HARBERTON CRICKET CLUB NEWSLETTER – JULY 2010

The warmest and driest start to a cricket season has produced a feast of superb cricket matches at both Junior and Senior level. The Stonehills ground looks magnificent with the hard wickets playing true for the batsmen but with lively bounce to encourage the bowlers. Yet again congratulations and many thanks to both Bill Scott and Graham Clayton and their team of willing helpers for their hard work at the ground.

Junior cricket at under13 and 17 levels continues to thrive. The under 13s under the guidance of Alan Sheppard are holding their own in the A league, most matches have been very close and competitive and they fully deserve their mid table position in a very strong division. Unfortunately we have very few under 15 players. Having fielded a mainly under 13 team against Dartington – they performed very well reducing the cream of the Dartington U15 batting line up to 16 for 5 wickets in 9 overs before losing by 50 runs, it was decided to pull the team out of the league because of a build up of fixtures and a lack of older players. However,with the under 13s moving up next year we should be able to put out a strong side.

The under 17 squad has combined with Dartington to put out a joint team this year. This venture is working well and the team is in the top half of the A league at the half way stage of the season.

We have many younger players coming to training on Friday evenings. Their enthusiasm is great and they will be ready to play in the Under 13 team next year.

The senior team is having a very good season under the leadership of Jack Buckner.With juniors Christian Buckner, Harry Baxendale and Henry McCready performing so well when called upon, 7 wins and just 4 defeats against strong opposition is a creditable return reflecting the determination and team spirit shown on the field.

Unfortunately, we failed to wrest the Mills shield from Stoke Fleming’s grasp in a high scoring and close match – Mike Powell starred with an outstanding unbeaten 81, but we hope to be more successful at home on Vice President’s Day on the 25^th of July.

Other outstanding performances were a century by Christian Buckner against Dunsford (not only his first century but the first time he has got past 50) and also Mike Harvey’s awesome 150 against Averton Gifford. The veterans of the team also deserve credit. Keith Shephard continues to bamboozle batsmen with his accurate swing bowling – 4 for 13 against Old Suttonians while the ever reliable Ben Pike approaches a remarkable 450 wickets and 5000 runs for the club.

The midweek team has won all 6 matches including an exciting match against Dartington and Totnes where an exhausted Bob Owers ran himself into the ground scoring an unbeaten 52 as Harberton got home with one ball to spare.

One great frustration is the number of games cancelled on beautiful cricketing days – 4 to date- due to teams being unable to find enough players to put out against us. Such a pity!

Let us hope the weather continues to be kind. Hopefully the second half of the season will be as successful as the first.