The 4th team by skipper Mike Hughes

This has been another thoroughly enjoyable season during which the 4th team have used something like 37 players covering a whole cross section of ages.

We have introduced several U14s to League cricket (Division 8) such as Harry Bradley, Ben Barcock and Jamie Karunaratne, all of whom looked very comfortable opening the bowling, whilst Cam Holland, George Wenn and Will Tally (U15) look like spinners for the future.

We’ve also welcomed other youngsters on their journeys through to higher club echelons and it has been wonderful to see how well they settled into those higher teams.

Congratulations to Charlie Twelftree, Kavin Vidhya, Aidan Hincks and Charlie Moxham for all they have achieved this year for the 4s and above.

In terms of results, I’m afraid analysis will show that as a batting unit we fell short of where we should have and wanted to be and we failed to chase several sub-par totals, losing points which eventually cost us a chance of promotion, and we had to settle for 4th place. However, that’s not to say that there haven’t been some great highlights.

Our bowling unit were tight all season with notable performances from the likes of Pat Bissett, Harry Robinson, Adam Dyson, Matt Ball, Belal Hussain and Jon Taylor and there were some very useful runs added by Dave Whiteley, Ollie Jones, Mike Voight and Belal Hussain. Our most consistent batsman, with over 500 runs scored was our wicket keeper and Player of the Year Anuj Behl who averaged 36 at the top of the innings and also scored his maiden century for the club.

So there is much to be pleased about and proud of as another season comes to a close and I can’t wait to see where our talent will take us next year.

A huge thanks to my vice-captain Jon Taylor who has been a friend and confidante through thick and thin these last two years and I know we’ll both be giving our all to get us over the line in 2025.

Most runs: Anuj Behl 507, Michael Voight 212
Most wickets: Jon Taylor 14, Pat Bissett 11, Belal Hussain 11, Mike Hughes 10.

The 5th team by skipper James Bell

A great 2024 season for the Harpenden 5: we finished 3rd in the table and were the only team who beat league winners Botany Bay 2s.

Throughout the season we’ve had a big focus on giving opportunities to young players and we’ve had a great balance between youth and experience. A total of 18 Juniors played at least one match and everyone who played made key contributions.

Matches were played in a great spirit and there were large numbers of fabulous performances. A number of players achieved key milestones this season:

First Senior 100 – Henry Pollard-Beeton – 109*
First Senior 50s – Ben Sutherland – 53* and 84*, Will Talley – 51, Toby Grimberg 79
First Senior 5-fer – Ben Barcock – 5-7
First Senior hat-trick – Toby Bell

More experienced players also made key contributions: Berwyn Petrie 83, Mike Voigt 83*, Jack Doyle 69*, Matt Smith 57*, Krish Kalathil 53, John Kerley 4-15 and 4-18, Ravi Chittimalla 4-34.

In addition to those highlighted above there were many matches where a wicket, a great catch, a tight over, aggressive running or positive batting turned a match in our favour. There were several 100+ partnerships including 137 between Toby Grimberg and Ollie Lapwood to rescue us from 16-4.

Jamie Karunaratne was our leading wicket taker and Player of the Season: he bowled with control and pace throughout the summer and consistently picked up key wickets. He deservedly finished the season playing in the 4s.

It’s been a pleasure and a privilege to play with everyone this summer. Winter well and see you at winter nets and back outside in the summer.

Most runs: James Bell 194, Ben Sutherland 175
Most wickets: Jamie Karunaratne 16, Benji Smith 11.

The 6th team by skipper Andy Lewis

Nearly but not quite...But still pretty good!

The aims for the 6s this season before any ball was bowled were:
Try to win 8 to 9 games
Make ourselves hard to beat
Involve as many of the younger club members as we could
Have a good time

Well I think we did quite well, winning 7 games (8 if you include Hitchin), being competitive in most of our matches and picking up decent bonus points even if we didn’t win. Youth was a constant feature (more to follow) and overall the cricket was enjoyable.

As a result we finished a very creditable 4th, and were probably two results away from a top 2 finish. (See a 1-wicket defeat to OAs, and Wheathampstead away when we were 20 runs short when batting first.)

