Twenty games. Approximately 1500 overs played. Over thirty weeks of training. Close to 200 miles traveled. All to win the CCCL 3rd XI Division One title? Absolutely worth it. It's been a long season, from the first winter net until our last game on the 11th September. We've been fortunate this year with the weather, only losing two games to it all year. We've been lucky too, in that we've had no team concede against us, something that is becoming sadly more and more common in Sunday cricket. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that despite us having played so much cricket, I'd wish we could carry on! The amount of cricket that I personally have played, coached, umpired, and watched this year is probably frightening... well it just doesn't bear thinking about! However, i'd happily continue if the weather would allow us. It's been an unbelievably fun season for me, with the mighty 4th XI and the incredible junior teams we have both filling my summer with seemingly endless amounts of cricket. Not to mention the heroic season our 1st XI had providing unparalleled drama every Saturday! What follows is a (somewhat) short (okay it isn't short at all) summary (more like a saga) of the fantastic season the 4th XI have had...

T20 Cricket. Not quite my cup of tea, but the prospect of some cricket at last meant that it would have to do. Whilst the winter nets, and some excellent pre-season intraclub games had sated many an appetite leading up to the season, there is nothing quite like starting the season off proper. The 4th XI are fortunate that they are able to play in the 3rd XI T20 Cup, along with our imperious 3s. The 4s have had mixed success in the cup in the past, the restrictive eligibility rules means our role as second Sunday team mean it can be tough to beat some strong 3rd XI opposition. This year was one that could have been a very different story. The 4s were lucky enough to pull two other Division 1 teams, and very nearly beat both. Our first game of the season was against Bramhall 3s. It was a close game, but we fell just 7 runs short chasing 120, but the early signs of things to come were good. The discovery of Dev "Golden Arm" Meena's bowling, Luuk "The Marine" Hughes' ever-growing ability and confidence in his ability, and LJ "Log" Grimbaldeston's sharp work behind the stumps all making an appearance in the game. The second T20 against Cheadle was a similar story, with us coming so close to defending a modest total, to lose it in the second to last over. Evan "E.T" "Alien" Turner made a strong score, after impressing many in the pre-season and along with Dillon Harris' bowling, in particular his unbelievable ability to bowl perfect yorkers on demand, there were further indicators of how the season would go. We got absolutely pumped by Stockport Georgians in the third game. Apart from a cheeky little four-fer by the skipper, there wasn't much else to take from the game other than that we were massively outgunned in the batting department.

On to the good stuff. The 4th XI play 40 over-a-side win-lose cricket in their league, something that I have been a champion of and have very much enjoyed since its introduction several seasons ago. It is not the crash-bang-wallop cricket that T20 provides, nor is it the convoluted draw cricket that is played by some of our other teams. Whilst I understand the argument for win-lose-draw, especially for 1st XI cricket, it surely has no place in the more casual, lower ability, and junior heavy cricket that Sunday provides. Anyway. Our first game of the league was an absolute thriller. With us setting a usually-par score of 166, Heaton Mersey were thundered after it in response, being 110-1 off not very many. However, here is where CB Singh, new to the club this season, would introduce himself, and in a blistering spell ripped through HM's batting. He combined with Dev and myself to bowl them out for 142, nine wickets falling for just 32 runs. Our season certainly could have started off very differently without that win, as the confidence we took out of it was immense and boy did we need it in the next game. In a return to Bramhall, our bowling attack led by The Marine who took 4-36 and a fiery opening spell from Alex Young, restricted them to just 142. After a strong start in response, especially by E.T. who scored a level-headed 44, we found ourselves 125-5.. then 127-6... then 128-7... and 128-8.. Noah Brown and myself crawled home to avoid what would have been a terrible defeat clawed from the jaws of victory.

A more straightforward set of results would follow, with a 34 run win away at Brooklands and then the absolute carnage of our 221 run win over Cheadle where Sunil Singh scored an incredible 93* off 75 and then Noah bowled a brilliant spell taking 5-15. Rain would win the day at Lindow, which brought the fours into the sights of Elworth and the now infamous Sam Sheratt... The match report and the youtube video of the game will do better justice of the whole affair better than anything I could say here, but even then they do not come close to the madness that was witnessed that day. I don't think I have truly recovered from the chaos, and I don't think poor Ben Lowe will ever either. The "win" against Elworth was followed by a win at Ashley, where our batting was supreme. We thundered a massive 270, Richard "Ringo" Daniel (63 off 57), Shaad Shibly (38* off 37) and Sunil (77* off 53) all providing the firepower. Beating Ashley meant we had won six from six, with one rained off, and confidence was high. I didn't think we would be in this situation at the start of the season, as the fours had lost a lot of regular players from last season due to various reasons, and the inauspicious start we had in the cup didn't exactly set us up for a great start. Our success was mirrored by North East Cheshire, who had beaten everyone comfortably and it would be them that the fours faced next. Many a game of cricket has been described as "not our day" when a team falls on the wrong side of the result, but this game epitomised it completely. A tired collective of our juniors arrived from a brilliant, but emotionally and physically draining win at the far-away Clitheroe CC in their cup run, and were met by a disgraceful pitch and a shocking outfield. We bowled and fielded far below the standards we had set in the season so far, and then spluttered in response with the bat, despite a well fought 58 from Dev, to fall 20 runs short. Our first loss in the league. North East Cheshire would take top spot in the league, and a determined chase to keep up with them began.

