Junior Report 2009

Junior Co-ordinator Di McQuillan
U17 manager Steve Freer and Jill Woods
U15 A manager Tim Webster
U15 B manager Simon Kemp
U13 manager A squad Andrew Keightley and Dave Hall
U13 manager B squad Ian Hickman and Jem Sharpe
U11 Hardball manager Tim Litt
U11 Incrediball manager Tim Litt
U10 manager George Knight
   
Junior Club Coaches Level 2 Dave Guntrip, Nobby Keightley, Tim Litt
  Level 1 Di McQuillan, Tim Webster, Jem Sharpe, Barry Lecoyte, Hedley Miller, Nic Gillett, Jake Gillett, Alex Renwick, Dave Hall, George Knight, Richard Kendall, Ian Hickman
Senior Club Coaches Carel Fourie, Level 2, Brian Makwana, Level 2

Over the winter 3 members (Ashley Atkins, Pete Krzeczkowski and Tim Hirst) completed their level 1 ECB Coaching Award .

Indoor nets were coached for 10 weeks leading up to Easter 2009 at KE V11 for the U10, U11, U12 and U13 age groups on a Sunday afternoon and on a Monday evening for the older U13 and some of the U15 age group. A number of U15 and U17s joined the Senior players in the nets at Leicester.

Out door nets have been coached throughout the summer. Thursday night nets coached by Carel Fourie and Tim Litt for U13 plus U11 hardball and Incrediball and Monday night nets for U 13 and U11 hardball coached by Brian Makawana, Andrew Keightley and Dave Hall have been well attended.

The U15 nets on Tuesday have been coached by Dave Guntrip and Carel Fourie with several U 15s plus the U17s joining the senior net on a Friday night which was coached by Brian Makwana and Carel Fourie. Carel Fourie has coached individuals privately throughout the season.

Due to reorganization of the Friday nights with additional manpower to take the U10 matches both home and away there has been regular coaching each Friday which has built up the numbers again in the lower age group ( 6-8years) so that we shall have cricketers to feed into the older squads.

The older age groups have had a superb season; they started rather steadily with the cup fixtures but built on this and produced some excellent results in their respective league fixtures.

The U 17s had a poor start to the season and were knocked out of the cup at the round robin stage however they went on to top their league and win a tense District final match against old rivals Soar Valley Strollers to gain a place in the County semi-final where they lost to a strong Sileby team.

The U15 cup squad had a good run making the County semi finals however due to registration problems the team was unable to contest the match. They continued their good form winning their league and District final before going on to beat Barrow in the County semi-final. This resulted in a County final match against Kibworth where despite giving a good account of themselves the team were outplayed on the day by a very able opposition.

The U 15 B team finished mid table in their league.

The U13 squad went out at the round robin stage of the cup but went on to better things in the league fixtures.

The U13 B League team finishing top of their league but lost to Syston in the District final whilst the U13 A team finished in the bottom half of their league.

The U11s hardball squad had an extremely tough season bowling well but unable to apply bat to ball effectively and finished fifth in their league.

The U11 Incrediball squad had a similar problem (unable to get runs on the board)and finish eighth in their league.

Although still a young squad the U10s, with last years hard work paying off, have won a number of their matches this season and some of the U10 players have played up with the U11 Incrediball team to gain valuable experience for next year.

At district level a number of our cricketers have played with the North squad in the various age groups and Jo Kendall has played regularly with the U12 County Team.

Coaches from The Leicester Academy ran a well attended 5 day coaching clinic at Thorpe for 8 to 15 year olds during the summer holidays. The weather was good, the players benefited from excellent input and a great time was had by all.

The Parent and Children matches were well attended and hotly contested and followed by a successful presentation evening for the younger age groups( U13, U12, U11 and U10). Di McQuillan thanked the coaches, grounds-man, bar staff and supportive parents for their work throughout the season and each of the club’s U11, U10 and younger players was presented with a certificate for their commitment and effort.

Awards for Player of The Year, Most Improved Player and Clubman of The Year were made by the respective team managers and were received as follows:-

Player of the Year

U10 - Scott Cragg, U11 - Richard Ward, U11 Hardball - Ross Cragg, U12/13 A team - Dom Exton, U12/13 B team - Jaimin Mistry,

Most Improved Player

U10 - Reece Rawlins, U11 - James Curley, U11 Hardball - Ashley Barber, U12/13 B team - Iain Plowman, U12/13 A team - Toby Heaver

Clubman of The Year

U10 - Gallagher Plowman, U11 combined Incrediball and Hardball - Alex Litt, U12 combined with U13 - Lewis Krzeczkowski

Due to having an extended run to the league finals the U15s decided to have their presentation along with the U17 and senior players at the Annual Dinner. After a review of the season by Tim Webster the trophies for the U 15 age group were presented as follows :-

Player of the Year

U15A - Kingsley Miller, U15B - Priyan Mistry

Most Improved Player

U15A - George Exton, U15B - Will Baker

Best batsman

U15 Harry Webster

Best Bowler

U15 Charles Baker

Additional trophies presented were - Safe Hands (catching) Charles Baker and Big Hitter ( 6’s) Kingsley Miller

The U17 trophies were presented at the Club Dinner by Club President John Skelton .

Player of the Year

Sam Woods

Most Improved Player

Mark Starkey

Best Batsman

Matt Winn

Best Bowler

Isaac Smith

Many of the U13, U15 and U17 players are now gaining experience at the longer format game playing with the Sunday teams in the Grantham League , the newly formed Saturday 3rd XI and are also making their way into the Burrough and Belvoir league teams.

George Exton (U15) picked up the 4th Team (Grantham League) Player of the Year award and Ben Freer (U17) the 3rd Team ( Grantham League) Player of the Year award whilst Myles Hickman (U13) took the newly formed Saturday 3rd team Player of the Year award.

Kingsley Miller (U15) took the most catches in the club and Mark Starkey(U17) was awarded Young Player of the Year.

Thirty players have been entered for County Trials and are currently working their way through the initial stages of the selection process in readiness for the 2010 season.

Winter nets have been booked for February 2010 at KE VII for U10,U11, U12, U13 (Sunday )and U13 and U15 (Monday) with the U17s and some U15 joining the senior players at the Leicester nets on a Friday.

In order to stem the flow of our good youngsters from the club a Saturday 3rd X1 was formed for the 2009 season with a view to going into the newly created division 8 of the Everards League for 2010. This squad has played friendlies all season and included a large number of Juniors who have acquitted themselves well.

Di McQuillan

Junior Co-ordinator
October 2009