WITH the sound of promotion, celebrations still ringing in the air and the first team returned from a successful visit to Exmouth ensuring their place in the Premier League, the end of season awards ceremony took place at Sandford Cricket Club Pavilion on Saturday, August 31.

With such a positive end to the season one or two beers were consumed and a great night was had by all those in attendance.

The Mildred Glass First Eleven Player of the Year was awarded to Harrison Jones. In his first season with the club Harrison has produced some excellent performances with both bat and ball.

He was the only player to score 100 in the First Eleven and backed this up with four scores of over 50 as he totalled 531 runs for the season at an average of 40.85. He also took 14 wickets at an average of 26.71 but it was very often his economical bowling that helped build pressure on the opposition batsmen.

This capped a great season for Harrison and it can only be hoped that he is able to reproduce this kind of form next year.

The Les Madge Second Eleven Player of the Year could only go to one person. Shaun Hawkins not only captained the side but was the leading run scorer for the Second Eleven and also took 17 wickets. Shaun had to often work tirelessly through the week to ensure 11 players would take to the field and then to get the most out of those who were playing.

Although occasional expletives could be heard for the most part Shaun led impeccably from the front. His 604 runs at an average of 67.11 would have been even more if he hadn’t made four appearances for the First Eleven due to work commitments making it impossible for him to travel.

He scored 100, six 50’s and had best bowling figures of five for 45 in what was an exceptional season.

The Mole Avon Sunday First Eleven Player of the Year went to Pete Steer. Again there could only be one recipient worthy of receiving this award as Pete not only scored the most runs during the season but also took the most wickets.

The Colin Lever Second Eleven Player of the Year will be announced after the last fixtures have been played and I will update this in next week’s copy.

The Graphic Award for the Most Improved Player went to Ryan Glass. Ryan had a spell in the Second Eleven to get his confidence back and then when he was selected back to the First Eleven he definitely took his chance and led from the front.

He scored 326 runs opening the innings at an average of 29.64 including three 50’s. He also scored 145 runs for the Second Eleven in four innings showing a good return for the season.

The President’s Young Player of the Year award went to Adam Small who has been selected for many of the First Eleven fixtures this season when Sandy Allen has been unavailable and is obviously making great strides in his cricket career.

The Terry Eakers Fielder of the Year award went to Ben Clement who has produced some excellent catching throughout the season.

The final two awards were the Chairman’s Club Man of the Year which went to Andrew Priddle for the countless number of hours he has put into maintaining the clubhouse to the standards needed for all the activities that take place there.

The Charlesworth Nicholl Outstanding Achievement for the year went to the Saturday Second Eleven’s for achieving promotion.

Mike Canning