Dinner Speech 2009

Harpsden Cricket Club Dinner Speech 2009

Ladies and Gentlemen,

What a summer this has been for Harpsden Cricket Club – I seem to say this every year and it keeps getting better and better. In 2007 we had 15% losses, 30% draws and 55% wins whilst last year we thought that 20% losses, 20% draws and 60% wins was awesome. This year we have surpassed all of that: out of a possible 49 fixtures we have managed to play 45. Despite the wettest July for over a hundred years we have only had one match cancelled because of the weather, and that was in June! Three matches were cancelled by terrified opponents (and not replaced by Conference fixtures due to late notice) including Hambleden in May and BBC Caversham in August.

That left 45 completed fixtures, which included only 2 draws; the first against BBC Caversham when we couldn’t get the last 2 wickets and the second where Eversley in 53 overs couldn’t get close to our score off 28 overs, but we couldn’t get their last 3 wickets. We also had one tie where Richard Moyle’s alledged first four in front of square for 10 years (in fact a classic cover drive) provided the backdrop for an amazing escape to keep our unbeaten run of at the time, 19 matches, intact. Of the 42 remaining matches, we have lost just five: 4 in May when our youngsters were studying (or so we are told!) rather than cricketing and 1 in June. That leaves a win percentage on completed matches of a quite astounding 82%. I’m glad we don’t have a website publishing these results, just the Joanna Cary inspired blog which we use for internal purposes, otherwise nobody would come to play us!

Talking about getting people to come to play us – the first thank you of the night goes to our fixture secretary, Suzie Bradley, who does such an incredible job against the background of almost certain defeat for anybody who signs up to meet the Harpsden rollercoaster. I suspect that Suzie will have an even tougher job than normal this winter convincing the opponents to come back. Here is a little something to help keep you going through the long winter months of excuses from our opponents. SUZIE BRADLEY [Chocolates].

In 2007, Harpsden’s bowlers were in the ascendancy, 2008, in contrast, was a year for the batsmen. In 2009, however, the principal reason for our success is that both specialties have excelled. As with previous years we have our annual trophies, generously donated by Tabbits, your first stop in Henley for car repair. The trophies this year have been more difficult to decide upon than in any of the previous years given the number of very high quality performers, and partly because of that we have tended to favour the individuals who have influenced the largest number of games. Andrew Norton, Will Stevens (except where he was conflicted!) and Julian Burtt have helped me decide who these awards would go to. The first of these trophies tonight is for young bowler of the year.





The young have bowled brilliantly this season, almost more reliably than the old codgers! Dan Hayden bowled really well when it mattered against Sheen Park, Adam Birkett, to many people’s surprise, has taken a number of wickets with a particularly good spell against Falkland, James Thomson has taken 12 wickets with his impressive leg spin, bowling a couple of very long spells, including 13 overs straight at Twyford, George Hepburn has bowled tremendously in his first season for us, with both great pace and accuracy. Johnny Wright has bowled a number of very economical spells when they were most needed. Tom Mitchell was the outstanding bowler in the match against Sonning, and if it wasn’t for his bad back restricting his spell, we may well have won that game too. The Oratory boys, Christian Whittaker and Sean Thornton have both bowled tightly in the few games they have played, with Christian’s final over (to Shaun) in the Sixes being the epitomy of control. And Chris Welford has taken 8 wickets with his off spin, including 3 in an over against Sonning Common Village.

The contenders for this award however, have been Toby Stevens, who has taken 16 wickets, including 3 for 7 in one match, and has bowled very economically, and in any other year may well have won this award. Alfred Cary has bowled beautifully, and economically, but has spent a bit more time batting this year and hasn’t taken as many wickets as he might have done. Tom Nugent has again bowled magnificently, particularly later in the season, including his 5 for 17 against Turville last week. But young bowler of the year goes to somebody who is in his last season in the junior category – he took 3 four wicket hauls in the first half of the sesason, against London Erratics, Rivets and Catchiteers and his tight bowling against Sheen Park was one of the principal reasons for us successfully containing probably the strongest batting line up we have faced all season. With 24 wickets this season, young bowler of 2009 – BEN HANCOCK [Trophy].

