily.

Good to have so much new blood this year both in terms of results and competition but also just to watch Ben, RAM, Sumi and others in flow. Also great to be able to replace Rich and Akshay. Not supposed to single out players in team but I rarely saw Mel bowl a bad ball, far less a poor over. Great season - well done.

In terms of the club - in some ways I feel the 2s have it hardest - players are probably more in and out of that side than the others as they go both ways. It is definitely the hardest to captain. Next season it will be important for the whole club to get 2nd XI back up and if we can keep this year's players overall, that should be possible.

I did not see anything of the 3s as a side but the impression is that it was overall stronger than some other seasons and did not get the breaks they might have had but it certainly had spirit.

I am sure the fragmented nature of the season was not great for anyone so here's hoping for a better one next year - I can't wait already!

After 26 seasons (and this was one of my worst with the bat!) at MUFs and its predecessors, I still prefer to be teamed with you lot than any others - despite the tin shack, broken fingers from legside rubbish, half-volley throw-ins and dodgy track, knackered knees from legside rubbish and dodgy track! Up the MUFS!