The 2020 season was completely over shadowed by the Covid pandemic. Before the lockdown the Ladies Ninjas played in the Surrey Slam indoor soft ball competition held at Box Hill School. They reached the final only for the competition to be suspended.

Similarly our under 13s played in the Identilam 6-a-side competition at Tandridge House School. This too was abandoned.

The Government issued instructions and the ECB distributed a pathway back to cricket.

Finally in July we were able to resume training and matches could be played.

Saturday 1st XI – Lewis Davies

2020 brought lots of challenges and ever changing scenarios for the first eleven as it did for all others that played. I am incredibly proud of the fact that Newdigate played so many games and and could fulfill the fixtures that we did. A huge thank you must go to the usual suspects of James Penfold, Andy Major, Craig Jones and the rest of the committee for being so innovative and diligent with ways of offering cricket and keeping people safe at the same time.

The playing committee spoke over the off season of how we wanted to blood the side with younger players and give them the opportunity and experience of playing first eleven cricket and they did not disappoint. 2020 Proved to be more helpful than we first realised, the fast bowling average age dropped by about 20 years and the batting dropped by about 10 years and spin bowling average age almost doubled which holds us in good stead moving forward. Individually there were some very strong performances as well as team performances. Dave Arnold had a stellar season with the bat scoring 270 runs at an average of 67.5 in his 4 games,including a top score of 105 to go with his two other half centuries. Finn Osborne scored 192 runs at an average of 96 top scoring with 119 and also adding another half century in his 5 games.
In the bowling department the captain Lewis Davies topped the wickets with 10 at an average of 13.

We welcomed some new faces to the club that have given us great strength in depth, Alex Kurobasa made good contributions with bat and ball and added to the ever growing number of good cricketers at the club, Henry Lucas returned after a 3 year sabbatical to add another dimension to the bowling attack.

We welcomed a new fixture to the club for the first game of the season. Chertsey of the Surrey Championship division 4 and what a fantastic way to open the campaign. Chertsey made 251/7 off their 40 overs and Newdigate replied with 241/8 from our 40. Arnold made 91, Andy Kehl made 53 and Davies took a 4 fer. A great game of cricket enjoyed by all players and spectators. A fixture we are looking to continue with moving forward
Second game we entertained Teddington Town CC in what ended up in a one sided contest but played in good spirits . Arnold (105 off 112) and Osborne (119 off 67) both brought up hundreds and put the Teddington attack to the sword. Newdigate finished on a huge 276/3 from 40. In reply Teddington made 176/8 but could not stay with the run rate. Wickets were shared around between 6 different bowlers, a good all round display.
Close fought defeats followed to Old Hamptonians and Godalming respectively where runs and wickets came but no real match winning contributions.

We attended our neighbour – Capel CC – for their cricket week and and put on a destructive batting display to say the least. In a 30 over game Capel made a strong 174/7 on a difficult wicket and then Newdigated dismantled the Capel bowling attack in brutal fashion, knocking off the total in just 23 overs. Tom Collard top scored with a brisk 58 from only 36. He and Davies added 35 in 2.1 overs to seal the deal.

The last game of the season posed probably the biggest challenge of the year on paper, Billingshurst CC of the Sussex Premier League. On a typical early September day, skipper Davies won the toss and audaciously elected to bat. What followed shows just how far we have come as a club. A competitive 176/8 from the 35 overs proved to be enough, Arnold top scored with 54 and Davies second with 38, In reply the Newdigate bowlers squeezed the life out of the Billingshurst batting with hard lines, good catching, committed fielding and a coolness to close out a serious game of cricket. Henry Lucas produced his best performance in a Newdigate shirt in a spell of 7 overs picking up 3 for 28 in the middle overs, Davies picking up 4 for 21 from his 7 and the opening pair of Mike Deloford and Andy Kehl picking up one a piece but going at 3 an over. Some late resistance from Billingshurst skipper Mortimer made the game closer than it needed to be. Another fantastic game played in great spirit with a view to continuing the fixture.

In all, the season was a huge success, Young players given opportunity and taking it was a real highlight personally, but just to have cricket being played at the club felt like success after the start to 2020. Once again special thanks has to go to the committee for the efforts they went to to get cricket played at our wonderful club.

Sunday XI – Monjur Elahi

The weather was fairly favourable for cricket throughout the 2020 season. Bright sunny days in the weekends, grass in the outfield were cut nicely, pitches were ready, but cricket was not being played due to the pandemic caused by CORONA virus. We finally started the season in July, in an adaptive format, which was nicely adopted and strictly maintained by the cricketers, visiting teams and the supporters.