Before moving onto the bowler of the year award I would like to thank the person who is the oil that enables the Harpsden engine to purr. Harpsden Cricket Club without Jane Burtt would be a considerably poorer place. Jane does so much behind the scenes such as organising the bar, the barbeques, the toilet paper, the rubbish as well as the monstrously difficult task of convincing people to play when she hasn’t got enough, and even worse, encouraging them not to play when she has too many. Jane always gets out a shapely batting order, a balanced bowling attack, a mix of youth, to field on the long side, and old codgers to field on the short side, and always, always, exactly 11. Jane is just outstanding and here is the merest token of all our gratitude. JANE BURTT [Chocolates].











Now, back to the awards. Bowler of the year. There have been a large number of stellar performances with the ball with a considerable number of 5 wicket hauls. James Butler against Medmenham, Ian Whittaker, yes Ian not Christian, pitching it on a sixpence against Britwell Salome, Horatio Cary, yes Horatio not Alfred, taking a match winning 5 wicket haul against the Effigies to take us to an extremely unlikely victory, Tom Nugent as already mentioned against Turville, Will Stevens 5 for 11 against Nettlebed when we successfully defended just 76. Tom Hancock took 5 for 23 for the Presidents’ XI (including both Andy Bryan and Will Stevens) as he destroyed the Chairmans’ XI in 4 overs before rushing off to work. Mick Greenwood who won this award 3 years ago, has not bowled as well as he will next year, but has always been economical, Ed Birkett has played very few games, but when he has, he has bowled with great pace and control, notably against Henley and Britwell. Mike Deville has been great when he’s played, and now his exams are out of the way, the oppo are going to be seeing a lot more of his booming in-swingers next year. Tom Ham has bowled very economically, most notably going for just 6 runs in his 5 overs against Twyford. James Paice has been brilliant this year, tying things down when the oppo threatened to break free – notably against Henley. James has also batted well this season, helping to bring about extremely unlikely victories against both the Effigies and Whitchurch. Before we get to the bowler of the year award, I would like to announce the newcomer of the year award which goes to JAMES PAICE [Wine].

Now back to the bowling award. This came down to four outstanding bowlers: Tom Nugent who has been our fourth highest wicket taker this year (and had the pleasure of getting Miles out when Harpsden played against the Golf Club). Ollie Heath who bowled better and better as the season went on, highlighted by his destruction of what Turville thought was a very strong top order where numbers 3, 4 and 5 went quack, quack, quack. Tom Hancock has bowled brilliantly again this year despite being hampered by a back problem in the first part of the season and also not playing as much as he might have done due to work commitments. Tom has been tremendous but he has been pipped at the post this year by somebody who just produces it year in, year out. He took a critical four wicket haul against Reading Lawyers, bowled brilliantly against Henley, bowled 8 overs and took 1 for 3 against Falkland, in a reasonably high scoring game. The bowler of the year for 2009, and is our highest wicket-taker by far, MILES HODGKISS [Trophy].

Bowlers are not so hot unless accompanied by good fielders and catchers: at this point I would like to hand over to Will who will talk about some of the fielding and catching exploits of the summer, and present the Catch of the Season trophy. Will.







This year we will do the all-rounders awards before the batting awards. For the juniors, James Thomson having been very impressive with the ball all season, got a match-winning 25 not out against Cranbourne, quickly followed by an attacking 40 against Morgan Cricket Club, Adam Birkett’s bowling and wicket keeping has combined with some strong batting displays, Toby Stevens highly effective bowling and then batting well when needed, helping big brother Will in a match-winning partnership to beat Whitchurch. Johnny Wright has also shown what he can do with the bat having impressed with ball, when he put on 40 for the last wicket with Mick Greenwood in the Presidents’ match as they strived for an unlikely victory. Christian and Shaun have been great but have not played enough this year to compete for the all-rounder award and hence it came down to 4 guys.

