Summary of 2010 Season – Colts

2010 began with Winter nets at St Benedict’s School. These were generally well attended with a number of new young colts helping to bolster numbers in time for the new season. The sessions saw Hallam Moseley returning to coach every week supported well by Luke Budden, Chris Healey, Immy Hamidon and Paul Harraghy.
Another new initiative was to hold a pre-season ‘open morning’ at St Benedict’s. Sadly numbers were poor despite a great deal of publicity being sent to local primary schools.

Although large numbers of boys were recruited to the younger age groups for the Summer season many were too young and inexperienced to play in matches but with good coaching they received many will be able to step up this year.
The colts’ festival was poorly attended in the morning session, however, good numbers turned up in the afternoon which saw a competitive tournament run by senior players. This year saw the colts’ festival combining with a Family Fun day which was well-supported by parents, senior players and also ex-players several of whom ‘volunteered’ to run stalls.
Thanks to everyone for their efforts and support throughout the season, particularly those who coached regularly and ran sides. We still need committed team managers to run sides in the future especially with Dr. Nish Patel now working away.

PETER BRANDRETH – Colts Administrator

Under 17 Report

There were very few Under 17 games this year but those that went ahead gave us a chance to make sure that all players had an opportunity either with bat or ball. We were crushed by a very strong Wembley where captain Brett bowled well in an otherwise forgettable performance.
Our second game was a cracking one against Old Actonians, once again played in a great spirit and was a nail biter. A really good bowling and fielding performance saw us restrict Old As to 112 off 20 overs with Sahil Patel and Luke Felix sharing six wickets. We looked to be cruising when Matt Newton (32) and Joe Brandreth saw us to 87-1 adding 70 in the process but a collapse and with overs running out the runs also dried up. We finally got over the line with three balls to spare thanks to Joe’s 62* plus no balls in the final over.

 A game played in the rain against Ealing at St Benedict’s saw us totally outclassed.  The only bright points in the game were three excellent catches by Will Pinder (2) and Matt Newton and Chris Whelan’s stubborn resistance.
We were awarded the game against Acton when they arrived with only six players. We did play a friendly by mixing up the teams with the game being won off the last ball.
Thanks to Keith Brett for scoring and to Eamonn for captaining the side with enthusiasm. Good luck to the lads who are no longer colts and I hope they will continue to play senior cricket I the future.   

PETER BRANDRETH, Colts Administrator

Under 15 report

The season opened with a double header against Wembley as the game counted as both a league and first round cup match. Unfortunately we lost the match with a performance that set the tone for the rest of the season – we bowled and fielded reasonably but our batting was never up to the task of matching the Wembley score of 117. Daniel Raza scored 34 but no one was able to stay and support him. The next game against South Hampstead saw us fail to set any kind of a target and we were easily beaten. Next up was Ealing B and this game saw what turned out to be the Under 15s only victory of the season. Stefan Walecki (42) and Lewis Steadman (24) batted well and Jonathan Hooke was the pick of the bowlers with 3-17. Defeat in a low scoring game with Perivale followed but Lewis Steadman showed the results of his work in the nets with Jayesh and returned figures of 2-16 with his left arm spin. A heavy defeat to Ealing A followed and then the return match against Wembley saw us lose again this time with no one able to stay with Stefan Walecki who made 32.
The next game saw us lose narrowly to South Hampstead  - again we could not set a competitive target reaching 74 off 20 overs with only Stefan Walecki (19) making any impression on the bowling. The fact that South Hampstead managed to bowl 5 maidens out of the 20 tells its own story. However, Lewis Steadman did turn in the best bowling performance of the season returning figures of 3-6. Against Ealing B both Lewis Steadman (23) and Daniel Harraghy (27) made decent starts but could not capitalise on them and we lost by 4 wickets. We then lost very narrowly to Perivale with Stefan making a fine 36 opening the innings and James Perkins claiming 3-23. The last game of the season saw us lose heavily again to Ealing A. Overall a disappointing season in terms of league and cup results but this is offset by the fact that many of the squad played in senior teams ranging from the 5th to 3rd XI’s this season. Hopefully they will build on this experience and continue to develop their game next season.