Ringo would brilliantly set the tone for the team in the next game, his 79 from 85 opening the batting reigniting his teammates as we scored 217 against Grappenhall. Shaad would dominate with ball in hand, as his 6-31 skittled them for just 94. Just the performance we needed to bounce back. A great team effort, led by an unbelievable spell of bowling by Alex Young whose 3-21 included three of the best deliveries to get his wickets that I have seen in Sunday cricket, against Heaton Mersey brought us a win in an extremely close game, the margin being just 4 runs. Bramhall were swept aside by the outstanding return of Zac Nicholson whose 2-12 and 40* off 20 balls guided us to victory. We'd lose another game to the rain against Brooklands, and following would be the short (in many ways..) trip to Cheadle. Despite having a decent team out, Cheadle's batting was no match for Zac (4-21) and Seb Byrne (4-11), the latter having performed brilliantly with the ball all year, as they were bowled out for just 51. This made our record against Cheadle this year in terms of our bowling 78-20, and our batting 303-8. Quite remarkable. A one-sided win against Lindow would follow, E.T. top scoring with a sublime 80, and excellently supported by Dev with 64, as the pair put on 107 together to set up an 107 run win. The return of Sam Sheratt was next.. but the giant was felled early this time in our game at Elworth, and it was Ben Lowe who got the last laugh as his outstanding spell of 6-24 generated the best figures for the fours this year. Dillon Harris was the hero against Ashley the week after, his 4-13 including an amazing hat-trick to restrict them to just 111, which was expertly chased down by Mike Rension (49*) and Ringo (42) for just one wicket. A strange blip at Grappenhall, where our formidable bowling attack couldn't break through their batting line-up, despite us having posted an excellent total of 223, E.T.'s 78 and Dev's 51* being the main contributions. This would bring us to our final game of the season, at home against a side who had been our main competition for winning the league for the majority of the season; North East Cheshire...

Sorry for those that were looking for this week's match report and instead found this wearisome tome. North East had their long serving captain back for this game, and annoyingly first proceeded to win the toss, but then not-annoyingly put us in to bat. Then annoyingly we found ourselves 6 for 2. An excellent rebuild job by Ben and Log, and then by Mike and Dev got us to above 100, and then some classic tail-wagging by CB Singh and The Marine got us to 142, the final pair putting on close to 40 for the last wicket. Gunnery Sergeant Luuk Hughes would provide early wickets as well, as his brilliant spell of 10-2-26-2 gave us the start we needed, and CB Singh, who took 3 wickets in four balls ripped through the middle order. A team hat-trick including a run-out from Seb, and two fast armballs from Shaad's would complete the job, resulting in a 41 run victory. An outstanding effort all round to defend a modest total. The end of the season was correctly celebrated with a few drinks, some pizza, and many photos, with many players who couldn't squeeze into the playing eleven making the journey down to join in on the fun. Whilst it wasn't quite the raucous and night-long affair that had happened the night before when the 1s won their league, it was superb way to end what had been an exciting year with a great bunch of people (..and my head appreciated a quieter evening!)

Some stats and some notable season-wide performances:
Evan Turner: Top run scorer with 513 runs across all competitions, averaging 39.55, and hitting a staggering 83 boundaries.
Dev Meena: 445 runs, 17 wickets, 6 catches, and two runouts.
CB Singh: Top wicket-taker with 19 wickets at an unbelievable average of 9.89.
Seb Byrne: 17 wickets at an average of just 13.40 in his first year of senior cricket.
Ben Lowe: Season best 4th XI figures of 6/24, and 15 wickets at 15.00.
Sunil Singh: Highest individual score for the 4th XI with 93* with an average of 36.43 and a strike rate of 104.
LJ Grimbaldeston: 14 total victims, with 10 catches, 2 stumpings, and 2 run-outs, along with scoring 231 runs.
4th XI have had 15+ (there might be some I might have missed!) 50+ run partnerships, and 3 100+ run partnerships. (Shaad and Sunil's 119* vs Ashley being the highest).
Three 5+ wicket hauls, Ben Lowe 6/24, Shaad Shibly 6/31, and Noah Brown 5/15.
4th XI have taken 55 catches and completed 10 run-outs.

I didn't think it was going to be possible to beat the enjoyment and thrill of last years season, where my mighty 5th XI went unbeaten all year to win the title, and I certainly didn't think it would happen so soon, but this year has been exhilarating. It's been stressful.. too stressful at times, especially when it came to the back-to-reality availability issues that returned after a relatively easy time during the last two seasons. The season as far as what happened on the field however has been top class, with some superb games of cricket that have gone to the wire which are infinity more interesting then a one-sided sweep of a weaker side. Although we have won 14 of the 16 league games played, it was far from being that straight-forward. We've had to play well, and have had to hold our nerve in pressure situations. This is why I believe this year was a bigger achievement for a fairly similar group of players. I'm overwhelmingly proud of the team, they have have worked incredibly hard all year, with the vast majority training practically week-in week-out since January and it has 100% paid off. We've spent more time working on our fielding this season during training than I have ever seen at this club and the results have been self-evident. The list of people to thank is immense, but a big thank you to all the coaches and 1st XI players that have given their time on a Thursday night. Another big thank you to Barbs, who has prepared immaculate pitches all year that have been the envy of all the teams that have visited Didsbury. Lastly, to all the parents and family members that are an integral part of our team, who have ferried our players up and down the county, and have watched and supported without fail (..even bringing along our faithful mascots!). A massive well done to all of the players who have represented the 4th XI in any game, all of you have contributed to a magnificent season. Talking to several people at the start of the year, I had planned to take a break from captaincy after this season; as fun as it is, it does come with its trials and tribulations but I honestly cannot wait to get going again next year.. and defend our title! Hopefully I will see you all at the senior presentation evening on the 4th November where we can celebrate (again) an awe-inspiring year for Didsbury and the 4th XI!