The extra-ordinary social situation offered a unique scenario as well, which I doubt I will witness again. A big number of our regular Saturday players did not get their kits out, some of the regular opposition failed to form teams and fixtures were cancelled. Some strategic tweaks were needed – quick adjustment with fixtures, renewed approach in player recruitment all worked well and what an extra-ordinary season we had!

We started the season with the match against BBC Bushmen on 12th July, with the hope to play 8 to 10 matches and we ended up playing 16 matches in the end! Out of those, 10 played at Home and 6 Away. We attracted some new opposition, most of whom brought their stronger sides. We managed to secure quite a few away matches when we needed them, thanks to Surrey Cricket Foundation’s Facebook page.

I enjoyed a sweet problem too, availabilities of too many players and I did not want to disappoint anyone – so we started to form two Sunday teams and we saw that happening four times this season! It did give me a lot of admin works, a lot of liaison, the support from the club was great and the happiness on the faces of the players was my prize!

Players were coming from all sources, colts, coaches, parents, internet queries, restaurants, colleague of a player’s friend (can’t believe my luck!) and everywhere else. People just wanted to break-free from the monotony of the lock-down restrictions and we provided them with the perfect opportunities in a safe environment.

I was also able to focus greatly on a sustainable future for Newdigate Cricket Club by creating a pathway for emerging players easing into adult version of the matches. We saw our colts thriving with the given opportunities and putting up good performances. Colts in the likes of Thomas Clark, Tom Harper, Tommy Stimpson, Tim Holt, Redwan Islam are my rising stars. I take pride of my solid bowling battery made up of the ‘Triple J’s (James, Jacob, Joe) – they have pace, bounce and swing – watch them in 2021 if you have not had the opportunity as yet. Joe claimed the highest 18 wickets for the club this year. In batting, busy, crafty Jack Butler enjoyed a fabulous season, seasoned campaigner Jack Bowley had a run-fest this year scoring almost 500 runs. Fearless batting has earned the Players’ Player award for Angus Harper who enjoyed playing alongside his son. I have to mention Mike Duthie, inspired by his son’s performance, added an all-rounding skill to the team; and Ryan Visser kept claiming a promotion every time he bowled or batted.

While the individuals shone, it was not all good news for the Sunday XI. We managed to secure win in only four matches out of the 16 matches we played. In our defence, we played quite a few new oppositions who fielded their best XI – understandably they needed some cricket in absence of the league matches. Even so, we had quite a few close matches against some strong opposition. Post-match reports are available in the play cricket site on this link – https://newdigatecc.play-cricket.com/match_reports

Importantly for me, I was able to deliver another season this year for Newdigate CC, engaged 55 players in this fun form of game who are looking forward to continuing next year. Encouragingly, 12 out of these 55 players are colts. Sunday XI friendlies provided a great platform for some to have some fun, some to bank on their performance and for some a great escape from the COVID restrictions.

My heart-felt thanks to the players for being available and help me during the matches, Jack Bowley for updating the scores in the Play Cricket web-site; Andrew Major, James Penfold, John Callcut, Craig Jones, Charlie Major and Karen Fordree for their help in running the matches successfully. Also, my gratitude to our wonderful members and their families for the continued support.

Take care and stay safe.

Ladies XI – Karen Fordree

What can I say, this has been a year that none of us could have imagined, but honestly, how much worse would it have been without this cricket team.

A supportive, successful, friendly and happy team of ladies that have come together and delivered in a way that I don’t think anyone thought possible.

A bizarre mix of teenage and menopausal hormones! Somehow, we have delivered 3 convincing wins and a couple of losses where we could hold our head high. OK, the captain walking out without a bat is embarrassing, 5 for 3 isn’t perfect, but my god, slogging a ball over Capel’s clubhouse, and a wicket from RP in the first ball of a game are memories we should be proud of.

I’d never have believe this unassuming bunch of women could have made it to the QFs of the Surrey Slam. But we did, and we couldn’t have done it without the belief and support of The Newdigate team.

John – your support in training and scoring has been invaluable, thank you for giving up your time alongside the work you do with the colts.

James – your guidance has been amazing in finalising fixtures, sorting out the field and supporting our progression. You do so much for this club and I’m always amazed by your dedication and desire in pushing Newdigate CC towards a better future

Andrew – thank you so much for the time and effort you have put in to supporting the ladies in being a better team. Our success this season is a direct result of your coaching and support.

Next season, we are looking forward to a full Surrey Slam season with more fixtures. I am positive that we will continue to grow and bring in new players and who knows what we can achieve.

K xx

nb. The ladies awards were as follows:

Batting – Charlie Collard, Bowling – Anna Lewis, Player’s Player – Amelia Brien and the Barbara Norman Award – Rachel Lyndon.

See ‘NEWS – 2020’ for pictures of the award’s evening.

Midweek XI

The highlight of the season was Graham Capel’s 80th birthday celebration when he selected a team with a combined age of over 800 to play a match.

