Wickford are U16 Indoor Champions at Leigh on Sea – further details to follow

Thurrock Sunday senior indoor fixtures have now been published – please see link on right

The Annual General Meeting of the South Essex District Cricket Board will be held at Benfleet Cricket Club, Woodside Park, Thundersley, Benfleet, SS7 4PA on Monday 6th February 2012, 8pm start.  A representative from all our member clubs should attend.

The Southend and District Association of Cricket Officials is putting on an additional course for all those who wish to learn the basics of umpiring. It will be held over two days on Saturdays 18th and 25th February 2012 at St Christopher’s School, Leigh on Sea. The cost of the course will be only £55, which will include a years membership of the ECB ACO as well as a number of course materials and the level one examination at the end of the second day.  If you are interested in attending, please download and complete the attached application form by clicking here.

Several member clubs in particular are looking forward to the New Year.  Pegasus and Corringham cricket club’s four teams have been elected to the Shepherd Neame Essex League for 2012, while Thurrock cricket club’s first, second and third elevens have joined the T. Rippon Mid-Essex League.  Meanwhile, hardy souls from Stanford le Hope cricket club braved heavy rain on New Year’s Day by staging a cricket match to start their 125th Anniversary events programme.  Hadleigh and Thundersley cricket club and Orsett cricket club will be hosting the Lashings World XI this year.  The fixture at Hadleigh’s John Burrows ground will take place Tuesday 10th July while the Orsett staging will be on Friday 3rd August.  The South Essex District Cricket Board wishes its member clubs a very happy and prosperous 2012.

We are pleased to announce that GEOFF LAKE has been appointed as our Hon. Senior Indoor Competitions Secretary for our West (Thurrock) area with immediate effect, replacing Kevin Hymas. The fixtures for the Thurrock Senior Indoor Competition (midweek) have recently been published and they are available by clicking on the relevant link from the menu on the right of this website.  In a significant change, the winners of this competition will progress to our play-off final which will decide which club represents this Board at the County stages.  Previously, it was our Sunday competition which produced the Thurrock team for the play-off.

Many in our community will be aware that Geoff has held this post previously and now makes a welcome return to his former post. We are sure you will join us in welcoming Geoff back into our fold and giving him full support in his role. A handover meeting was held between Geoff and Kevin on Tuesday 6th December 2011.

No decision has yet been made on the future of the Sunday competition of the senior indoor sixes in Thurrock.  This Board is keen to increase participation in all forms of the game and we are  looking at introducing more than one division in the future to engage with more players, especially those lower down the ability scale, thus widening participation.

The Essex County Cricket Board has announced the draw for its annual indoor six a side cricket competition, which takes place at the Essex Indoor Cricket Centre at the Ford County Ground, Chelmsford.  After a preliminary play-off between two winning teams from feeder competitions outside our area, four teams will be left to play in a knock-out competition on Saturday 7th January 2012, starting at 6pm.  Due to limited viewing space, the event is not open to members of the public.  Our representatives this year are Belhus CC and they will play Buckhurst Hill in the evening’s second match, with an approximate start time of 7.30pm.  If successful, Belhus will progress to the County Final, which has an approximate start time of 9pm on the same evening.

Belhus Cricket Club’s under twelve indoor cricket “A” team (pictured, right) were crowned champions on Friday following a 27-run win over Thurrock “B”.  But even this could not detract from a sensational individual performance by Horndon’s Daniel Stone who hit six sixes and one four from a single over in a magnificent 65 not out against the Orsett “A” team.

The final week of the competition saw three teams, Belhus “A”, Horndon on the Hill and Orsett “A” still vying for the title, but the issue was quickly resolved when the first of these three teams in action, Belhus “A”, maintained their 100% record.  The eventual winners suffered an early set back when both openers, Joshua Reynolds and Tyler Kohl were dismissed cheaply by a keen Thurrock “B” attack, but they were able to rally as Eathan Morris and Ben Garwood steadied the ship.  They both scored 16 runs as their team finished on 75 for the loss of five wickets.  In reply, Thurrock “B” were dismissed for 48 with the Belhus bowling attack on top form.   Morris and Kohl claimed 2-6 and 2-4 respectively.

Thanks to Stone’s heroics, Horndon amassed the highest team score in this year’s U12 event with 148, for the loss of four wickets, as Stone finished with a batting average of 184.  The talented player had earlier retired on 25 as required by the regulations, but returned to hit 40 runs off the final over of Horndon’s innings.  His six sixes were supplemented as one of those six hits was achieved off a no-ball.  A boundary four completed the run rampage.

