The weatherman has answered our strongly-worded email and we're finally getting that heatwave we ordered weeks ago. Just in time as we told you July was a busy month... we're two events through the biggest three consecutive weekends of the CCC events calendar - the jewel in the crown is this Sunday in the form of the prestigious President's Day, hosted by your host with the most, President Mark Pulling. "Pullo" follows in a long line of Presidents dating back to Sir Edward Stern in 1898 (he pops up again later), with the highlight of their tenure President's Day, an event encouraging members to come along and celebrate the cricket and the Club. As Presidents have evolved so has the day, each of them have given it their own spin, Pullo's being this Sunday 18th from 11am.
If you aren't familiar with our Pullo, he has been with the Club for over 35 years, seeing his two sons Bill and Tommy follow his path through the Club. He has played in every senior team, and was a fearsome batsman & bowler throughout his heyday in the 80s & 90s. Nowadays you will find him soaking in the cricket on the patio or terrifying batsmen in the 4s with his bowling.
As a member of CCC you are very much invited to come and celebrate the day with us (you will have had your invite Tuesday) - the game begins at 11am, and in terms of refreshments, the bar will be open from 12pm, we will also have a gin bar on the go, Suzi Q's rocking after 3pm, and the ice cream van will be popping along for a hour or so (we recommend the "Popeye").
President Pullo and first-team Captain Jack Ogle have been busy assembling their teams and we can reveal to you now who will be playing in the Chertsey XI:
Captain: Jack Ogle
Elliott Bloomfield
Jacob Loveridge
Ben Hanger
Jake Taylor
Luke Westcott
Josh Jackman
Arthur Walmsley
Ed Marsh
Josh Fyfe
Jamie Anthony
It's a debut President's Day call up for youngsters Ed Marsh, Josh Fyfe, and Arthur Walmsley after impressing in the Colts and senior sections the last couple of years - they follow in a long line of young players invited to play in the auspicious occasion, it's a moment to treasure for the youngsters.
Come Sunday we'll be just one day away from the relaxation of the social distancing rules though (and where would we be without rules...) so please abide by the guidelines for this event:
- If you or anyone within your household is self-isolating please DO NOT come to the club.
- If you or anyone within your household has any symptoms of Covid please DO NOT come to the club.
- Register with QR code on arrival
- Parking is limited so please walk to the club if you can
- Pavilion will be open for use of toilets, please wear a mask when you enter.
We will also be holding the obligatory President's Day raffle after the game whereby you can win some superb prizes including a bottle of champagne, and some tickets to the hottest gig in town, the Hundred, for the Oval Invincibles ladies taking on their Manchester Originals counterparts on Wednesday 21st July, so dig deep.
Opening the Batting
So let's unpack Sunday, the biggest and boldest Colts Day in CCC history. Sitting on the sidelines of the four pitches the crowd blew their whistles in sheer delight during the group games so impressed at the talent on show (no shouting due to the Covid rules btw) so as soon as we walked in it was certainly an assault on the senses. It wasn't just us an impression was made on though, as the decibels were so high we even had a chap tweet us to remark how great it sounded from his house a few roads away.
We have some thankyous & well dones before we get going properly, a big loud virtual whistle blow to Colts Manager Felix Reisch and his team for organising and running the day (Coaches, Support Coaches, scorers), a huge effort, well done also to the Captains who marshalled their troops superbly, and thankyou to Colts kit sponsors TWP Accounting for sponsoring the kit used in the Final.
After six group games and a semi-final the Final came down to Rosie's Raiders (the 2019 winners) adorned in red and Henry's Hurricanes in blue, captained by Rosie Barnes & Henry Edwards respectively to battle it out for the Jim Denyer Colts Day Trophy.
With a crowd (whistles poised) more accustomed to a raucous Oval on a T20 night, fielding first, the Raiders got off to a flier from their 16 overs with some handy early wickets, most notably two epic catches by the Raiders' Ryan Foley which sent the crowd wild but the Hurricanes stayed calm and it was around the 10th over when the intensity rose a notch and they started to push on with the help of Luke Russell - they didn't factor in some insane fielding by the Raiders though and the battle was on. Lola Hubbard was on absolute fire with two catches that wouldn't have looked out of place on YouTube, Saff Ahmed with a great caught & bowled, and a run out off the bowling of Arthur Walmsley, meant the Hurricanes went on to end their innings on 286.
The Raiders followed suit in the second innings, losing a wicket early, and MJ Reisch in his lucky gold shorts just couldn't find the gaps. Two wickets in two balls by Dexter Feury and Scott Russell respectively, left the Raiders depleted in the score department and needing something big to edge victory. Lexie Fewell piled on the damage with ANOTHER two wickets in an over which more or less sealed the deal for the Hurricanes and the Raiders fell just short of the total, leaving the sky to rain blue as Captain Henry and his team lifted the trophy aloft.
We have created a gallery on your Colts Day 2021 page with a selection of the snaps we took during the day for posterity, so if there are any you'd like to add in, pop us an email.
