The curtain came down on the 2024 season last Saturday night with a fantastic Dinner Dance and player of the year awards ceremony. Many thanks to all involved in making it a great occasion.

Congratulations to all of our Player of the Year Award Winners:

1st XI – Harry Cobb
2nd XI – Callum Oriel
3rd XI – Darren Bassill
4th XI – Tom Foster
5th XI – Will McDonald
Women’s Hardball – Abby Harris
Women’s Softball – Rachel Maguire

2 weeks earlier had seen the end of the league season with the first XI gaining promotion on a nail biting final day. The 2nd XI managed to avoid relegation in their first season in division 3b and the 3s, 4s and 5s all finished strongly to end another hugely successful and enjoyable season at Redbourn CC.

1st XI

Promotion back to the Championship at our first time of asking looked an unlikely prospect at the end of May having lost the first 3 league games and also been bowled out for just 57 when getting knocked out of the Village Cup in the first round. Fortunes began to change in June with a much needed win against Old Elizabethans thanks to a 138 run 5th wicket partnership between captain Adam Pritchard and Charlie Mack and 4 wickets from vice captain Alex Salter. 3 further victories in June meant at the half way stage both promotion and relegation were still possibilities in a tightly packed league table. A further 4 wins from 5 games followed, before a high scoring defeat at Leverstock Green. Chasing 322, the innings stuttered to 41-4 before Harry Cobb put in the performance of the season, scoring a magnificent 173 from 126 balls. While the team eventually fell 7 runs short, the batting points earned proved vital. A close win in the penultimate game against St Margaretsbury meant victory over league leaders Reed in the final game and a loss for Luton against Hitchin would mean promotion back to the Championship. 3-26 from Jason Bryceland and 3-25 from Adam Pritchard helped restrict Reed to 194 all out and Harry Cobb once again starred with the bat, hitting 82 from 72 balls as we comfortably chased down the target with 5 wickets and 5 overs to spare. The game finished early enough for us to watch Hitchin beat Luton by 12 runs and the promotion party could begin!

Harry Cobb led the way with the bat, scoring 633 runs including a 100 and 4 50s, performances which led to him being named the first team Player of the Year. Next came Conor Yorath with 545 runs and 5 50s. George Cutler scored 219 runs from just 6 innings including a fine 110 in the win against St Margaretsbury.

With the ball, Adam Pritchard was the leading wicket taker with 22 wickets and a best of 4-52, closely followed by seamers Alex Salter with 21 and Callum Moyle with 20 including a best of 5/37. Stuart Barker also impressed with the ball, taking 5/33 in the away victory at Old Elizabethans.

The end of the season also marked the end of the first team career of Dan Roe who announced his retirement after the final game. Dan has been a near ever present first team player since he debuted in 2006 and in that time has scored over 8,000 runs including 8 100s and 51 50s whilst also taking 137 wickets. He also captained the team for 7 years with great success, the highlight of which was the league and cup double back in 2008. He will be hugely missed by the first team but will hopefully continue to score runs for the club for many years to come.

2nd XI

After last years double promotion from division 4b, Dan Lennox’s 2nd XI were expecting a tough challenge playing in 3b and with 4 games left relegation loomed with the team sat in 8th place and the top 3 teams still left to play but they dug deep to earn priceless wins against Chipperfield and Chorleywood, eventually finishing a creditable 7th place.

Dean Flynn led the way with the bat for the 2nd year running scoring 303 runs with a top score of 65 in the win at Hoddesdon, followed by Alex Agar who had a great first season, scoring 253 runs with a top score of 69. Player of the Year Callum Oriel was leading wicket taker with 22 wickets with a best of 4/28. Henry Amos also had a great year, taking 18 wickets and making some valuable contributions with the bat including 39 not out in the win at Chorleywood, a game that secured the 2s place in division 3b for next season.

The all round performance of the season came from Freddie Johnson in the vital win against eventual champions Chipperfield. Freddie first took 5 wickets for just 18 runs in limiting Chipperfield to 121 and then showcased his all round abilities with a chanceless 61 not out to anchor the run chase as wickets fell around him as we eventually won with just 4 wickets to spare.

2024 would be the last season as 2nd XI captain for Dan Lennox after 5 years in the role. In that time Dan has led the team to two league titles and one 2nd place and has taken the team from Division 5b to 3b, the highest ever position for a Redbourn 2nd XI, a magnificent achievement.

3rd XI

The 3s started life in the newly formed ‘Division 8 West’ with a comprehensive 74 run win over Radlett 4s and would go on to win 9 games and finish 3rd, just outside the promotion spots. Unfortunately the top 2 teams were well clear from early on so promotion was always unlikely but to finish best of the rest was an excellent effort.

Top run scorer was Nigel Wellsbury with 350 runs including a valuable 69 in a close win v Preston. Darren Bassill also performed consistently with the bat scoring 277 runs. Wayne Summers hit the top score of the season with an excellent 88 in the home win v Old Cholmeleians. There were also some great attacking innings from Peranavaan Waran and George Luckhurst helping the team to wins against Harpenden and Boxmoor when the games looked lost.

In the wickets were Jon Fleming with 26 and Darren Bassill with 19, which together with his run scoring earned him the 3rd team Player of the Year award. Martin Benfield chipped in with 16 wickets which included the incredible figures of 8-7-7-3, bowling 7 consecutive maidens in the win at Harpenden.

