Surrey Championship Division 4: Played: 18; W: 6; L: 2; WD: 1; W/Limited: 7; L/Limited 2; Points: 151; League finish: 2nd – promoted

The 2ndXI secured their second successive promotion albeit this time as runners-up. This was still a fantastic achievement by the team because promotion did not come as easily as the season before in Division 5, so in many ways was more satisfying.

The season continued with the momentum of 2008 as eight successive wins were reeled off with maximum bonus points. Things then got a bit more difficult mid-season as we won only one of our next four fixtures, which included our first reverse in 22 league matches against fellow promotion hopefuls Valley End. The following week we bounced back to beat emphatically the eventual champions Thames Ditton at their ground.

The great thing to see early season was how the younger players in the squad really stepped up to the plate in particular Ian Antonio and Aman Gill whose batting was assured and when set made big runs against all opposition while under pressure. The bowling was again a strength this season and was reinforced further by the emergence of quicks Simon Cook and Harry Jackman. The off-spin of Andrew Tippell was top class and bamboozled many a batsman.

It was evident after the half-way stage of the season that our challengers for promotion would be Valley End and Thames Ditton. Our last two fixtures of the season were against these two sides and the crunch match to decide the fate of promotion was our penultimate game of the season against Valley End.

Valley End fielded a strong XI which included a few players with 1st XI experience. Having inserted the opposition, Ali Syed bowled an amazing spell of fast controlled swing bowling and was the pick of the bowlers doing all the damage up front against their strong batting line up. This restricted them to a below par total of 154. After a decent start reaching 55 for 1, and with the game and promotion in our control, we collapsed to 70 for 6 and the momentum swung towards Valley End. Under pressure, Chris Davies and James Berressem put on a superb unbroken partnership for the seventh wicket to seal an amazing win and promotion. Chris Davies (62*) played the innings of season.

As usual after such good team performances during the season it’s difficult to pick out individuals, but as a whole the batting was very solid, reliable and had good depth. The runs were shared around: Ian Antonio 465 runs @ 42, Chris Davies 363 @ 45, skipper Kully Banwait 345 @ 22, Rob Ford 292 @ 24 and Aman Gill 261 @ 44. There were other important supporting roles and match-winning performances from Simon Cook, Gareth Evans, James Berressem and Trefor Evans.

The bowling was led as ever by Ali Syed (33 wickets @ 15) who charged in and swung the new ball with his normal enthusiasm. Andrew Tippell, who bowled as well as anyone in the league, took 33 wickets @ 16 and completely controlled the middle overs of matches. Mohammed Usman bowled as well as he did last season and took 22 wickets @ 18. The pleasing aspect was again the young bowlers: Simon Cook (when available) 14 wickets @ 14; and Harry Jackman 15 wickets @ 21. Other notable performers with the ball were James Berressem, Neil Smith, Graham Doggett, and the emerging Aman Gill.

The fielding was generally improved from last season which is encouraging and keeping was top class when Dan Rose was available. Reluctant reserve keeper Chris Davies did a competent job when called upon, so many thanks to him.

Pleasingly, this season strong performances have come from every department of a very well-balanced side. More pleasing this season is that the manner of the wins have not been down to ‘one-man shows’; there have been many true team performances. A lot of new young faces have gelled well within the team and performances of all the youngsters augers well for the future, especially as some of them broke into our strong 1st XI. The attitude and desire to do well collectively was there for all to see. Well done.

Next season we will look forward to the challenge of Division 3 cricket and hope to build on the individual and team strengths. Without a doubt, a similar achievement for the 2s is definitely possible because a confidence and belief has developed through the Club which has definitely filtered on to the pitch in recent seasons.

Many thanks to umpires Trevor Allen and Steve Smith, to our groundsman, Andy Goulding, for producing excellent cricket wickets, and to the general committee for their support during another successful season for the 2s.