Our team Captains give us their views on the 2021 season, it's highs and lows from a team and individual perspective. Fist up is Club and 1XI Captain James Dixon
Favourite Moment
My favourite moment was being asked by Sefton Park Cricket Club to become the Club Captain for our return to the ECB Premier League and leading the 1XI through the 2021 season after a very difficult year for this club with COVID 19. My first game as the captain with the great bunch of people who were looking forward with our 'new and inexperienced' first team against a strong Ormskirk CC in April under the beautiful weather and beautiful ground there. I was really nervous to made my debut as the club captain on this day, but we had a great day of playing cricket on this day against Ormskirk CC, unlucky that we lost by 20 runs in a very close game at the end and I was really proud of this lads who worked hard to make this a great day for SPCC supporters, committee members and watchers in the Rose Garden and on the bank. Favourite match
My favourite match was beating Formby CC at home in the front of 500 people in our ground as our first Premier League win for a long time and my first team as captain as well.
I was happy to score the winning single to win the game, and our players were emotional and proud with all the supporters cheering and very happy.
Favourite away ground My favourite away grounds were Southport and Birkdale Cricket Club and Ormskirk Cricket Club as they were the great grounds to play cricket and Ormskirk provided the fantastic hospitality with great beer and food shared post game with all the Ormskirk CC players.
Unsung hero My unsung hero of this side was Raheem Kasser who never missed a game.
From the first game he has been fully committed to play for us, his bowling has been really outstanding to our first team with around 40 wickets in his debut year. His attuite was great on the field and in batting as well, he never gave up when we were suffering or if anybody made a mistake in the field. He always encouraged his teammates to keep their heads up and focus on the game, and helped them to focus on the next ball.
Huzaifa has been my favourite first team player this year with his outstanding all round performances as a bowler and a batsman as well but Raheem has a great help in the field and to me and everyone else. He have been helping our youngsters how to being as a proper first team cricketer and has helped everyone to understanding what they are doing in the field, bowling or batting especially as players may struggle to understand my sign language or Scott Aitchison's scouse accent haha.
Honourable mentions My honourable mentions will be Rob Durand with his outstanding scoring skills and his great admin work on our play-cricket site. He has supported me through this year with my captaincy and his scoring paperwork, giving me some advice throughout my leadership.
I would like to say another thank you to Dave Smith and his brother with their whole year supporting our first team, they both gave up their time on a Saturday to support us both home and away every game. We had great chats all year and they always helped the first team to enjoy our cricket throughout the year. I would also like to say thank you to the captains and committee members for their support for me, and I know that I had the love and hate relationships throughout a difficult season, but they are just great bunch of people.
Player to watch I have some eyes on our great young players as Huzza, Leo, James Stirling and Ibrahim Ahmed can be top players next year. I can see that LJP can score 350 runs next season after he has had a great breakthrough year moving from from Sunday XI to 2nd team with his fully committed attitude on batting and fielding and helping make our players enjoy our post game socials as well!