End of season review
The last match has been played, the whites have been put away for another winter, and all that remains is the presentation of end of season awards. And what a season it has been …
2026 will always be remembered as the (first?) year our Men’s 1st XI reached a national final at Lord’s, and much has already been written – most of it by the inimitable Graham Webb – about how we got there. As for what happened when we did, Graham has gone one better and produced a minor masterpiece of a video, which will receive its world premiere at the upcoming awards night. Those who have not yet had a sneak preview have a treat in store.
But 2026 was a remarkable year for the club in other ways too – indeed it would have been a vintage year even if the National Village Cup run had never happened. So, before they are forgotten, here’s a quick rundown on the other achievements of this extraordinary summer.
Men’s cricket
After missing out narrowly last year, the Men’s 1st XI, once again ably skippered by Will Melhuish, won the I’Anson Div.1 title for the fourth time in just over a decade (a period which also includes four occasions when we finished runners-up). The team got off to a fast start, with wins in all their limited over matches in the first part of the season. Although – as has become customary – in declaration games we sometimes struggled to bowl sides out on Blackheath’s excellent batting strip (credit here not just to Jonny Nolan but to the diligent watering team who kept the square in great condition despite the drought), at one point there was talk of going the whole season unbeaten.
But disaster then struck at, of all places, the then bottom side Tilford, where our top order was were undone by a combination of accuracy and movement from Jason Stones and – despite a fine fightback from youngster Sam Behn (66 n.o.) – our total of 183 was chased down largely thanks to brisk 81 from opener Steve Selwood. All of sudden Elstead, whom we had defeated comfortably in our 45 over match at Blackheath but were otherwise unbeaten, moved narrowly ahead of us and it became clear that the title might well turn on the return fixture in late July.
As to be expected, that was a tight and highly competitive match, with no quarter given on either side. Ultimately, however, our strength in depth told: our total of 199, to which there were numerous useful contributions (notably Pete Melhuish’s 44 and Tom Vickers’ 52), proved comfortably enough to secure the winning draw, and once again our noses were in front. Thereafter it only remained to avoid further slip-ups, which we duly did, despite some nervous moments against Bramley.
As regards the individual stars of the season, that is something for awards night. Suffice to say that this was truly a season in which the teenagers came into their own, especially left-arm spinner Sam Behn and the extremely rapid Oscar Gilliam. But as the statistics show, the more experienced players also contributed handsomely.
The Men’s 2nd XI had a more mixed time of it at the start of the season, lurching between comfortable victories and crushing defeats during their first few games. On their day, our bowlers were formidable, especially against Headley where Steve Brennand (5-16) and Freddie Park (4-12) combined to skittle out the opposition for just 33, and against the Bourne where we successfully defended a modest total of 130, with Steve Brennand again doing most of the damage. But at this stage of the season the batting was often fragile.
However, as June turned to July, more youngsters became available, and the team was also reinforced by one or two new faces, notably Tom Wilson, whose debut for us against Shalford featured a brilliant 164 n.o. (remarkably, Tom’s maiden century), as well as Taz Rohan, who dropped down from the 1st XI and promptly hit form with both bat and ball. Though there were still a couple of narrow defeats in our matches against Peper Harow and Headley, both of which we could easily have won, on the home run in August we were invincible, successively defeating Haslemere, Worplesdon & Burpham and the Bourne. When the final Saturday of the season was washed out, we stood in a highly creditable third place. Congratulations to Ben Stefanik in his debut season as captain.
The Men’s 3rd XI also had a new skipper in Chris Lewis, and like the 2nd XI had a rocky start to the season. After defeats against Grayswood and Milford, their game against Liphook & Ripsley ended agonisingly in a tie, when our last 2 wickets fell with the scores level. However, the boot was on the foot the following week when our 10th wicket pair of Alex Davison and Edward Allen saw us squeak home to victory over Bramley against the odds – Alex’s 26 not out being worth at least 50 in any other game.
That win proved to be the turning point of the season, and remarkably – save for a heavy defeat to an exceptionally strong Churt & Hindhead 2nd XI – the team went unbeaten for the whole of the rest of the summer. That run admittedly included one or two tense rear-guard actions to stave off defeat in the declaration games, notably against Grayswood and Liphook & Ripsey, but it also included a series of increasingly comfortable victories, as availability at all levels of the club improved during the school holidays.
The last game actually played saw a comprehensive win over Wood Street Village by what must have been one of the strongest 3rd XIs we have ever put out, and (following the final Saturday wash-out) meant we finished in fourth place. Again, praise for the individual stars is best left to awards night, but suffice to say that our young bowling attack was hugely impressive throughout the season.
In T20 cricket, we had good runs in both the Surrey Slam and Stevens Cup (both of which we won last year), before going out in the late stages to Peper Harow in the former and Churt & Hindhead in the latter. As it turned out, this was probably just as well, as our National Village Cup run would have made it extremely difficult to participate in the Surrey Slam Finals Day and completely impossible to play in the Stevens Cup Final, which fell on the very day we made our trip to Lord’s.
We did however have one remarkable success in short form cricket, winning the Valley End 125 Hundred Tournament with a scratch team skippered by Flynn Bongiorno on the same sweltering afternoon that our Men’s 1st XI played a National Village Cup fixture at Blackheath (for which our overseas players were not eligible). Facing not only Valley End, but two other formidable wandering teams featuring several former A-list cricketers, we initially feared an embarrassing trouncing. However, the gods of cricket were with us, and certainly with the skipper, who aside from his astute captaincy played two quite brilliant innings. Part-time U16 seamer Alex Davison also had a day to remember, picking up 5 wickets across the 2 games – including, in the final against Exeats, those of Josh Dodd (formerly of Border Province, South Africa) and Reagan McClean (formerly of Windward Islands, West Indies), both clean bowled. Largely thanks to Flynn, we chased down Exeats’ total of 144 with 2 balls to spare, and to cap it all won both the main raffle prizes.
