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1st X1 report 2005 season
‘….England win the ashes…Sefton beat Bootle.’ Not
the kind of headlines we’ve been used to for 13 years. In both the league and
all cup competitions (about thirty encounters) we finally managed to reverse
this increasingly embarrassing statistic. We did it as well with four regular 1st
team players away plus Paul Horton on Lancashire duty. We also beat this year’s
worthy champions, Northern, away from home after losing the toss (again) and
without an overseas professional. I suppose if we’d been offered both these
results back in April, after losing our overseas cricketer two weeks before the
first game, I’d have gratefully accepted.
Looking back
on the season, even with our highest ever premier league points total and a
record 8 wins, I can’t help but be slightly disappointed. We were in 3rd
place at the half way stage, with several articles in the Post and Echo talking
of us as title race dark horses. Then came our nemesis, August; the month to
finish all good league campaigns. 27 players played at least one 1st
team league match in 2005. We have a recurring August availability problem, as
we are a predominately amateur team playing in an increasingly professional
league. People need holidays and as we have at least 6 players who are either
teachers, married to teachers, or under 18 and go away in the school holidays
they are all going to be away in August. If we are going to progress as a team
we need to try and address our availability. At Leigh I was very grateful to
Adam Norcott for coming in to ‘keep’. 5 potential keepers I could have called
upon were all unavailable. Adam though did a great job on the day.
Whilst
staying in the premier league is an achievement worth acknowledging, I actually
believe it is an under achievement and we as a club need to be more ambitious
than the annual ‘will we wont we’ get relegated pre-season pre-occupation. We
are a cricket club and need to remember that cricket is why we exist; therefore
all our efforts need to be focused on the 1st team finishing as high
as possible. A shift of culture needs
to happen from within the club.
At times the club’s attitude still reflects the
cricketing days of the 80’s when I started playing. Sefton hasn’t really moved
on in the way league cricket has. 2.30 starts; about 45 overs a side and all
amateur teams finished 15 years ago. We play virtually all day cricket against
international cricketers now, a far cry from the game I started playing in the
80’s. ECB pyramid structured cricket is
not going away and as a result we need to adapt our attitude as a club.
Professionals are a reality and we need to embrace the concept or drift into
mid table 1st division mediocrity. If the 1st team doesn’t compete
it has consequences that run through all the sides as availability gets even
worse so players from the seconds come into the 1st team and
therefore 3rd team players go in to the 2nds and all teams struggle.
Just look at Worsley this season; relegated to the feeder league less than 5
years after performing as a competitive premier league team. They now face a
future of real uncertainty with the very existence of their club in doubt.
(…and let’s not even get started on LCC!)
Paul Horton again performed with total commitment
for his club scoring a shade under 800 runs in only 16 league innings. In this
league that is a tremendous effort, not to mention him snaffling more outfield
catches (17) than any other fielder in the premier division. Sadly the rest of
our batting again proved too light for the challenge. Two bright notes were the
emergence of John Jackson, aged 17 and Matt Phythian 16 - two young players
with a fantastic attitude and undoubtedly future main players of the club.
Another great plus for the side was the emergence of Bruce ‘the bonus’ Neary.
His ‘5 for’ and ‘7 for’ (plus 3 drops!) were great spells not to mention his 50
on batting debut against Wallasey.
Dave Poskitt proved to be the best young English
seamer in the league, as predicted by his own team mates. He constantly knocked
over the top order batsmen week in week out, and then on several occasions came
back to clean up the tail and win games. Not since Ashley Noffke and Chris
Whelan have I ever seen an opening bowler perform so clinically. Dave is a
great find for our club one of the very best opening bowlers the club has had
since I started in the mid 80’s. Rob Houghton took 38 league wickets, and most
impressively his dramatic spell of 5-1 against Bootle will live in the memory
for many a year. I think the increased competition of three spinners helped Rob
focus more and his performances this season reflect this.
The overseas professional situation proved once
again a source of frustration. I’m taking this opportunity to explain to a lot
of members the inside track on the whole process. It’s probably one of the most
talked about and ultimately controversial conversation points in the bar
throughout the season.
In the absence of a cricket chairman this season I
was left with the responsibility of finding a replacement for Vin Mane after he
informed us he had to have an operation in April. Stuart Wade’s help and
valuable input was gratefully received as between us in a space of 4 weeks (and
without exaggeration) we either made or received about 50 calls/texts or
e-mails from India, Pakistan and Australia. We were approached by all comers
from Test cricketers, Australia A players and cricketers yet to play a 1st
class game, all of which were unknown to us as people or players.
We eventually settled for Ramesh Powar on account of
his superb playing record and as he was also endorsed by Vin as decent guy. Our
brief flirtation with Zeeshan Pervez Khan from Pakistan was a new dimension for
the club - an overseas sub pro/trialist. All will agree he is a very personable
guy and put himself about the club. However after the four games Zeesh played
we felt that Ramesh’s record was worth a gamble. Also, and crucially, Zeeshan
didn’t posses a UK work permit. In light of recent investigations by the inland
revenue this was a total non starter. Long term if he could qualify for a
permit I wouldn’t have a problem with him being our overseas, that’s if we have
one!
On that note my soap box has arrived. As I referred
to earlier the club (as an employer) needs to address the way it treats our
professionals; English and overseas. We have to realise they didn’t force
themselves upon our club, on the contrary we actively sort their employment. We
still haven’t accepted their role in the modern club game. If we don’t agree
with them fine don’t employ one. The worst thing we can do, which is what we
have done for most of the last 9 years is reluctantly employ, then treat as a
parasite we would like to remove at any given time (although often an amazing
turn around in attitude when they win a game!). My parting advice for what its
worth, is to investigate the young Australian route again, as I believe it’s
where we are as a club in both financial terms and employer attitude.
Finally as most of you will know by now I have
retired as a player, (never say never!) essentially as we are expecting our
first baby shortly before the start of next season, but also I have a new job
that will involve even more travelling etc and I’m attempting to stop hacking
and take golf seriously. This season was very enjoyable and I’m only sorry not
to be carrying on as captain as I really started to enjoy the challenge,
despite my ranting above! I’ve played senior cricket continuously for 24 years
at Sefton and in the 1st team for approx 18 years. My
congratulations to Ben Moore and when he takes over I hope he continues to get
the total support I had from the team. It was a real pleasure to captain all
that played in 2005, not a problem or back bite all season!
On a more serious note we desperately need a cricket
chair as in this new modern game the 1st team captain has more than
enough to do. Attending board meetings, in my opinion, is not the
responsibility of the 1st team captain, the cricket chair should
attend and act as a conduit for all the captains regarding cricket issues.
Again our structure is antiquated at times. 1st team league cricket
now is a very different pastime to what it was even 15 years ago. If we want to
encourage people to commit to captaining the 1st team then it has to
be realised that in this age of pros, all day cricket, relegation etc that
people’s time is stretched as it is. Shared responsibility is needed with more
people taking the burden. As an example this year I had a mobile bill of £185
in April mainly to India, drove to every away game, picked the pro up from the
airport, helped him and his wife move house twice in one day (!), collected him
every Saturday, paid off 2 bar tabs and attended every selection meeting when I
was in Liverpool. So a gentle nudge in the direction of the safety zone that is
the members bar on a midweek evening, off the pitch there’s a bit more to it
than meets the eye!
Sincere thanks to all that I’ve played with over the
years, with special mention to the two Stuarts, SW as an inspirational captain
that changed the way we competed as a team in the 90’s and also SMC – let’s get
behind him as he’s doing more than most of the whole membership put together.
Cheers
Howard Parker
1st XI Captain