Overall we missed a regular ‘Big Hitter’ who could get us that extra quick 30-40 runs, and because our bowling attack was sometimes a little inexperienced we tended to conceded a few too many runs early on. Next year we can change that, especially with the bowling.

A core of Colts and younger players featured on a regular basis. Harry Edward impressed with his keeping and batting, Sam Ebbutt bowled well on a regular basis ,and Tom Harvey and Tom Buckley became regulars ,contributing something to the team every time they played. Also not to be forgotten are the contributions from Harry Field and Arjan Saini.

We also cannot ignore the contribution of the more mature team members, who include Guy Dunham, Simon Caunce, Ceri Luffman, Tim Spencer, Andy Elledge, and special thanks to Jim Gill who stood in as captain on a number of occasions. Your help and experience was a great help to me and ensured we had the successful season we did.

Notable performances include Waj Rivzi’s 105 against Hitchin (never played again!), Cameron Holland's maiden 50 against Little Berkhamsted (never seen in the 6s again!), and 5-fers for Harry Field against OAs and Grandpa Paul Cramer against Datchworth.

The playing side is relatively easy once we get to the ground, but it's not possible without all the help off the field, Platty and Geoff, Wendy and Cleve especially. Special mention also for my fellow captains and for head of selectors Dave Whiteley: he may be ‘little’ but his contribution to getting seven Senior sides out each Saturday is enormous!

As I said at Awards Night ,we are so lucky to be involved with 'The Best Cricket Club in Herts', and probably one of the best in the UK, and it’s in our hands to do our best to keep it there.

Thanks to everyone. Have a great Winter and I’ll see you back here in April for my 37th season at Harpenden...Happy Days!

The Wizards by skipper Tim Rogerson

The Wizards friendly team enjoyed virtually a full season in 2024, playing 11 games of which 5 were won and 6 were lost. 3 games were rained off.

This was much improved on 2023 when we lost most of our games. Best team batting performance was a winning 226 away at Datchworth; best bowling performance was dismissing St Albans 5s for 73.

We also played our friendlies in a more inclusive spirit than some opponents, giving up to 9 bowlers a go and switching batting orders between matches. Over 50 players were used. This reflects the fact that the Wizards are a residual team. The team is a mixture of older players and U14s. The regular older players played more games than the U14s as the Wizards was a stepping stone to higher leagues and several U14s were playing their first adult match for the Wizards. We used a lot of U14s but few played more than two or three matches and most subsequently played in the higher teams.

The top individual score was 73 not out by Simon Arnold and the top run scorers were Ramesh Narayanan, Andy Elledge and Tim Rogerson. The top wicket takers were Jason Talley, Martin Gittins and Paul Cramer. The most vigorous cheerleader in the field was Harry Berg.

The Women's teams by legend John Mihill

Bat, bat and bat some more: and so the strategy for the Autumn 2023 nets was set.

This carried through the desolate first months of 2024, until the daffodils had sprung, and we were ready.

Good wins in pre-season against sides in a higher division, with runs shared around, showed glimpses of what we could achieve Then the all-important league matches began, knowing our pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was back to back titles and, most importantly, a place in the New Herts Saracens Women’s Premier League, starting summer 2025.

8 wins out of 8 We had our pot!

20+ players used: experienced county players, promising youngsters, everyone played their part We, of course, had been lucky, so lucky, that new talent had joined and flourished: a delicious and exciting mix combining with our own home-grown prodigies.

And from literally nowhere, our NEW 2nd team was born. Mums and Huskies galore. Ambitions were set a little lower: play all our games, maybe snatch a win. All games played, full teams, and not just one win but two deserved victories and mid-table respectability.

‘Have you seen SID?,’ the advert from Thatcher’s 80s used to ask. Well, we have our own SID and yes, we’ve found him (or should it be her?!): Strength In Depth. Lots of it, and more to come. Next, more batting practice, so much more, as nets resume.

Onto Summer 2025: Sundays on The Common, music, strawberries and cream, sunny days, good vibes, San Miguels and Premier League Cricket. Something we can all be proud of.