It was a tale of two halves of the season for Esher’s first foray into 5th XI league cricket.
Entering a new 5th XI into the Surrey Championship, only a season after launching a new 4th XI, was a bold move and testament to the enthusiasm of senior and junior membership throughout the club to make themselves available and commit to Saturday afternoon cricket.
As it went, the team placed as high as 4th in the league before finishing 5th, which was both a fair outcome and a successful one in terms of what we set out to achieve in our debut season. The team was able to blend the experience and wisdom of some of the older playing members with the enthusiasm and energy of our junior cricketers, many of whom were playing league cricket for the first time. Whilst availability proved sometimes to be a struggle in the first half of the season, with one concession and some near misses, the second half of the season offered rich pickings for the skipper, who then often had 7 or 8 decent bowling options and strong batting all the way down the line.
Accordingly, we lost 7 of our first 9 matches in the first half of the season and won 7 of our 9 in the second half.
Notable performances included unbeaten tons from Julian Jones and Ollie Hamilton, the latter as a 15-year-old who carried his bat through the innings and got to his century off the last ball of the innings with dad up the other end! Not bad considering he had been run out by his brother the week before! James Ellis took 5th XI player of the year for his 12 wickets but also offered so much more to the team for his encouragement in the field and perpetual show of sportsmanship proving to be a great role model for many of the younger cricketers who he played alongside.
The 5th XI was proud to have played at least 6 father/son pairings as well as 3 ladies over the course of the season, including giving a debut to 14-year-old Charlotte Reed. It also gave senior league debuts to around 20 boys, who we hope will remember their big day out for the club for the rest of their lives. Some of the lads were to make such an impact that they were immediately propelled up the ladder to play 4th and even 3rd XI cricket. It was a pleasure to play alongside so many talented junior cricketers and witness the talent coming through the club.
From the 5th XI viewing gallery, the future certainly looks bright at Esher CC and the team will continue to play its role in providing an important link between junior and senior cricket at the club, for both boys and girls.