Ben Hancock is both the Club’s third highest wicket taker and also doesn’t hang around when he’s batting. Having said how good Alfred Cary has been with the ball he then proceeded to have stellar knocks against Stonor and the Golf Club and then a quite breath-taking 71 not out against Shiplake where in one over against Bobby Bolton’s son, he started 6, 6, 6, 6, 1! Big George Hepburn, great with the ball and left nobody in any doubt about the quality of his eye when he took the game away from Woodcote in 6 flashes of the Kookaburra. But young all-rounder of 2009 goes to someone who has been brilliant with the ball, but also extremely impressive with the bat. He scored 66 against the Effigies batting with James Paice, and gave us the chance to win, which we did, another very good 66, this time against Shiplake, before a little running confusion with Miles and then a maiden century against Eversley. This chap is going to be pushing for a senior award before he’s 16! Like 2008, young all-rounder of 2009: TOM NUGENT [Trophy].

The all-rounder of the year award. This again has been tremendously difficult to judge with some amazing all round performances. Ollie Heath coming storming through at the end of the season with both bat and ball, James Paice performing strongly all year, Miles Hodgkiss being the highest wicket taker and third highest run scorer, Horatio Cary with a storming finish to the season with bat and very useful contributions with the ball, but this one came down to a decision between two people. Firstly Will Stevens who been the highest run scorer and the second highest wicket taker. Will’s bowling has not been as devastating as it was in 2008 but he has taken 25 wickets at just over 15 and going for less than 4 an over. His 5 for 11 against Nettlebed was undoubtedly a match-winning display. His batting has been unbelievable, but more on that later. Having said all that, Will has been pipped at the post for this award this year. Our all-rounder of 2009 is somebody who has averaged 45 with the bat and 15 with the ball – whenever the Captain needs a string of wickets to polish the game off, he throws him the ball. His stats don’t tell the whole story as he started the season with a very serious injury and only bowled off a couple of paces, but as the back improved he got his venom back and was both a potent wicket-taker and highly economical bowler. He batted beautifully this year without getting the 100 he richly deserves – his 65 not out against the Young Lions was a classic display of how to dispatch good bowling and finish the game early. All rounder of 2009: TOM HANCOCK [Trophy].


Before moving on to the batting awards I would like to thank a number of people who do so much for the Club. Firstly, all the Ladies, and men, who produce such marvellous teas and also the cooking and setting up to make this evening the evening it is. We are tremendously grateful to both David Heath and Neil Craig who have done a brilliant job umpiring this season. The on-field, and off field guidance and leadership that we get from Club Captain Andrew Norton, and the two Vice Captains Will Stevens and Andy Bryan. Horatio Cary for helping me out on various things down at the ground – and who is in the process of preparing some honours boards to go up in the Pavilion. The Vice Presidents and the Patrons for their amazing support - notably Tony Wright, Lucius Cary, Joanna Cary and Neil Craig who are all here this evening. Miles Hodgkiss for everything he does, including clearing up after games and the work he does on the pitches at weekends. We also need to thank the spectators, the ever presents such as the Burtts, Wrights, Stevens and David Heath, but also Sarah, Josh, Flo, Hannah Nugent and all the others I have not mentioned individually. Del-boy, aka Ian Whittaker continues to do a brilliant job on sourcing mowers, cricket equipment, clothing etc. – please note he is taking orders for caps, shirts and jumpers this evening. Joanna Cary continues to a great job on the photographs. But I would, at this stage, like to say a special thank you to my wife who puts up with so much more, not just during the season, but also suffering everything that has to be organised over the close season. The thanks for putting up with it all award: SALLY BIRKETT [Flowers].

