End of Season Reports

[Umpire Money]

Yorkshire

Div 1 Four Day

Well the season started off very slow with 4 straight draws and a loss. With only really Hooper and law stepping up. Then the team started to gel a bit and we had a few wins against surrey and queensland. This put us up the ladder and eventually ending the season with only one lose and 4 wins on 74 points joint with NSW(which remarkebly we were even with NSW in One dayers as well)

Div 2 One Day

A very consistent season with the bat and the ball making it hard for all teams. Losing both games against victoria made it hard but with a last round spectical we made it to the playoff and now into Div 1 for next season.

Stand outs were D.West in one day batting.
Tendulkar scoring the most runs of anyone in the four day
hooper with an unbelievable average for the most part of the season
Hamilton with bat and ball.

Next season will see Yorkshire being the only UK team in both forms in the Div 1(I think). An unbelievable effort. Hoping just to stay in there for one more season before making a dash for the championship in either form.
Players to watch next season will be tendulkar again and S.Weir rookie.

 

[The Argonaut]

The Qld season was poor to say the least being relegated in both comps.

Batting
Only Maher and Love stepped up in the 4 day game increasing their averages. Hayden only averaged 35 (normally 53). In the ine day game no one stepped up. Hayden 24, Love 19, Maher 28 were all hopeless.

Bowling
Trott was a real find in the 4 day games with a SR of 38. the others struggled particularly Bichel. In the one dayers Hopes was good again as was Flintoff but it was not enough for him to keep his spot in the squad.

Overall not much fun but there's always next season. Looking for my players to play closer to their potential.

 

[Blewy]

South Australian Season Review

Well the South Australian Season was like a dream...
In both One Day and Four Day, the Redbacks dominated Division 1 with what was some asstounding cricket...

Four Day

This was the Holy Grail for the Redbacks team... The one they all wanted with such a huge passion, and there cricket showed that...
In what was a huge team effort the South Australians went through the season undefeated and if it wasn't for a slight slip-up in the final round against Yorkshire would have completed an impressive whitewash...
To show how much of a team effort this was, 6 batsman scored over 500 runs, with 6 also averaging over 40, whilst in the bowling stocks 5 bowlers took over 20 wickets with the worst returner being Shane Bond who took 22 wickets @ 34, Hardly something to complain about...
The overall standouts though were Captain Darren Lehmann with 954 runs @ 73.38 and Rob Stratton who picked up 532 runs @ 40.92 and took 37 wickets @ 17.16...

One Day

This was the BIG surprise, Although expecting to go well we exceeded our expectations by completing the whitewash we missed out on in the Four Day comp...
There were some close calls but the mental toughness which we have built within this side carried us through, and to clinch the Title with 2 games remaining was impressive..
The impressive performances here were again from Captain Darren Lehmann who despite falling away at the end of the season finished with 438 runs @ 73, and Heath Axelby and Shane Bond who took 23 wickets @ 9.61 and 20 wickets @ 16.5 respectively...

Overall we couldn't have asked for anymore, however the big test comes next year with no side dominating Division 1 in one season then being able to back it up again the following year...

 

[Graham]

Next season will see Yorkshire being the only UK team in both forms in the Div 1(I think).

Lancashire will also be playing in both Division 1 competitions!

 

[Mr. P]

Somerset Season Review

Not Exactly Happy With My OD...

Four Day

An odd season for the Somerset four day lineup. We were brilliant at times, and pathetic at others. But we never looked like getting promoted and relegation was never talked of. An average season with results that Somerset won't get upset about.

One Day

An upsetting season for Somerset in the OD form. The batting was useless, except for the amazing form of OD speicalist Z Thomas, who even managed a 53* in Somersets appaling loss to Free State. Somerset will be looking to regroup next season.

Somerset is happy to say however that next season will be a step foward, particularly in the bowling ranks.

 

[Neil Pickup]

Next season will see Yorkshire being the only UK team in both forms in the Div 1(I think).

Lancashire will also be playing in both Division 1 competitions!

Eh?

 

[David]

Eh?

