Representing the Club Cricket Conference
The Conference broadened substantially the opportunities afforded to its Member clubs in 2011. This included the long overdue introduction of a Women's XI and an U21 XI which targets in particular players seeking a pathway into County cricket and beyond.
To play for a Representative XI of the Club Cricket Conference is to play amongst the pre-eminent club cricketers of the era. Selection is highly competitive with a field of choice of some 30,000 players within the Member clubs of the Conference. A further substantial number are represented by the Midlands Club Cricket Conference and League Cricket Conference who also contribute to the touring squads. Member clubs are invited to nominate playing candidates.
We are fortunate to have the services of Min Patel (Kent and England) as our Coach and Cricket Development Manager. Min has been instrumental in overseeing our growing fixture list and assessing player’s capabilities.
The Conference fields 5 distinct XIs.
Representative Men's and Women's XIs: These are the strongest sides the Conference can field against powerful opposition. Both Men's and Women's XIs have a growing fixture list.
President's XI: This is an XI which honours traditional and goodwill fixtures and often provides the opportunity for new players to show their worth.
U21 XI: This has a growing fixture list and provides a pathway for young players who wish to demonstrate their capabilities to progress to County cricket.
Touring XIs: Tourists are selected from the players who have demonstrated the playing skills and commitment to the Conference in the preceding year.
2011 Season Round-up
One inaugural match each for the Women’s XI and the Under 21 XI do not appear to amount to much but the biggest oak tree in the forest started life as a little acorn. Both XIs can look forwarded to an expanded fixture list for 2012.
The inaugural women’s match took place against MCC Women on 25 August at Hayes (Kent) CC. The result was probably immaterial but, for the record, the MCC narrowly won a 25 overs match after rain had threatened no play at all. England squad member, Tammy Beaumont, had the honour of captaining the Conference on her home ground. In reply to the MCC’s 137-3, the CCC were 120-2 with Olivia Anderson 47 not out and Tammy dismissed for 45; the pair having put on 82 for the second wicket.
New ground was also broken with the fielding of an Under 21 XI against a local side at Watford Town on 2nd August which the Conference won in some style by 98 runs with Ealing’s Ollie Wilkin taking 6-20.
The undoubted cricketing highlight of the season was the match at Lord’s between the Representative XI and the MCC. An enthralling encounter was won by the home side by one run with just two balls to spare. Chris Paget of Brondesbury CC topped scored with 118 not out and shared an unbroken partnership with Ballard of 171. A chase at 5 runs an over is not impossible on magnificent facilities such as those at Lord’s, but it still has to be achieved! Sam Burge (41) of East Molesey was our leading scorer but, with all the top 7 scoring 20 or more, nobody was able to play the crucial innings and the Conference fell just 1 run short.
The annual Representative match against the British Police resulted in victory by 52 runs with Normandy’s Ian Prowse top scoring with 74. This was followed by a 1 wicket victory over a strong Kent 2nd XI at Beckenham thanks in large part to John Walford’s 80. Despite a stand of 122 between Tom Simmonds ((Letchworth) and Richard Hindley (Havant) CCC lost the annual match against our old friends, the League Cricket Conference, by 21 runs.
The Representative XI match against the Midlands Club Cricket Conference was rained off and the season ended with a one wicket defeat by the Combined Services.
An inaugural President’s match against Cricket for Change saw both our largest victory – by 105 runs - and the season’s best bowling figures of 7-25 being returned by Tahir Afridi of Watford Town. Perhaps better known as a member of the all-conquering Ealing side, he took the first seven wickets in the order. The President’s XI also accounted for the University of London, Arvind Maan (Old Emanuel 6-27) before losing to Windsor Great Park by 3 wickets and the President’s own club, Ealing, by 3 runs. The final President’s match against North Mymms ended in victory by 52 runs, with Sam Burge scoring the Conference's only century of the summer. He and Tim Handel of Stoke D’Abernon shared a 2nd wicket stand of 186 and ever-green Chris Page of Sunbury (a National Cup winner in 1974) taking 2-45.
All in all, a very satisfactory season and 2012 promises to be even better with an increase in the number and quality of fixtures – watch this space and be ready to nominate the best of the talent from your Club to represent the Conference.