I would also like to thank last year’s Clubman, Ben Hancock, who has shown tremendous support when anything needs to be done – he has done a great job again on the pitches this year. Ed Birkett for helping me on the ground whenever he has time. Julian Burtt has again shown tremendous Presidential poise and has frequently helped to keep me on the straight and narrow. Adam Birkett has been a most amazing helper for me again this year, always keen to help both before the game and afterwards, as well as during the week when things have needed doing on the square. But the Clubman award for 2009 goes to somebody who has done an incredible amount for the Club for well over a decade: we have said that it is highly unlikely that this award will go to a member of the committee, but this year is one of those rare years. The award this year is partly in recognition of his 2009 efforts but also in recognition of everything he has done in years gone by. This man used to spend every weekend preparing the cricket pitches as well as all the handy work around the pavilion. Over the last year he has helped me organise the replacement of the hot water system (and I know how appreciated this has been by all those who shower!), put the new shelving in the kitchen, redid the kitchen lighting, has done various other time consuming jobs while the batsmen are batting, including putting up the can crusher, and done endless amounts of pruning and weeding. Also we wouldn’t have had any hot food this evening if he hadn’t spent so long chasing the Gas Company to finish their job late yesterday evening. Not only does he do all this, but he also keeps wicket, and when necessary, helps us to save the game with the bat as he did at Falklands. Our Clubman award for 2009 goes to: RICHARD MOYLE [Shield].








Now we move on to the batting awards. Both of these two awards have been dreadfully difficult to judge. Firstly the young batsman of the year. Our winner last year, Dan Hayden has shown his class, most notably against Sheen Park, James Thomson’s match winning knock against Cranbourne gives us a flavour of what we are likely to see more of next year, Christian Whittaker scored an awesome maiden century with 139 against Morgan Cricket Club. We have talked about Tom Nugent’s superb batting earlier, as we have with Ben Hancock – Ben’s maiden 50 is just round the corner. But the award this year came down to a choice between 3 people: firstly, George Hepburn – Big George doesn’t hold back. He has produced match-winning displays in the sixes, winning the man of the sixes award, he had very good knocks against Woodcote, Catchiteers, Bradfield Staff and Falkland. We have decided that George was pipped to this award but we would like to award him Junior newcomer of 2009: GEORGE HEPBURN [Book].

The other two candidates were tremendously difficult to split but the number of runs scored and also the number of matches influenced proved to be the deciding factor. Alfred Cary has had a great season at Malborough and has been unbelievably impressive for Harpsden, not just with the ball, but has had some very cultured knocks. But his destruction of Shiplake with 71 not out was quite something to behold. There’s a hundred for Alfred just round the corner. And although he has been pipped for the batting trophy, the award for destructive knock of the season goes to: ALFRED CARY [Book]. But the winner of young batsman of 2009 goes to somebody who has been involved in 5 partnerships of more than 50, all in match-winning causes, two unbeaten fifties of his own, a match-winning 45 in a very low-scoring and tense game against Reading Lawyers when all his partners were falling by the wayside and other strong knocks against the opening bowlers of sides like Crazies Hill and Medmenham. Young batsman of 2009: ADAM BIRKETT [Trophy].





















The senior batting trophy has probably been the hardest of the lot to judge. With so many incredible batting feats it is tough to separate them. We have scored nearly 300 runs on several occasions – 295 against Greys Green (oh how sweet that was), 296 against Sheen Park, as well as stellar displays against Old Josephians, Shiplake, Crazies Hill etc. We have seen 9 century partnerships, 48 partnerships of 50 or more, 5 hundreds, 3 of which were by Adam Hurst and an amazing number of backs to wall batting displays to bring the bacon home, just when it looked like there was no way we could keep the unbeaten run going. Notable mentions go to Matt Hayward who’s rapid 48 not out against Shiplake was his only knock of the season for us after shoulder surgery, Ian Whittaker’s century partnership with Christian, helping Christian get to his maiden century which brings back memories of Ian’s century against Reading Lawyers 2 years ago when they were also batting together. Paddy Burtt averaging 90 and hitting some of the biggest sixes of the summer, James Paice’s match winning 51 against Whitchurch, Rob Harris, Andrew Norton and Justin Bradley not quite getting 50’s this season, Ian Reissmann’s brilliant 47 for the President’s XI despite everything people like Will Stevens could throw at him, Ian Nugent averaging over 50, Jack Broome averaging 78 and batting beautifully against both the Old Josephians and Henley. Horatio Cary’s season took off last weekend, scoring 93 and 87 against Sheen Park and Turville respectively – both match-winning displays against good attacks.