Finally, we had another enjoyable season of Friendlies, although our usual Sunday fixture list was seriously affected by our National Village Cup run, which meant that several games had to be cancelled. In those that were played, several different captains (including a couple of young players new to the role as well as our women’s overseas player, Lily Lyndon) all quickly grasped the priorities, i.e. ensuring that everyone got a decent game and that there was a close finish rather than the result. As usual, our opponents all greatly appreciated not only our facilities (and excellent teas) but the way in which we played the game, and invariably went away happy whether they won or lost. Cricket week was also a resounding success, as already recorded elsewhere.
Women’s cricket
The tremendous success of our Men’s season was fully matched by our Women. Buoyed by the arrival of overseas all-rounder Lily Lyndon, as well as several other new players, the squad won all three of the competitions they entered.
In the inaugural year of the I’Anson Women’s Hardball League, our hardball team simply proved too good for our league opponents, with very comfortable victories over Pirbright (twice), Grayshott and Chiddingfold – the remaining games were either conceded by our opponents or abandoned. It was only in a series of friendlies towards the end of the season against stronger clubs that our mettle was really tested, with 2 extremely close matches against Cranleigh and the MCC. The MCC’s visit in particular was a memorable occasion, watched by a good crowd, and could hardly have been more exciting: we failed by the narrowest of margins to chase down their total in the final over, losing by a single run. The season concluded with a good win over Hampstead.
Our softball team was equally successful, winning both the Sunday and Midweek competions. Our batting in particular showed tremendous strength in depth, racking up formidable scores and several victories by very big margins, although matches against Chiddingfold and Farncombe saw closer contests (the latter inflicting our only defeat of the season in early July). Several of our stronger players (including in particular Lily Lyndon) generally sat out these games, giving the opportunity for others to shine, and it was great to see several new players come through. However the batting and bowling statistics were respectively dominated by Joy Lisney, who managed a remarkable 224 runs at an average a little over 100, and Helen Mansell, who was comfortably the leading wicket taker.
Junior cricket
It seems a long time now since the junior season finished, and at this distance I won’t attempt to review every squad’s season in any detail, but will merely mention a few highlights.
For the first time in the club’s history, we fielded both U19 and U17 boys’ team in Tier 1 of the SJCC, albeit that both teams were composed almost entirely of boys at least a year younger than the permitted age limits. Both teams played a handful of games in late June and July against some extremely strong sides, showing that we can now compete at these age groups on level terms with clubs in the higher divisions of the Surrey Cricket Championship and Hampshire leagues. Nearly every game was close, but none closer than an extraordinary U19s match against Rowledge, who needed just one run for victory from the final over from skipper Sam Riddy with 3 wickets in hand, but were bowled out off the last ball without further addition, leaving the match tied.
Our U15 and U13 boys are both small squads, but both acquitted themselves well in their Tier 2 divisions with their fair share of victories, whilst our U14s took on the strongest sides in the county in Tier 1A, finishing mid-table (the U14Bs finished second in Tier 2). However, the star performers of our boys’ section were undoubtedly our U12As, who won every match until the end of June, thus romping home with the Tier 1 West title before the summer holidays started to interfere with availability. They, like the U14s, will face the top teams in the county in Tier 1A next season. The U12Bs had a number of games cancelled but won every match they actually played.
Results amongst the younger boys’ age groups were mixed. The U11As struggled this year in Tier 1, though the 11Bs would have won Tier 2 but for a final day defeat against Elstead. The U10As and U10Bs both finished second in their respective Tier 1 and Tier 2 divisions. There are no points or tables in U8 or U9 boys cricket – which is about participation rather than results. Suffice to say that overall we won our fair share and we have plenty of promising young cricketers coming through.
As regards the girls, although there continued to be good attendance and much enthusiasm on Thursday evenings at training sessions, the issues we have recently experienced with availability for matches continued. This is a problem we share with many other clubs, but this year it afflicted in particular our U15 and U9 girls (both quite small squads), and in both cases we will be looking to address it both by additional recruitment over the winter months, and by attempting to get those competitive juices going next season!
Our own availability was much better in our U13 and U11 girls squads. The U13s played a decent number of games with some wins, some losses and another nail-biting tie against Grayshott, who levelled the score with 3 balls remaining but were unable to get the winning run from the bowling of Minty Ulph. Our large U11 squad faced the opposite problem to our U15s and U9s, with numerous fixtures cancelled because their opposition was unable to raise a team. In the end, they played only three games, winning all three.
And finally …
It would be remiss to conclude this round-up without a huge thank you to the many people who do so much behind the scenes, and who have contributed enormously to the tremendous success we have enjoyed this year. There are too many to thank individually, but they include those who have helped maintain our facilities, grounds and pitches; those responsible for our catering (especially Vicky for her wonderful teas); our great team of bar staff; our fantastic coaching teams for both seniors and juniors; the many parent volunteers who have helped out in one way or another with junior section training sessions or matches; the many others who have helped out on Thursday or Friday evenings with the BBQ, traffic marshalling or in other ways; and last but not least everyone on the club committee who have run all aspects of the club administration and “back office”, no small task these days.
One or two of those who have made a huge difference to the club this year will be specially recognised at our awards evening tomorrow. Tickets for that are now sold out, but I will look forward to seeing many of you there.
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