Surrey Championship Division 3: Played: 18; W: 4; L:3; WD: 2; W/Limited: 5; L/Limited: 4; Deducted: 2; Points: 119; League finish: 3rd

Ashford 1st XI finished in third place missing out on another promotion. Congratulations to Worcester Park and Chessington who were the best two teams in Division 3. The introduction of the 50-over format was well accepted and reflected in the better teams finishing in the top half of the table.

Potentially capable of another promotion we did not back our ability. The batting was not good enough. Our inability to construct critical partnerships and batsmen not putting enough value on their wicket were the major factors in us not posting competitive totals or chasing down targets, which denied us wins in crucial games.

Of the batting performances Richard Mansfield 541, Shaun Cousens 417, and Chris Evans 344 scored the bulk of the runs. Other contributions were from Riaz Khan 308, Ross Wright 277, Asif Prasala 260, Wendell Sebastian 228 and Paul Frost 167.

The bowling was held together by our 18-year old Shaun Cousens who took 33 wickets. Other performances came from Riaz Khan 26, Asif Prasala 25, Wendell Sebastian and Trent Nash with 13 wickets each.

Shaun Cousens, the baby in the group, was the stand out performer in 2009 with bat and ball, showing the majority of his teammates how to occupy the crease and construct an innings. His left-arm spin bowling was as impressive at an average of 15.82 in 160 overs. Keep your eye on young Cousens who is already in the Surrey Academy.

Also many congratulations to Chris Evans, now the highest cumulative run-scorer in the championship record, and huge thanks to Chris for his assistance on and off the field.

Trent Nash, our 18-year-old Aussie overseas player, grew in confidence both as a player and individual as the season progressed. We wish Trent a good summer down under.

There were some very promising contributions from the up and coming crop of homegrown young players: Ian Antonio, Aman Gill, Simon Cook and Harry Jackman whom I hope will be pushing hard for 1st XI places next season.

Many thanks to Jack Frost for scoring, the grounds staff for producing excellent practice and match wickets and the Club’s committee for their support. And finally a thank you to all my teammates for their support during an exciting season.

Overall, finishing in third is probably a true reflection on some very good team

performances, at times individual brilliance, desire and passion to keep fighting to the very end. We look forward to an exciting 2010 season.