Last season’s winner, Andy Bryan, was somewhat quieter than last year but his punched sixes off the back foot against both the Mortgagees and especially Matt Skilleter of Greys Green in the Sixes were things of great beauty. Andrew Grimmer has not scored as many runs as last year but his 66 not out against the Shiplake Staff proved to be a critical match-winning knock. Sam Imlay who has twice won the junior award is batting most beautifully and gives us a tremendous start at the top of the order. Miles has just scored one 50 this season but has scored almost 500 runs at an average of nearly 30 and continues to be as destructive as anybody once he gets a start. Tom Hancock has already won the all-rounder award and hence the batting trophy came down to a choice between 3 awesome batsmen.

In third place is Neil Sweet who in his first season back for Harpsden has passed fifty every fourth time he goes to the crease. Neil has scored almost 500 runs for us this season at an average of just under 50 – I think there is a very high chance that Neil will win this award very soon. We do have an award for Neil, however, for the highest partnership of the season – 174 against Pinkney’s Green. NEIL SWEET [Wine]. Batting with Neil was Adam Hurst who sadly can’t be with us this evening and hence we will give him his prize when we next see him.






That leaves two who were unbelievably difficult to split. Will Stevens and Adam Hurst. Firstly Will, Will has scored almost 850 runs this season at an average of over 60. He has been involved in an amazing one third of all the partnerships of 50 or more - 16 of them. He has scored eight fifties, once in every three innings! Adam Hurst on the other hand has scored over 450 runs in his 10 innings with 3 hundreds and has averaged 90. Two of Adam’s most impressive knocks were against Henley and Shiplake, where although he didn’t score 50’s in either, he took the attack to the oppo and left them demoralised. We have decided this year to award the trophy to the person who was won us an incredible number of matches when we have had our backs against the wall – Cranbourne we were 42 for 6 chasing 135, and made it, Whitchurch, we were 70 for 7 chasing 173, and we made it, Falkland where we were 30 for 3 chasing 190 and tied, a match winning 50 partnership against the Oxford Uni team and a nearly victorious 80 odd at Holyport. Batsman of the year 2009: WILL STEVENS [Trophy].

So what does 2010 hold for Harpsden Cricket Club after such a tremendous season this year. Firstly, the cricket is going to be awesome and we are not going to be afraid of losing – unbeaten streaks like we have had this year are brilliant but it is the close matches, even if we lose, that really gets the juices flowing. Secondly, I’m sure we will see even more help from everybody – 50 of our own fixtures, plus renting out the ground 15 times, is an amazing amount of work. The more people who help, the lighter the load for each one.

But more than anything, one hopes 2010 is going to be about spirit. The atmosphere at Harpsden this year has been superb, both on the pitch and off and I’m sure that will just get better. But spirit also covers the spirit of cricket. The iconic image for me of the 2005 ashes series was Flintoff consoling Brett Lee at the end of the game before celebrating with his teammates. With my competitive Aussie instincts I am one of the greatest culprits, but if we can adhere to the spirit of cricket by not challenging umpiring decisions, Harpsden will not just be the most respected cricket team on the local village circuit, but also the most respected Club.

To celebrate the massive success of Harpsden Cricket Club in its 123rd season, and the prospect of another cracker for its 124th, please raise your glasses to: HARPSDEN CRICKET CLUB.