There were also a number of strong performances from the younger players in the team with Krrish Sharma, Milo Hegarty, Hugo Crowley and James Cheetham all contributing well throughout the season and u13’s Ellis Gill, Freddie Yerbury, Callan Riches and Mattie Johnson all making promising debuts.

4th XI

It was a tricky start for the 4th team, with only one win in the first half of the season, (not helped by captain Crispin Hedges losing all 8 tosses!) but as availability improved, so did the fortunes of the team and the 2nd half of the season was a complete reversal of the first with only one defeat to go with 6 wins and a thrilling tie against St Albans. The team finished 4th in Division 11 Central, an excellent result having been bottom of the table at the half way stage.

40 players were used over the course of the season so the runs and wickets were shared around. Simon Foster top scored with an impressive 346 runs from 8 games and a top score of 94 against Wheathampstead. Iain Griffiths was also in the runs with 184 in 6 games and a top score of 75. Special mention also to Alex Owen who scored 161 runs in 7 innings and was not out in all of them, twice guiding the team to unlikely victories with unbeaten 40s. With the ball, Tom Johnson was leading wicket taker with 12 wickets, followed by Olivia Bartlett with 9.

One of the aims of the 4th and 5th teams is to introduce juniors into senior cricket and there were a number of strong performances from our u14 and u13 for the 4th team throughout the season. With the ball Ellis Gill, Tom Arden Davis, James Cheetham, Mattie Johnson and Eddie Haines consistently impressed. Freddie Yerbury scored 50s in both games he played. Tom Foster was named 4th team Player of the Year, performing consistently with both bat and ball scoring 64 runs and taking 7 wickets and also showing a great attitude in taking on a variety of roles to help the team where needed throughout the season.

5th XI

This was the first season for the 5th XI with Dave Irwin as the new captain, again with the remit of introducing junior players to senior cricket. In total 45 players were used, more than half of which were u18.

The season started with a bang, being bowled out for just 83 v Kings Langley before bowling them out for 68! A great start to the season thanks to wickets from Sam Newton, Andrew Dewhurst and Bertie Roe.

The team went on to win a further 6 games and at the half way stage were targeting promotion before a couple of defeats and opposition drop outs stopped the momentum. They were also unlucky to have a great win at Potten End wiped from the league records when Potten End withdrew from the league.

Dave Irwin was top runscorer with 389 runs at an impressive average of 48.6. Andrew Dewhurst was the leading wicket taker with 22 wickets including 5/20 in the void match v Potten End. Callan Riches took 5 wickets in the same game and also took 6/42 against Dunstable. Bertie Roe also performed consistently, picking up 10 wickets.

In the end the team finished 4th in Division 11 West, an excellent first year. As with the 4s, the junior players in the 5s all made excellent contributions with Callan Riches, Bertie Roe, Henry Roe and Connor James all performing consistently with the ball. The performance of the year came from Will McDonald who hit 86 not out at Chipperfield, helping the team chase 244 with ease. That innings along with consistent performances behind the stumps for both the 4s and 5s earned Will the 5th team Player of the Year Award. Callan Riches all round performances for the 5s earned him the Best Junior Player in Senior Cricket award.

I can’t write an end of season review without briefly talking about my favourite subject – availability! In total we used 119 players to get 5 teams out each week. Despite this huge number we were often scrambling around for players at the last minute and even had to concede one game towards the end of the season due to lack of available players. Obviously it’s great that we have so many players who want to play for the club but it does also mean that on average people are playing less than half of the games available to them and on an average week at least 20 people who play that week aren’t available to play the next. This can make it very difficult to be consistent with selection and means some players are constantly moving teams which can be frustrating for them. I do of course appreciate that people have other commitments and very few can play every week but also think if we all try to play a bit more it would benefit everyone and improve the chances of all teams to gain promotion or avoid relegation.

Sunday XI

Despite some bad weather and a couple of opposition drop outs, we continued to play regular friendlies on Sundays and the team performed consistently, winning 4 and losing 5 of the 9 games played. Highlights include 100 for captain James McKay against Linslade and a team total of 263/4 in just 35 overs when convincingly beating Great Gaddesden having lost to the same team earlier in the year. Iain Griffiths, Fraser Wright were regularly in the runs while Tim Lowther, Bertie Roe & James Cheetham were the leading bowlers.

This year we tried a new format for President’s Day ’100’ tournament where 3 teams battled it out in cricket’s newest format and who can forget the dramatic finish with the ‘Bartlett Bluebirds’ eventually defeating the ‘Fleming Flamingos’ in a bowl out. The Flamingos and the ‘Yorath Yellowhammers’ will be keen to take the Bluebirds crown next year.

Women’s Cricket

The Women’s team continues to progress and despite a difficult season in the Home Counties league still managed to win 2 of the 7 games played, ultimately finishing bottom of Division 3 North but with a very similar record to 3 of the other teams in the league. Captain Abby Harris was named Player of the Year having finished leading run scorer with 107 runs and a top score of 49 not out in the 10 wicket victory over Dinton. Performance of the season came from Sophie Bourne who scored 32 runs and then took 4/17 in the close loss to Luton, a match that would be remembered for a controversial incident involving an umpire and a glass of water that would go on to be featured on the Test Match Special ‘Ask the Umpire’ podcast!

Another highlight of the Women’s cricket season was the annual softball tournament where Harpenden beat 8 other teams to the title, despite this, a great day was had by all!

Finally, a huge thank you to all who help make cricket at the club happen. Far too many to mention but we couldn’t do it without you.

Winter well and look forward to seeing you in 2025!

Jon Fleming