Great Melton Cricket Club

1 week ago

The conditions were perfect - a lovely sunny September afternoon in the beautiful setting of Melton Park - as the curtain came down on the 2019 season with the club's annual President's match. Two teams of club players did battle for the Robert Phoenix trophy with President, Nick Evans-Lombe's XI triumphing over the Club XI by 20 runs.

Chairman Steve Phoenix, captaining the President's side, had no hesitation in electing to bat first on winning the toss and Jonathan Ellse and Lohit Kannan gave them the perfect start with an opening partnership of 71, broken when Lohit was caught by Matt Clarke off Martin Alcock's bowling for 27. Ellse, the club's leading run-scorer went on the score yet another 50 before retiring but Chris Greenslade (25) and Sam Mann (43) continued to pile on the runs. Nick Evans-Lombe contributed a good unbeaten 27 and Kyle Weston a quick 18 as the score moved to 215-4 after the allotted 35 overs. Aslam Mohammed conceded just 14 runs from his 5 overs and Joey Greenslade 18 from his 5 with a wicket apiece for Alcock, Josh Wright, James McCloy and Oli Leinster.

The Club Team's reply reached 41 before Oli Leinster was dismissed for 9 but Clive Gristwood threw off his normal caution, playing strokes with gay abandon all round the ground. When he retired having reached a first 50 he deservedly received the loudest applause of the afternoon. Club Team skipper Matt Clarke also scored a half-century but the middle and lower order made only single figure contributions as the run-rate increased. Aslam, coming in at 11, tried manfully to rescue a lost cause with a powerful 34 not out but a run-rate of 10 an over proved too much. Chris Greenslade was the pick of the bowlers with 3-17 with Lohit (1-18), Kyle Weston (1-4), Phoenix (1-22), Ellse (1-17) and 2 run outs leaving the Club XI on 195-9. Liam Stevens bowled a good 5 overs, conceding just 22 while young Sam Davey did very well behind the stumps. It was not a great day for the President's XI fielders, however, as 9 catches went down!

An excellent tea, with contributions by the players, a few beers and a chance to watch the second half of Norwich's brilliant win over Manchester City on Matt Clarke's iPhone made it a perfect day! ... See MoreSee Less

Great Melton Cricket Club

2 weeks ago

The annual Junior Festival once again provided a fitting climax to another successful junior season for Great Melton with 68 youngsters enjoying a final opportunity to show their skills. Although a torrential downpour delayed the start of the U11 Tournament, it didn’t dampen enthusiasm and a good number of spectators braved the chilly conditions to watch 4 teams drawn from the U11s & U9s groups do battle for the Eddie Symonds Junior Trophy. James Alcock’s ‘Jaguars’ team of Katie Smith, Josh Francis, Sammy Belderson, Hope Buxton, Fletcher James, Arlo Leeder, Archie McKay, Will Joyner and Jenny Moore beat George’s Gazelles and Blades Bears to be crowned champions with James himself voted Player-of-the-Tournament.

In the afternoon Cassie Mawby’s ‘Crusaders’: Charlie Green, Liam Stevens, Sam Davey, Harrison Cunningham, Alice Brand & Joel Ruiters triumphed over Oli’s Outlaws with Charlie winning the Player of the Tournament Trophy. It was good to see camaraderie between players of both sexes and a variety of ages in this tournament which was competitive but not taken too seriously and played in a great spirit.

Between the two tournaments Norfolk Cricket Development Officer, Kevin Denmark, hot-footed it from Swardeston to present the annual awards. Chairman Steve Phoenix congratulated all the youngsters on another good summer which saw the U9s reach the John Dewing Final, the U13s and the U11s reach the Alliance Semi-Final, the U15s win the South Norfolk Community ‘Green’ League and the U11 Girls the Langley School Tournament. The U13s also finished runners-up in the SNCL while the U11s, U11 Girls and U9s were all 3rd. In total there were 61 fixtures completed.

Kevin Denmark presented the SNCL medals to U15s captain, Lohit Kannan, whose 312 runs while only being dismissed twice, made him the stand-out Junior player. Lohit deservedly won the U15 Player of the Year Award with Ethan Rushton ‘Most Improved Player’ and Ben Johnson winning the ‘Coaches Award’.

Flynn Crosthwaite was the U13s Player of the Year in his first season with the club, having scored 196 runs and taken 6 wickets as well as playing regularly in the B Team. Adithya Velu was Most Improved while Odin Thomas, who travels from Mildenhall, to train and play, was given the Coaches’ Award.

James Alcock’s trophy-winning day continued with him carrying off the U11s Player-of-the-Year shield for his captaincy, his 152 runs and 11 wickets. Sammy Belderson, who also took 11 wickets, was Most Improved and Evan Mercer took the Coaches’ Award. Alice Brand was Junior Girls’ Player of the Year, Rebecca Davey Most Improved and Niamh Rushton won the Coaches’ Award.

Jack Joice was the outstanding player in the U9s and deservedly won the Player-of-the-Year Cup with Will Moulton Most Improved and George Fawkes taking the Coaches Award.

Certificates for Commitment and Attendance were awarded to Liam Stevens (U15); Corey Rushton, Harry Skoulding, Isaac Ford, Noah Moore & George Ryan (U13s); Jake Canning (U11s); Carley Hall, Samia Mohammed, Connie Leinster & Jenny Moore (Junior Girls) and Seth Ford, Joe Hyndes, Henry Jones, Will Moulton and Louis Whiddett (U9s)

The Chairman thanked the club’s many volunteers – groundsmen, coaches, coaching assistants, team managers, bar staff, the membership team and everybody who has scored, umpired, provided transport or helped in any way. Caroline Mawby and Trish Ellse were given flowers and prosecco for their sterling efforts with the Friday night barbecues. There was a particular thank-you to Ryan Hayward who is standing down after 3 years as Coaching Coordinator and he was invited to present the final award to the Young Volunteer of the Year which, for the second successive year, went to Kyle Weston for his work with the U9s group and his consistent help with jobs around the ground and in the pavilion.

All in all it was an excellent day. After the initial shower the rain stayed away, the sun shone occasionally (although it didn’t warm up much!) and there was some good cricket played . The entry fees, bar, barbecue, cake stall and tombola also saw in excess of £800 added to the club’s accounts. Well done everybody! A real team effort – as usual! ... See MoreSee Less