Well, another season is in the books, and the square is all put to bed ready for the winter, but what a successful year Eastry CC has had! The season started with freezing playing conditions in cricketing standards, where players, spectators and scorers alike were dressed more appropriately to undertake a trek to the North Pole, rather than play cricket. However, Eastry braved the cold and the rain and came away with some key victories against strong league opposition such as Canterbury CC and Deal Victorians. As the weather warmed up so did the team’s form, as the ECC Saturday XI found a hot streak and by third quarter of the season they found themselves still undefeated on the back of some spectacular team play combined with one or two tense draws. This unbeaten run ended however in a very soggy game against London side STAR, who snatched a limited overs victory with help from a luminous orange cricket ball that they provided. This lead the Saturday skipper Graham Phebey claiming that his side were undefeated with the red ball all season!
Statistically many players stood out this year; notably this summer saw Harry Kenton reach 1000 runs for the first time in his career as he reached the sum of 1085 runs from 24 innings, with a whopping 34 sixes to boot, whilst Matt Deveson took 36 Wickets at an average of 17 over the course of the season. Veteran Eastry players such as Andy Betts (22 wickets), Roger Hill (21 Wickets) and Dave Waring (16 wickets) provided reliability with economic bowling, and also provided experienced lower order batting throughout the year. The rest of the stats were hogged by the family Friend, as two brothers Aaron and Gareth Friend carried the teams on their back to victory numerous times. Gareth put in an all round effort this season scoring 801 runs at an average of 57 whilst also contributing 37 wickets in the bowling attack. Aaron Friend, eclipsed the whole team however with an astonishing 1428 runs at an average of 59.5, scoring six 50s and six centuries along the way, while also contributing 19 catches and 11 stumpings as wicket keeper. Many other players contributed this year, as the club used 55 different players over the course of the season, many of whom consisted of the clubs younger players such as the Eastman brothers and Rahul Patel , who we hope will go on to match the milestones of those that have gone before them over the years to come.
A lot must be said for Eastry’s triumvirate of 1000 run scorer;,Aaron Friend, Gareth Friend and Harry Kenton, even though the chances are they may well have already let you know before you read this article. It is the first time that the club has seen so many batsmen reach the significant milestone in recent memory, and all three batsmen’s contributions allowed Eastry to maintain its rich vein of form throughout the season. It is a milestone few in the club will forget, nor will the untold number of girls in Canterbury who have been asked “Did you know I scored 1000 runs?”.
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