Once again thanks are due to Jayesh Kansara for his expert coaching – those players who had 1:1 sessions certainly showed marked improvement throughout the season.

Finally, many thanks are due to Imran Raza who ran the side on those occasions I was unable to get to games and scored on other occasions. The running of the side would not have been possible without his help. He also provided the opportunities for many of the team to get their first taste of senior cricket in the 4th and 5th Teams.

Player of the Year: Stefan Walecki.

PAUL HARRAGHY - Manager

Under 13 report  

The depth of the U13 squad enabled us to run two teams throughout the season.   The season started with our cup campaign, which was somewhat of a damp squib.  Rain caused the postponement of three fixtures against Osterley, after which the result of the tie came down to the toss of a coin.  In true Brentham fashion, we lost the toss, and were duly knocked out of the competition.

The first victory of the season came against Chiswick and Latymer after they were unable to field a team.  There were two further victories against Chiswick.  In the first, Brentham bowled Chiswick out for 59 (Harry Davies 4/9, Tom Langton 2/2 and Matt Plews 2/9), and chased the runs with relative ease (Jack Solomon 29 and Vinay Samtani 21).  The second victory was a nail biter.  After Chiswick scored a formidable 145/3, a loss seemed inevitable.  The team had read a different script though, and chased down the target with two wickets in hand (Vinay Samtani 51* and Sam Allen 23).
Unfortunately, we were unable to win against the other two teams in the league.  Our encounters against Acton were frustratingly close.  In the first home fixture, Brentham restricted Acton to 60, but were themselves bowled out for 58, after some poor batting and controversial umpiring decisions snatched victory away.  Brentham scored 130/9 (Sam Allen 48 and Jack Solomon 35) in the second fixture.  Acton reached the total in the last over, after rain and more controversial umpiring hampered our efforts to defend the total.  Matt Loureiro and Josh Steadman ended on figures of 4/26 and 3/9 respectively; both players were on hat-tricks, but were unable to convert.

Away from home Brentham posted 113/5 (Vinay Samtani 62* and Jack O’Brien 19).  Acton chased the total off 18 overs (Alex Burnett 2/10).  The fixtures against Wembley were generally one-sided affairs.  In the home fixture Harry Davies was on yet another hat-trick that was not converted.
Several Friendly matches took place throughout the season.  The first fixture against Old Actonians was lost, but included one of the highlights of the season:  Matt Loureiro bowled a hat-trick, ending on figures of 3/15!  We beat GWR after bowling them out for 79, chasing the runs with eight wickets down.  The second fixture was not as successful, with GWR posting a mammoth 165, and Brentham ending on a respectable 140/8 (Will Cunningham 28*).
The Under 13’s Player of the Year Trophy was jointly awarded to Jack Solomon and Vinay Samtani.  Jack performed consistently well with the bat, and captained the side very competently.  Vinay put in some match-changing batting performances, bowled with pace, and even managed to play in the men’s 4th team.
Special thanks go to Ken Drane, Peter Brandreth, Chris Healey, Richard Hooke, Hallam Moseley, Luke Budden, Jayesh Kansara, Parag Khanapurkar, Karan Joshi, Joe Brandreth, Tom Brandreth, and the Colts’ Parents.

Player of the Year: Jack Solomon and Vinay Samtani

NISHANT PATEL

Under 11 and Under 10 report

A year of fun, enthusiasm and progress but alas we were unable to win any games. This was mainly due to the fact that our Team consisted of very few actual Under-11’s and in the Under-10’s, the Team contained several 8-year olds! Our morale was always high and the Team had great camaraderie. What was pleasing to see, as Coach, was how each child progressed in all Departments of the game as the Season went on. The side was ably led by Sam Allen and David Hooke. There were fine contributions with the bat from Sam Allen, Jack Whittaker and George Yates along with improved bowling from Josh Neil, Nicholas Morrison and David Hooke.

Player of the Year: David Hooke

IMRAN HAMIDON