The first part of Graham's post is a quote by Umpire_Money

 

[aditya]

Karnataka

After being tagged as one of the best side of WCC, Karnataka were eager to get promotion in both leagues.This goal of the team was achieved and everyone was estatic.

Four Day
We started off with a bang by winning 7 4d games on the trot and no one in the league were near us.Then disaster struck with injuries to key players like AV Kale and A Jones and we lost the next 2 games which meant we had to win the last one to win the cup.We won the last game easily and won the cup.The credit goes to the bowlers more than the batsman.

One Day
OD league was also no different.There was just one off day when we lost to Warwickshire.We won 9 out of the 10 games and stormed into Div 2.Mainly we had beaten the next best team Hampshire who were the only major threat to us twice.But still after winning 9 games i felt that our batting was pretty weak.If we didnt had the world class bowlers in K Ali, A Jones,MA khan and J Moss and dont forget C Gayle it would have been difficult to get the cup.Our bowlers bowled the opposition out for less than 200 thru out but still we won by losing 7 or 8 wickets.A jones kept the cool head in many games while chasing.

Top performers
FD
1.K Rangnekar 764 runs@47.75 and 3 wickets@sr 50
2.K Godwin 740 runs@46.25 and 22 wickets@sr 44.45
3.A Jones 352 runs@32 and 29 wickets@sr 40.75
4.K Ali 245 runs@27.22 and 51 wickets@sr 39.29

OD
1.A Jones 130 runs@65 and 25 wickets@sr 15.16
2.AV Kale 228 runs@45.6
3.K Ali 18 wickets@sr 18
4.J Moss 20 wickets@sr 18.9
5.C Gayle 303 runs@37.88 and 9 wickets@sr 20

Going into the new season we have made our batting strong by getting S Maxwell and E Howarth both of whom are top class players.We r now ready to take on the likes of SA,Mumbai and NSW in the 4d comp.As the record says we have won both the FD leagues in which we were in the last 2 season so now we have got our place among the best and its upto the boys to show the character to win the Div 1 FD cup which will not be easy to get.

 

[nibbs]

Warwickshire

One Day
Disapointing finish in what had promised so much. After thrashing Karnataka in round 5, we moved within two points of the lead, but then proceeded to be defeated in the next three matches. Fourth was our final placing. The bowlers struggles all season long and continually failed to fire only on occasion did the cause a team trouble and that team was Karnartaka. Rolling them for 102. Otherwise sides were always able to make 200+ not losing to many wickets along the way. Batting was ok, with Howarth and Anderson playing well, but there wasn't much back up, so we lacked the depth needed to go on to make 250+.

Four Day
We won Eight out of Ten games but failed to win the title. Losing out to a side who won only seven by three points. In the end it was too many **** poor first innings which cost us. Often in the second innings the boys would come out blazing. When there were no points on offer. Howarth was superb again, with good back up from captain Sriram, Hemanath Kumar and Anderson. The bowling was is most cases amazing. On most occasions it came through and saw us to some close victories.

Next season promises lots. New batsmen Rowell and Hemp offer a lot, while the draft hopefully will show off some unforeseen bowling talent that shall be picked up during the draft...

 

[age_master]

Colts Season Report

Overall a poor season from the Colts, not gaining promotion in either form, or a title. Management however have decided to retain the bulk of the playing staff in an effort to become more consistant for next season. Our Rookies performed well in the Acadamy which will bolster our batting next season. Key signings were made in the area of spin bowling, an area which the colts have never really bothered with in the past, it was decided that this option could improve our fortunes in both forms of the game, as such, we welcome back D Hettarachchi to the club, who was traded before our first season in WCC. and welcome K Daly to the squad, who is a young, and very economic spinner, who replaced a retired player at Glamorgan County Cricket Club. it is also a pleeasure to welcome Brett Lee, the worlds fastest bowler to the club, who will add some venom to the attack which we seemed to lack this season.