Callum Newton, as ever, produced runs in a highly productive opening partnership with Stone.  Newton finished on 27 not out and took his competition tally to 153 runs without being dismissed.  Orsett “A” responded with 75 all out, for whom Dylan Rose top scored with 28 not out.  Stone, 2-12, and Newton, 2-0, claimed the lion’s share of the wickets.  Horndon finished in second place, with Orsett “A” in third.  For full details of the competition, including full results summary and final league table, please click here.

Management Committee Members of the South Essex District Cricket Board are extremely disappointed to hear, through national and local media, of the decision by the General Committee at Essex County Cricket Club to immediately cancel the Southend Cricket Festival, thereby ending a tradition in our area which dates back over 100 years.

The South Essex District Cricket Board, representing the interests of its community-based member clubs, will take all reasonable steps to support the local campaign for the reinstatement of first class cricket in Southend to ensure that our sport has the highest possible profile and consequent development opportunities.

We attended a public meeting at Southend Borough Council’s Civic Offices on Wednesday 12th October 2011.  To see the notice for this meeting, please click here.   The South Essex District Cricket Board has also communicated with Essex County Cricket Club on this issue and the correspondence can be viewed by clicking here.

This matter will also be on our agenda at our next management committee meeting which will be held in November.  We would like to thank Southend Borough Council and the Southend Cricket Festival Task Force for hosting an excellent presentation at the public meeting on 12th October, which has been widely reported by the local media and also appears on the BBC website.   Click to view.

The first Sunday in September is traditionally our Youth Finals day and our three finals produced a thrilling climax to the season with two finals decided by just one run and the other by two wickets in the last over.  As usual, the U15 and U13 finals were held at Benfleet CC, while the U11 final was held at Wickford CC.  The South Essex District Cricket Board would like to thank the hard-working volunteers at our host clubs, including umpires, scorers, caterers and groundstaff along with the management, players and supporters of all the finalists for making the finals special occasions for all our young players.

In the Under 15 final, an exciting match that swung to and fro throughout was finally decided with Rayleigh (pictured right) coming out on top by just two wickets.  Wickford batted first and were restricted to a total of 78 by good tight bowling and three direct hit run outs.  This target looked well within reach with George Barker and Christian Humphries looking comfortable against the Wickford attack but when both were run out in the same over and wickets falling steadily thereafter, Wickford appeared to be in command of the game.  But several lusty blows by Nick Buckley and Gideon Humphries together with good running by Tom Peppiatt and Matt Jahanfar kept Rayleigh in the game.  With eight wickets down and three overs to go it was left to Luke Keeley and Jahanfar to get twelve runs and then five from the final over.  A neat late cut from Jahanfar for four and then a single saw Rayleigh home with three balls to spare in a nail biting finish.

In the Under 13 final, Orsett (pictured left) won by just one run against Basildon and Pitsea after the latter’s last wicket pair just failed in their attempt to score ten runs off the last over.  Earlier, Thomas Haden scored 25 not out as Orsett reached 88 for the loss of nine wickets.  In the Basildon & Pitsea reply, Orsett’s Joseph Mitchell took 3-19. Jack Plom bowled very tightly, conceding just seven runs from his alloted four overs (one wicket).  Harry Lockyer kept up the pressure by claiming two wickets for just eight runs.  But Basildon & Pitsea fought back well as the second ball of the final over was hit for six, but tighter bowling then ensued which left three runs required from the last ball.  A drive was hit to the cover fielder and only one run was mustered.

Wickford (pictured right) played out a tense maiden last over to defeat Westcliff by the same margin in the Under 11 pairs format final.  Westcliff batted first and scored 295 for the loss of nine wickets, which yielded a net score of 250.  Wickford’s Lee Grimes took three wickets for fifteen runs in three overs and colleague Josh Spooner served up 2-7 from two overs.  Wickford, with home advantage, scored 36 runs off the first eight overs requiring just fifteen runs from the remaining dozen overs.   At this point the visitors introduced their key bowlers and this paid dividends as five Wickford wickets fell leaving the last pair one run ahead with four overs to survive.  Five runs were added before Essex bowler Lockhart struck with the last ball of the penultimate over.   This left the hosts just one run ahead but young David Vose defended heroically against district captain Tom Baker to win the match as Wickford finished on 276-5, yielding a net score of 251.  For Westcliff, Lockhart picked up 2-5 from three overs and Pinkerton returned figures of 2-6, also from three overs.

Applications are now invited from member clubs to join our various indoor six a side competitions that are staged throughout the 2011-2012 close season across our district area.   For adult indoor competition enquires, please contact Dave Webster (Southend area) or Kevin Hymas (Thurrock area).  For youth indoor sixes, please contact Nikki Spicer (Southend area U16s only) or Cliff Cansdale (Thurrock area U12s, U14s and U16s).   An announcement regarding womens’ and girls’ indoor sixes will be made soon.