|
Rowlands enjoyed their season playing in the North-East Mid-Week Cricket League and successfully secured a hat-trick of League Championship wins. Indeed this was their fifth title in six seasons. Thanks to a good network of contacts, a huge squad (28 batsmen and 24 bowlers) was able to be called upon to fulfil all the League and Cup fixtures on the demanding variety of nights, especially the unpopular Fridays selected by certain teams!
Of 14 games played, 11 were won and one was abandoned due to rain when a winning position against the Civil Service had been secured. Rowlands progressed to the semi-finals in the Cup competition but, as per the previous season, were defeated by YAARS on the slippery slope at Benwell and Walbottle! Rowlands also took part in, and won, a six-a-side competition at Blagdon, organised by Macmillan Cancer Support. Match reports and the squad statistics can be found on this website ! Home games were played at Tynemouth Cricket Club.
As ever, there was a good balance between commanding batting performances and splendid bowling backed by keen fielding. Top of the batting this season was Matt Hynd with the ridiculous average of 197 from his four innings which included three not outs and a career best for the Rowlands team of 84 not out. Matt now has amassed a total of 3370 runs at an average of 44.9 for the team (formerly BSRA and BMT before Alan Hynd came to the rescue as the shipbuilding demise engulfed the North-East). James Davidson top scored with 406 runs at an average of precisely 58. Other significant contributors with the bat were Ross McLaren 195 runs at 97.5, Roy Haygarth 165 at 20.6, James Welch 139 at 46.3 and Lewis Bruce 118 at 19.7. Shaun Collins had a relatively quiet season owing to family commitments but it was good to be able to welcome back Keith Brown and Sunil Malhotra after several seasons’ absence. Alan Hynd often played and skippered well but held himself back in the batting order for the disaster collapse that never really occurred this season.
In the field there were rarely any gaps but several of the ‘more experienced’ players often needed to be found convenient, strategic fielding locations to allow the younger members to gain such experience with the use of their fresher legs! A good number of catches were taken, with Ross McLaren claiming 4 and Matt Hynd 7. Matt tops the all-time victims list with 91 catches and stumpings for the team; Paul Rushworth has 50, Alan Hynd 34 and Don Catley 28 having just moved ahead of Colin Thornton. There were some classic quick run outs, mainly involving James Davidson, Matt Hynd and Shaun Collins who is clear leader in the Man of the Match stakes with a grand total of 36 nominations. This season James Davidson won 5 nominations to bring him to 14 but he needs to get more seasons in for Rowlands!
As for the bowling, the evergreen Don Catley took 31 wickets at an average of 10.3, including a 4-6 haul off 4 overs to take his all-time haul to 568 wickets at 12.9, exactly 400 wickets ahead of the nearest contender! Next best wicket taker in 2007 was new recruit James Morris with 16 wickets at an average of 13.2. Keith Brown took 9 at 9.33 and Dave Charlton, Jon McCreddie and Chad Koen each took 8 wickets. Guy Saxton turned up once for his typical 3-4 off a mean 4 overs spell and Shaun only managed 4 wickets from 8 overs at 15.3 with an injured shoulder. Dave Charlton was recovering from a badly broken finger and now has 97 wickets for the team.
The team continue to regroup and are looking forward to the 2008 season where several new benchmarks can be achieved.
Don Catley,
Secretary
|
