1st XI Surrey Championship Div 5 Winners - 2007 !!

OHACC 1st XI 2007 Surrey Championship Division 5 Winners

As I write this the rain is lashing hard against my windows and the sky is as black as the OH ditch. Yes its time for the 2008 cricket season.

Last year was the most successful in the club since the mid-1990s with the 1st XI winning Surrey Championship Division 5 and the 2nd XI staying in the hunt for promotion until the last couple of games. This is some achievement for a club that's existence was in grave doubt as recently as two years ago.

Our success last year was down to consistent availability, a great team spirit and aided by our overseas professional Nilesh Kulkarni who took 69 league wickets. We are as delighted to welcome Nilesh back this year as the opposition batsman will be dreading it. For someone schooled on the dusty tracks of Mumbai, Nilesh bowled extremely well on perhaps the wettest wickets seen in a generation. A hot summer will see him near unplayable. Nilesh will arrive as soon as his Visa permits.

There are two major goals for 2008, one on the playing side and one on the admin side. On the playing side we need to give the 2nd XI every chance of promotion. Over the last two seasons they've been in contention until late in the season but have not quite been able to consistently achieve the extra push needed for promotion. The team I most compare them to is Arsenal due to their style of “total cricket”. However perhaps a bit more attritional cricket when its needed could see them over the promotion line without sending the crowds flocking away from Dean Road. To be honest the weather last season made their task a bit of a lottery but the winners of the league only had 7 straight wins to our 5 so we are confident we can get very close this year. Simon Blair is the new captain and those of you that know Simon will be aware that if anyone is going to get people together and motivated for the extra push then it is him.

Our concentration on the 2nd XI is not going to be at the expense of continued progress for the 1st XI however. With Nilesh coming back for a second year we should be a very competitive unit in the new higher division. Our aim is for another promotion challenge but in truth my aim as 1st XI captain is going to be concentrated as much on the admin and funding side of the club in 2008 as this is going to be the key to the club's longevity. In truth id rather see some of the talented club players come to the party more in 2008 and if that means a less successful season in terms of results then its a price worth paying. We say a fond goodbye to the pocket rocket Imran who walked off the streets literally to help bowl us to the title in 2007 and we temporarily say goodbye to star all-rounder Usman Jan who has a marriage to sort out in 2008. We hope to have him back in 2009. We are perturbed to hear that his wife to be hates cricket.... hmmm.

Over the medium-term we’d still like to run a 3rd XI again. In a world where there seems to be many more pressures on people’s time than ever before this requires us to have a squad of perhaps 40-50 regular players. Over the last couple of years we have managed to recruit probably 10 extra players. I suspect we’ll manage a few 3rd XI fixtures this year but we still need more players to get a regular fixture list. I’ll certainly be trying to recruit as many schoolboys as I can again this year. This remains very difficult as most are affiliated to clubs long before they play adult cricket. However if we can pick up even one or two each year it helps over time.

My email address is jim.reid@db.com if you want to enter into any direct correspondence. We are also happy to take any new email addresses for our mailing list. We send out weekly reports on the club progress throughout the season. Hopefully we’ll have more good news to report this year. All newcomers to the revolution very welcome. Please contact me for more details.

Jim Reid (Hampton 1985-1992). 2006-2008 First XI OHACC Captain

Old Hamptonians Association CC have an existing site at www.ohacc.co.uk

Latest Play-Cricket News

Cockspur Club Twenty20

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) today confirmed a new Twenty20 competition for ECB Premier League clubs called Cockspur Club Twenty20. Cockspur Rum already sponsor the 45-over ECB National C

> Read more >>

• Don't miss out on the news
• Register for NatWest CricketForce 2009
• 2006 winners go well on TV
• Kids can watch for a quid in July