Another solid 5th place finish probably does not tell the full story of the season for the second eleven. A team that would have finished joint top based on Overs cricket, but second bottom in overs cricket, probably needed to show more than just the dissatisfaction of the group in playing timed cricket. 5 centuries from 3 different players underlined much batting strength, all the way through the order. 2 wonderful centuries from the evergreen Hopkinson, the highlight being a 149 against Malden. Roberts dominated at the top of the order when not needed in the first team, his wonderful century at Reigate a real joy. Birkby showed his class in a dominant hundred at Weybridge. Nice to see a first half century from youngster Old, other key runs came from Moss, Patel, Honeybul, MacPherson and Stroud. Whilst the fantastic summer of weather supported some terrific batting wickets, 10 wickets especially in the timed game often proved a challenge. The attack was wonderfully led by Brown throughout 2022, who game after game pushed through on some very flat pitches. He was capably supported by Crichard, French and Dunn. Good to see the youngsters coming through and am sure we will see much more of French and Chambers in the coming years. As ever the second eleven pushed on with their slow bowling group, often keeping it very tight, if not climbing through the wickets. Medium pacer De La Fuente, was constantly supported through the season by Patel and Taylor, with Collins and Winder book ending the support at either end of the season. Collins 9 wickets in 2 games deservedly got him a return to the first team for the whole season. 2023 sees players a year older, many more mature some too mature, and others just right. A very competitive group should hopefully push for bigger and better things in 2023.
Some thank you’s – thanks to our near ever present scorer Doc Holiday, a pleasure to be around, and a member of the team, wonderful statistics and a real joy to see the team do well. Thank you also to the two guys to support the captain when away, VC Matt MacPherson, and Rob Honeybul. Both generated positive results, maybe they have missed their calling. Thank you also to Chris Notton for the ground work, and Duncan and Lek for the best tea’s and supper’s in the league.
2022 Season Averages
Batting (qualification 4 matches)
| Name | Matches | Innings | Not Out | Runs | High Score | Average |
| Nathan Roberts | 6 | 6 | 0 | 324 | 120 | 54.00 |
| Ali Birkby | 6 | 6 | 1 | 246 | 105* | 49.20 |
| Anosh Malik | 8 | 8 | 1 | 278 | 93* | 39.71 |
| Nick Winder | 5 | 5 | 2 | 100 | 32 | 33.33 |
| Mark Hopkinson | 12 | 12 | 1 | 361 | 149 | 32.82 |
| Joe Moss | 6 | 6 | 1 | 159 | 70* | 31.80 |
| Joe De La Fuente | 10 | 9 | 1 | 205 | 68 | 25.63 |
| Matt Macpherson | 12 | 12 | 2 | 236 | 72 | 23.60 |
| Austin Wilman | 9 | 9 | 0 | 206 | 71 | 22.89 |
| Dan Old | 7 | 7 | 0 | 159 | 59 | 22.71 |
| Rob Honeybul | 5 | 5 | 0 | 98 | 44 | 19.60 |
| Trishan Patel | 11 | 10 | 1 | 169 | 44* | 18.78 |
| Freddie Price | 4 | 4 | 0 | 57 | 31 | 14.25 |
| Archie Stroud | 7 | 7 | 0 | 79 | 29 | 11.29 |
| Tom Brown | 13 | 10 | 5 | 55 | 13* | 11.00 |
| Ruari Critchard | 9 | 6 | 0 | 52 | 32 | 8.67 |
| Max Dunn | 7 | 4 | 1 | 22 | 16* | 7.33 |
| Dan Taylor | 16 | 9 | 2 | 44 | 23 | 6.29 |
| Max Simpson | 5 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 2.33 |
Bowling
| Name | Overs | Maidens | Runs | Wickets | Average |
| Ben Collins | 17.1 | 2 | 63 | 9 | 7.00 |
| Alex French | 28 | 3 | 133 | 9 | 14.78 |
| Tom Brown | 101.1 | 18 | 423 | 24 | 17.63 |
| Ruari Critchard | 54.2 | 4 | 250 | 12 | 20.83 |
| Trishan Patel | 94.5 | 7 | 398 | 18 | 22.11 |
| Dan Taylor | 156.5 | 24 | 547 | 19 | 28.79 |
| Joe De La Fuente | 84.3 | 13 | 288 | 10 | 28.80 |
| Max Simpson | 30.4 | 2 | 170 | 5 | 34.00 |
Back Row R to L – Tom Brown, Nathan Roberts, Matt McPherson, Max Dunn, Nick Winder
Front Row R to L – Trishan Patel, Joe De La Fuente, Anosh Malik, Archie Stroud, Max Wallis, Dan Old
Player of the Season
It is rare that the player of the season award is unanimous, however that was the case in 2022. Trish Patel came down to the second team, after a couple of games with only a few overs in the first team. He quickly found his rhythm and week after week contributed in all three facets of the game. He led the spinners with 18 wickets at 22, owned the middle order batting with 169 runs at 19, but also led the fielding with 7 catches and 3 run outs, dominating at cover. A talented young player who will shine in the first team again.