One Day - Divsion 2
Our 1 day season was pathetic, basically, after being undefeated last season we expected that our OD side would gain promotion this season, this was not to be, losing a few too many games, 1 great game however came against NSW, which was lost, but was a fantastic game to watch, NSW batted first and scored a huge 321, bevan and Richards both hitting centuries, than came our innings, a great effort, but we ended up just 22 short, Klusener and Shaw hammered the bowling after a weak start, Klusener making 124 and Shaw 86*. Thankfully, due to the weakness of TN and Surrey we were able to avoid relegation, next year the division will be alot harder with Karna, QLD and Mumbai coming into the division, we are looking forward to the challenge and will hopefully perform alot better than this season. Lance Klusener, after taking out the OD all rounder award for the whole of WCC was also named Colts OD player of the year after making 312 runs @ 44 with the bat and taking 13 wickets @ 15 with the ball.



Four Day - Division 4
A Draw with Minnows Auckland cost us the title, very dissapointing loss to WP also hurt in the last game of the season. 1 good point though is the good performnces of M Beasley who made 619 runs @ 38 and taking 39 wickets at 18.41. he was named 4d player of the year for these outstanding performances.


The Overall player of the year was also named. M Beasley on top of his overall best allrounder in WCC award and his colts 4d player of the year award took this out, in addition to his 619 runs @ 38 and 39 wickets @ 18.41 in the 4d version. In the OD scored 190 runs, including a late season 148 averaging 27 and with the ball took a handy 12 wickets @ 37. A second part of this award is also the Vice captaincy for next season. he is the youngest player to be offered the captaincy at the club during its time in WCC.

 

[Slats4ever]

Western Province Cancel Dinner cos players don't deserve it and just write a Season Report

I'm VVVVVVEEEEEERRRRRRRYYYYYYY SAD
ok. I'll tell u whose a bunch of losers
Guys like Brett Lee, Irani, Hogg, Richardson, Astle. McKenzie, guys who come along and tell me with awesome averages they're gonna play well yet stuff up each week, they're a bunch of loser, and to the guys whom I retained u better pull your socks up or you won't be getting a season dinner next year!
OD we sucked with our concentration, why the hell couldn't we just get over the line in one of those OD games that we lost by 10 or less runs, and tying with one wicket down what's with that.
Then in our play off getting out for 150 just because the horses were on and the wanted to watch that didn't mean the had to get out.

And 4 day sucked to, the start to the season was soooo slow, and that meant we didn't have enough points to pip Canterbury, boo hiss!!!
Next year i guess.

By the way the only players i love are Rickman, Nelson and Llewellyn, u guys can come have a team dinner at Pizza Hut with me.

 

[thierry henry]

I'll make this brief as I only inherited the team mid-season.

I think where we ended up is a fair reflection of the quality of players, and now I have survived in Division 3 I am looking forward to next season with a couple of minor changes to the line-up.

I honestly think our squad is best suited to 4D, yet somehow we managed a good mid-table finish in OD without any real stand-out performers. We managed to sneak a few close victories but took some fearful hammerings. On the other hand, I thought we were quite competitive in 4D, yet ended up in a play-off with Western Province to preserve our spot. All credit to the boys for a very solid performance, although it was a worry that our 2 stars were Ramesh and Flower, who are departing next season.

The exceptional performer of the year was Rob Nichol, who was up with the best in 4D batting.

 

[Simon]

ACT Comets Season Report

The ACT Comets started their first season in WCC as favourites for both titles in the division 5 competition. Coach Simon Fitzsimmons expected big things from his side, several players such as David Jeffrey, Matt Ramage and Sean Maxwell all came to the club with huge wraps, they were joined by stars like Brad Hogg and Shane Watson.

The Comets season was very succesful, claiming both titles was a a huge bonus as we look to become a WCC powerhouse and perhaps one day the best Australian WCC side. We were very disapointed with our first round VB cup loss to Victoria and will be hoping to make amens for that in Season 4.

Everyone in the side performed at some point, from Maxwell's 1400 4d runs, Dawn's 694 1d runs, Ramages 32 1d wickets, Mann's 57 4d wickets and then to the all round ability to Dawson who averaged 40 in both forms as well as keeping wickets. Some players played below their best, ben Southam has lost his spot at the club, David Jeffrey was very lucky to be offered a contract for next season and christian Hanna being traded to strengthen our bowling stocks.

