It was a fairly tough year for the 3rd X1 with an extremely competitive league and some very strong teams. Despite fielding consistently strong X1’s we only managed two victories. This is obviously disappointing so we’ll completely ignore it and talk about the positives.
We had the emergence of some very talented youth players. The two Ollies, Lodge and Johns excelled throughout despite amassing a spectacular 14 ducks between them in all formats. Notwithstanding the ducks they both showed maturity well beyond their years and held it together when bowing and fielding in pressured and challenging situations. Additional excellent performances from Kian and Lukas proved there is a very rosy future for Thames Ditton, don’t envisage them hanging around in the 3’s for too long. And fair enough; they deserve better.
There was a great attitude throughout, despite the poor season there was no whinging, no complaining and Steve didn’t even have too many fights. The last point was almost disappointing, 50 overs in the field can occasionally drag but Steve abusing a portly fellow from Twickenham tends to liven up proceedings. He deserved it to be fair the cheating toss… Twickenham was a game we went on to win despite them needing 40 from the last 11 overs with 9 wickets in hand. This was a real highlight of the season, the desire to carry on plugging away was superb and the catching and bowling in the last 10 overs was brilliant. Johns senior taking a great boundary catch off the bowling of Johns junior was a lovely moment. George “Frosty” Moroz bowling the final over on debut was mighty impressive
debut seasons From Ed Blythe, Owais, Rob Dawson, George Moroz and Steve Chalk showed plenty of promise with lots of encouraging performances Great to see so many new faces at TD
It was brilliant to have Stj as a regular fixture in the team. Despite a direct hit to the head against Old Hamptonians he was our top run scorer for the season. Potentially spurred on by Steve’s witty remark; “look, its knocked all your hair out!” the innings against Hampton Hill was exceptional and frankly, made the rest of us look utterly useless as Stj racked up 102 of 189 runs. Akash, the only other contributor with some excellent biffing, to get to 25*.
Unfortunately we do have to mention Nic “Boozey” Corvi’s match winning 57*. I don’t envisage you’ve heard about it before? All joking aside it was a top knock and earned a tough victory against a strong Kingstonian team. The majestic hoik to mid-wicket proving particularly effective.
There were of course some comedy moments: I don’t think many will forget Nad deciding his bat was surplus to requirements, opting to defend the ball with chest, arm, wrist, upper thigh, inner thigh. The lot. We’ll gloss over the result in that game against Chessington, safe to say we were the first team back to TD for a beer. I think we all had a good giggle at Owen’s occasional decisions to leave ball’s clattering in to his stumps, some suggesting he was more interested in sunning himself than scoring runs.
All in all, plenty to take away from a challenging season and lots to feel positive about for next year.
Key season stats:
- Top run scorer: Stj – 281 runs at an average of 31.22
- Top score: Stj with 102 V Hampton Hill
- Highest wicket taker: Owais with 20 wickets at an average of 22.5
- Best bowling figures: John Young – 5/25 V Dorking
- Players player of the year: St.John Farley
Chris Harding
3rd XI Captain