Hats off to Graham

Lee Brien and Graham Capel
In this shortened and Covid 19 restricted year the Newdigate Cricket Club Mid-Week Team managed to play 9 games plus the Jeffery/Brien end of season match and a special game to celebrate Graham Capel’s 80th year and 73 years of playing cricket and 32 years of running the Newdigate Cricket club Mid-Week Team. Capel’s Team 800 (total age of players 824 years) were allowed to win by Lee Brien’s Stalwarts Team in a 20 over game but Team 800 took 28 overs to beat the Stalwarts score!

We operated a restricted number of players for the reduced number of games based on those who had paid their membership at 15th July when our season opened. This worked well and most players played much the same number of games as they would have done in a full season for their paid up membership.

We had some amazingly close matches with several being decided in the final over. We won 5 and lost 4 which we count as a very successful season! The annual Jeffery/Brien challenge match was won by the Brien Team 203/199. We had no games cancelled due to weather in this remarkably dry and warm Summer.

Our awards for 2020 were as follows:

Batting: J James 141.

Batting Runner up: L Brien 138.

Bowling: P Tartari 9.

Bowling Runner Up: Lee Brien and W Brien = 8.

Catching: S Holt 3.

Fielding: J Pritchard 67 runs and 5 catches behind.

Player of the Year: R Bennett 83 runs.

Graham Capel (Retired but still Team Captain and now Scorer.)

Newdigate Earthquakes

At the conclusion of the season the Chairman sent out this notice:

As we approach the 2nd wave at breakneck speed and a mini-lockdown imminent, it seems like Covid-19 chose to give our membership some respite in the form of cricket this season.

Apart from a couple of lost games to rain and a spurious fly ant attack, the weather did its part in providing us with a Summer to remember, in a year that most would rather forget.

Cricketers in this country are used to dealing with a delayed start, which is probably why we took to the season starting in July with such little fuss.

This is not a season’s review by any means, however without the normal forums available to offer thanks to all those involved, this seemed the most suitable option.

I would like to offer much thanks to all that have given their time and efforts to making the toughest of seasons so successful. From the committee and the coaches to the members and the colts, all of you have contributed to the excellent atmosphere around the club.

Above and beyond this, notable mentions must be given to:

John Callcut, for his continued work around all areas of the club, including organising the team of “grasshoppers” (outfield grass mowers) who also deserve thanks for their continued work (messieurs Bailey, Beale and Mumford).

Andy Major, again, for his continued work around the club, especially the preparation of the tracks.

Phil Mumford, for pulling together an expanded and protracted colts training program, which I know was a relief to so many parents, plus securing sponsorship for the colts’ shirts.

Graham Capel, for taking the helm of the Midweek team and fixtures as well as hitting a “6” on his 80th birthday (I’m not sure too many others will ever be able to claim that achievement…..certainly not me! (although I do feel 80, does that count!?!?))

Becky Chapman, my better half, who has always supported me and has undoubtedly been affected the most by the time I give to the club.

The coaches and committee members, who volunteer their time to make the club what it is. I can honestly say this is by far the most productive, positive, and genuinely fun committee I have ever sat on; thank you!

As chairman, I am afforded 3 awards to recognize the efforts of key contributors for the season, so I wanted to share these with you now:

Karen Fordree; who has gone the extra mile both on and off the pitch; the enthusiasm she has brought to the ladies’ cricket team has added a new dimension to the club; coupled with her work inside the club (physically) and on the committee, she is a credit to the club in all that she does.

Monjur Elahi; who has similarly excelled in so many areas. Bringing in extensive resources to meet our Covid-19 requirements and running an adapted “All Stars” programme (which was officially cancelled by the ECB). He has also delivered not one, but two Sunday teams on a regular basis, adding fresh blood and offering senior cricket to our youngsters coming through the ranks.

The Ranmore Crew, (messieurs Harrow, Zee Log, Grimley, Hussey, Gibbs and Tanner). Over the course of the season you may have noticed six stalwarts socially distancing themselves in front of the home changing room door. They have supported nearly all of the senior fixtures (more vocally as the game goes on), helped the club financially (in a season that could have been catastrophic to other clubs) and with their entourage, again, added to a great atmosphere. Special mention should go to Nigel Grimley, who has been supporting Karen and working behind the scenes (trying to avoid the limelight) and Bob Zee Log (not his real name!), who built and erected the wooden boundary fence, which has been a superb addition to the ground. Their efforts (cough) this season will help the club for years to come.

The connoisseurs

If you have made it this far through my ramble, thank you again for your time.

I am genuinely already looking forward to cricket in 2021.

Happy Christmas!!! (too soon?)

James Penfold -Chairman

(I promise less brackets next time!)