Some players stood out and did even more than was expected of them, Brad Hogg scored 105 runs @ 105 in 1d, several times playing very important innings. Fast Bowler kent French wasnt expected to play a big role but finished with 36 4d wickets and 10 1d wickets. cade Brown hit nearly 800 runs batting at number 6 and hit some big scores along the way and earnt his season 4d average of 52.

The highlight performances of the season were Maxwell's doulbe centuries. 258* and 269, both against Guyana. Michael Dawn's 171* was a top innings too. But the day Ramage took 9/7 from 4 overs against Free State back in round 2 takes the cake. Hounarable mentions to dawson's 148 v Guyana in rd 9 in 4d and Maxwells 129* in the first 1d game of the season v guyana when we won chasing 330.

ACT Comets awards night
Winners of the Comets awards night are as follows:

1d player of the year: M Dawn (18 votes)
4d player of the year: S Maxwell and S Mann tied (14 votes each)

4d batsman of the year: S Maxwell (1400 runs)
1d batsman of the year: M Dawn (694 runs)
4d bowler of the year: S Mann (57 wickets)
1d bowler of the year: M Ramage (32 wickets)

Fielder of the year: B Southam (15 catches)
Coaches award: C Brown (789 4d runs)

Merv Hughes Medal for the best and fairest player
3rd: S Maxwell (20 votes)
2nd: S Mann (22 votes)
1st: M Dawn (24 votes)

Comets hall of fame inductees:
S Maxwell and M Higgs

 

[Graham]

LANCASHIRE

Tha aim at the start of the season was not to get relegated from Division 1 OD or Division 2 FC.
I had high hopes that I might challenge for promotion back into Division 1 FC so that I was back in both Division 1 competitions for next season.

Towards the middle of the season, we weren’t that far behind SA in Division 1 OD, but a slump towards the end of the season saw us looking to avoid a relegation playoff! Thankfully we did and so achieved our goal of staying in the division.

In contrast, our FC form improved in the latter part of the season with a crucial win over TN gaining us a promotion playoff against Queensland. We won a hard fought game against the Aussie outfit to get back into the top flight.

Last season, Lancashire were beaten semifinalists in the VB Cup and this season we went one step further by getting into the final.
With due respect to David and his Leicestershire side, I fully expected us to take out this final, but a superb innings from D.Samaraweera guided Leicestershire to a famous underdogs victory.

So all in all a pleasing season.

The FC bowling attack was second to none with S.Harwood (60 wkts at 20), M.Pushpakumara (39 wkts at 23), E.Kellar (32 wkts at 23), M.Rice (29 wkts at 24) and A.Dale (25 wkts at 28) anchoring the success.
The FC batting was the Achilles heel with only M.Walker (45 ave) and R.Dravid (41 ave) topping 40+.

M.Mendis continued to be devastating with the ball in OD matches (16 wkts at 23) and he will be sorely missed following his upcoming retirement. M.Rice (9 wkts at 26) also performed well.
J.Madanagopal (49 ave), O.Beasley (48 ave) and M.Ramprakash (40 ave) ensured that the OD batting was always well served. Ramprakash is also retiring.

And so into the draft and pre season trading with Lancashire looking to boost their batting in particular. This may mean that our star bowler S.Harwood needs to be traded, but to be honest, we’re strong in the bowling department and sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the overall good of the team!

 

[marc71178]

but to be honest, we’re strong in the bowling department and sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the overall good of the team!

I remember thinking that last season with my bowling from the year before!

 

[Graham]

LOL - hope that's not a bad omen for me!

 

[gibbsnsmith]

if i had a team if i would give you all the bets party ever! but since i dont ill just be angry here...:!(

 

[marc71178]

if i had a team if i would give you all the bets party ever! but since i dont ill just be angry here...:!(

For crying out loud, get over it!

We have enough managers and you are waiting to take ver a team - I think everyone knows that by now!

 

[gibbsnsmith]

lmao doesnt this remind you off a certain pleyr tha you keep banging on about

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

lmao doesnt this remind you off a certain pleyr tha you keep banging on about

No it doesn't. Marc's AA humour is said in a light-hearted manner and isn't annoying. It seems the only person who is genuinely bothered by it is you.