It has been my enormous pleasure to take this talented and amiable group of boys this year. They were inspirationally led by Toby Phillips, and, but for 1st XI calls for Jack Kilgannon and Oliver Haddock throughout the season, they could have achieved even more. A heavy defeat in the County Cup Final did them no justice, especially after their stunning demolition of a very strong Watford Boys team in the semi-final (won by 125 runs). A few other defeats rankle, as they were to strong, but beatable teams, but there were many fine, fine wins (8 in total). To beat Haberdashers’ Aske’s by 127 runs was exceptional, as was the mauling of St Albans by 106 runs.
All of the batsmen played innings of quality: James Stevens was frequently brutal; Lyndon Ryan calm and cultured; Toby Phillips pugnacious and punchy; while Christopher Bright and William Fraser were smiling assassins and Kilgannon and Haddock looked like men against boys. The bowling had great variation: Sebastian McCluskey’s hostile menace; Ryan’s miserly line and length; Benjamin Thompson’s extravagant swing; Matthew Turner’s magic balls; Stevens’ probing incision; Kilgannon’s infinite variations; Haddock’s canny concoctions; and, for one glorious half hour, James Nation’s ‘frog in a blender’ style attained immortality.
Many of these boys will go on to achieve great things in schoolboy cricket; I will always count myself lucky to have been involved with their team.
HTB Baxendale
