Player of the Year 2010

A year in the life of an egg...

An embryonic egg had shown an enormous amount of potential in his formative cricketing years, playing match-winning innings or bowling sides out sporadically but not as often as he would have liked. Too many zeroes (duck eggs) in the wickets or runs column belying his ability to be one of our leagues most consistent match-winning all-rounders.

Pre-season promised a lot and was highlighted by Maaz nearly ripping the Egg's head from his shoulders, prompting father Dunc to give Maaz a dressing down and suggest he pitched the ball up to protect his only son; Coddled egg.  A slow first month of 2010, yielding just 3 wickets and 55 runs had his teammates hoping that this was just a slow-hatching egg, and to everyone's enjoyment, so it proved. 2-17 against Toft followed by a responsible 53* to see us home and we saw an emerging egg.  Unfortunately injury was a reminder how fragile and eggshell like his body could be and resulted in a fortnight away from bowling and missing the T20 opener. 55 overs in the field and a hard-fought 53 at Urmston on a scorching day resulted in a very obviously fried egg. A quick-fire 33 after Dicko and Moorsy's twin 70's v Nantwich saw an amazing post-match, mid drinking session decision to grab a kip in the opposition change rooms at about 10:30pm; Rotten egg.

A Sunday trip to Widnes saw 72 come off just 36 balls (7 boundaries and 4 sixes) and an equally impressive 2-26 off 7 and the Egg was in red hot form; Boiling egg. The next week, injury struck again, or did it? 2 smoking boundaries from Cuz in the first 3 balls of the innings and a less than convincing "Aaaarrgghh, my hamstring" was heard. Hmmmm, thought his teammates; soft-boiled egg.  A very impressive 53 against the league leaders Neston set up a vital victory, he seemed the only batsman of the 22 able to score at a decent rate on a difficult pitch; Free-range egg. It was also his third score of over 50 in which he had used a runner! Was the sight of our Egg ever completing a big knock without assistance a thing of the past, much like a Dinosaur egg? A fortnight away from the bowling crease, a quiet month with the bat and the now obligatory massive amount of eating saw the Egg get out to a huge size; Ostrich Egg. Could he perform though when we needed him? Absolutely. 15-5-44-6 was a match-winning effort at exactly the right time against Bramhall; Fellow eggs.

A barge trip to Chester was enjoyed by all involved and the Egg was in fine alcohol consuming form for its duration; Pickled egg. Another 50 against Oxton followed, his fourth of the year, unfortunately none had progressed past 53; Standard egg. The Cheshire Cup QF against Neston was next. Slightly hungover, he dropped the Neston skipper in the first over before he went on to make 104! This resulted in a less than inspiring performance from our man, his confidence was shot and the brain was addled; Scrambled egg. Our hero had a quiet few weeks, only highlighted by the Hyde openers taking an astonishing easy single after hitting it straight to him whilst fielding at short mid-wicket! Turtle egg.

Our brilliant run under the Egg's captaincy, all the way to the T20 final and a narrow loss to Chester showcased just how much potential he has as a leader; Egghead. The team were still fighting relegation however, and after posting just 122 against fellow battlers, Bowdon, the writing was on the wall. A fiery spell of quick, accurate bowling from our own Humpty Dumpty though proved crucial in the wash-up as his 8-20 eventually consigned money-men Bowdon to Division 1 cricket in 2011; Egg on their face. Previously unseen fitness levels saw him instrumental in a magnificent win at eventual league winners, Nantwich, as an opening spell that included the prized wicket of Vincent, clean-bowled, and a superb 75* in support of Dicko's 112 saw us questioning how he could perform so well without the aid of a runner; Vitamin-enhanced egg? A masterful 70 in the penultimate game of the year, unfortunately saw him dismissed at just the wrong time, when the rest collapsed he was left kicking himself for his mistake; Goose egg. As the season drew to a close the feelers were sent out from a number of different clubs for his services and a few got past the initial stage, but thankfully he remains at DCC; Nearly poached egg. A well-deserved player of the year gong was just reward for a brilliant break-through season which included 667 runs and 33 wickets and all involved at Didsbury CC hope that in the coming seasons, even more is still to come from everyone's favourite cackleberry; Nick Anderson - THE EGG.

Featured Player of the Week no 2: Paul Sperring

"Given the hilarity of the first "Player of the Week" effort relating to the world's weirdest man (Ogden included), I feel it necessary to try and resurrect the format, and shall turn the watching world's attention to our captain, following some fine individual performances of late. I intend to send this report for "banteration" to the author of the previous profile, in the hope that I won't take the full blame for some awful attempts at comedy. So here goes.  

Following some fairly mediocre mid-20s scores, in which he was striking the ball nicely, Spez found form in an ill-fated Cheshire Cup display at Division 1's Widnes. In a game curtailed by awful weather, Sperring's fine 90ish not out truly did lead by example, albeit an example I bettered, and perhaps more importantly gave our talisman the confidence he needed to go on and make a big league score. And what a score it was. Against Alderley Edge Sperring finished unbeaten on exactly 100 not out, a remarkable effort against a decent two-men-who-live-nowhere-near-Alderley-Edge attack. The greatest part of the innings was undoubtedly the way he was able to pierce the field, although for a man who is able to pierce two mattresses with a meandering member with such ease, perhaps we shouldn't have been so surprised. This was a superbly paced innings, although the pace between the wickets left a little to be desired. On the plus side the royalties have started flooding in from that book he wrote on Foster's and B&H silvers, every cloud.  

Given that Spez picked up a thigh injury during his mammoth batting effort, allegedly through running between the wickets, although most likely from dragging every ball to the leg side, the subsequent bowling display was arguably better than the batting that preceded it. Spez picked up four valuable wickets, including the famous three Ws, Worrall, Wilkinson and Whittaker. The 3 Ws are so famous in Alderley Edge that no one local has ever heard of them, probably because they can't wait to get on the road for the long commute home. Paul followed up this bowling display with a fine 17-8-22-2 in a win against top-of-the-table Neston this weekend, and it bodes very well for DCC to have our captain in great form with both bat and ball.  

Things are really starting to slot into place for the DCC boys, and with us still in both cup competitions, and with Spez in such dazzling form, hopes are high for a thrilling second half of the season, starting at Hyde on Saturday. Thankfully Spez has already engaged in some Facebook-based brown-nosing, so all bodes well, Woooooollleeeeeerrrrrsssss…… 

Until next month… 

The Egg. 

Featured Player of the Week no 1: Jonathan Fawcett