Now, hand email-reading device to your Colt(s) at this point please - we have a little message for them:
We're sorry we can't mention every one of you who played in Colts Day (there were 124 of you...), but we were in awe of how ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS you all were and we can't wait to see what you do in the future. Colts Day is a great opportunity to have bags of fun and show the rest of the Club what we already know, just how amazing you are. Every game was full of drama, enthusiasm, and very LOUD! Very well done to every team that took part but especially the Hurricanes and the Raiders, what a Final, and very well done too to everyone who picked up an award at the end, much deserved. We'll let you into a little secret between us, we've realised we've been wasting our time watching those adults play cricket you know, we should be watching YOU every week!
If you could hand us back now please, we've got to talk about those adults (eurgh).
Notable Mentions
So let's unravel the carnage that was Saturday. This one won't take long. The 4s conceded their fixture against Normandy a couple of days before and the 2s received a very late concedage from Chipstead Coulsdon & Walcountians which meant the main ground was suddenly free, so up stepped the 3s (who usually play their home games at the Rec) bringing oppo Old Hamptonians along with them - the Edward Stern crowd finally witnessing what we've had to all season - the all or nothing 3rd XI rollercoaster. Mr Martin Bloomfield found himself sponsoring (and umpire Alan Dell umpiring) a completely different game to that which he had signed up for. After a destructive downpour during the morning the ground needed to dry off and as long as they started by 3.40pm we wouldn't lose that match too. Luckily we were up and running by 2pm, around the same time the 1s kicked off coincidentally (who had the better run of the forecasts), after losing an hour to the rain at Haslemere. Being of the timed game variety, and therefore a head scratcher for everyone involved, it was a day to keep the calculators close and it was decided we'd have 66-overs to fight over, 37 to Haslemere and 29 to Chertsey. Keep this piece of information in your back pocket. With Haslemere put in to bat first, they proceeded to pat away and found themselves on 21-1 after 15. Not exactly enthralling cricket for a passer-by, but the 1s were clever in their fielding on a slow pitch protecting the future run-chase and we looked on as other teams around their league seemed to be having a torrid time and falling victim to the weather - don't forget, rain does funny things to people. Haslemere reached 101-7 after their 37 and in return we seemed to be going along just short of the required run-rate, but going well. Suddenly an unforecasted isolated suicidal raincloud slid over the ground and we were off. Losing just 4 overs to the delay, we now needed 70 off 10 to win. Pushing to get back on despite the Haslemere protestations, we plugged away but after another couple of overs we were off for good and the game was abandoned just short of getting a defining result. Back at the Edward Stern the 3s had blue skies and started promisingly, finding themselves on 55-7 after a flurry of wickets in the middle order, stand-in Captain Kevin O'Flynn top scoring with 14. Shot of the day was "Beardy" Steve Reynolds doing his best Morecame & Wise impression (bat aloft, leg stuck out, result: dead ball), all out for 83. In reply Old Hamptonians themselves started promisingly, Vish Ramesh on debut bagging the wicket of the opener for Chertsey, but his partner stuck around and after Harry Nuti bowled him for 41 the majority of the damage had been done, and the 3s retreat back to the Rec with a loss.
The Ladies played a rearranged Slam match against Ashford last night which would hopefully solidify their position in their Slam table. Ashford after their 16 overs were 121-4 (Amy Bailey, Bonnie Edwards, and Bronwyn Mayne in the wickets) and in reply the Ladies had a whale of a time chasing it down - Amy Bailey hitting 24, Beth Norman-Walker retiring on 45 and bringing up her total with an epic six, the Ladies falling just nine short though on 112-4, and they sit top of the table with 31 points.
Saturday 10th July
Surrey Championship - 1st XI 36-3 v Haslemere 101-7 (Abandoned)
Surrey Championship - 2nd XI v Chipstead Coulsdon & Walcountonians (Conceded)
Surrey Championship - 3rd XI 83 a/o v Old Hamptonians 85-5
Kevin O’Flynn 14, Josh Fyfe 1-20, Harry Nuti 1-18, Vish Ramesh 1-23, Tom Bolger 1-23
Surrey Championship - 4th XI v Normandy (Conceded)
Tuesday 13th July
U12s 119-6 v Byfleet 81-11
Wednesday 14th July
U15s v Finchampstead - Conceded
Slam - Ladies 112-4 v Ashford 121-4
Beth Norman-Walker 45 (ret), Bonnie Edwards 1-25, Bronwyn Mayne 1-33, Amy Bailey 1-39
Fixture Card
Thursday 15th July
Social League - Salesians v Dads Army
Social League - Otters 11 v Chertsey Ladies
Social League - Football Club v Marist
Saturday 17th July
Surrey Championship - 1st XI v Kempton (H) 12pm start
Surrey Championship - 2nd XI v Normandy (A) 12pm start
Surrey Championship - 3rd XI v Thames Ditton (A) 1pm start
Sunday 18th July
U12s v Pyrford
Monday 19th July
U10s v Valley End
U14s v Claygate
U15s v Camberley
Dates For Your Diary
18th July - President's Day
25th July - CPL Round 3
29th August - CPL Finals Day
18th September - Colts Dinner
Tailender
Saturday sees the 167th birthday of Sir Edward David Stern, after whom our main ground is named - fittingly the day before our current President's annual celebration - I wonder what he'd make of the exciting Club he helped consolidate nearly 125 years ago has become? I'm sure he'd be in awe. Find out about his life over on the website here.
We shall see you Sunday - we'll save you a spot.
