GCC Presentation Evening, Park Hotel Diss, Saturday 10 October 2015
The Park Hotel, Diss, once again hosted the GCC annual awards. After a delicious carvery meal it was time for the awards. Pascal Walker and Alex Hogg presented Jack Stevenson and the Wuffam Wavers with the 6-a-side shield and then the team captains looked back at their seasons and presented their awards:
4th team review by captain Robert Leech
The 4th team just managed to avoid relegation and in Robert’s words, it was a difficult and frustrating summer. They often struggled to get a side together and they had a terrible start to the season when they had to call a game off and were deducted 24 points. This put them on the back foot from the outset but they did have a lot of fun throughout the season. Batting highlights were Eddie Thorne‘s ton and Johnny Wyatt‘s 125 average and Johnny was awarded Batsman of the year. Lydia Raven and Benny Goodman both took 16 wickets but Benny was awarded 4th team Bowler of the year for his wickets being taken in fewer games. Robert’s Player of the year went to 12 year old Lewis Hart who had impressed with his swing bowling. Robert thanked Andy Smith for his excellent wicket preparation and Deb Raven for scoring.
3rd team review by captain Jack Stevenson and stand-in captain Dick Culling
After six years of promotion on the trot, the 3rd XI’s run of excellent form ground to a halt and they finished their season mid table with 8 wins, 8 losses and one game drawn. Dick highlighted a lack of consistency and said that they missed having Jack Stevenson as captain. Seasonal highlights for the 3rds were Lewis Taylor‘s maiden century when he scored 142, Dick’s ton, good performances from the youngsters Joe Baker and Toby Culling and an impressive 29 wickets from Peter Barnes. Barnesy was awarded 3rd team Bowler of the year and Batsman of the year went to Dick Culling. Players’ player of the year was Toby Culling for his bowling. Dick thanked Julie Humphreys for her scoring.
2nd team review by captain Andy Freake
The 2nds had a poor start to the season losing their first six games but as Andy said, when Paul Feavearyear stood in for him as Captain while Andy was on his hols, the 2nds started winning! They finished the season mid table. Batsman of the year with an average of 50 was Andrew Whistler, Bowler of the year was Paul Feavearyear with 18 wickets and Team player of the year was Rowan Freake for his bowling, batting and fielding and a crucial match winning 44 not out. Andy Freake announced that after 10 or so odd years as captain of the 2nds, he would be standing down to make way for some younger blood and Robert Leech thanked Andy for his own inimitable style of captaincy and mentioned how his peers always spoke highly of him. Thank you and well done to Andy for his work over the years.
1st team review by captain Danny Cash
The 1sts are the Norfolk Alliance Div 1 champions and won promotion to the Premiership. It had only been the 1sts second season in Division 1 and Danny announced that he was as surprised as anyone on their outstanding achievement. They started the season with a mixed bag of results but come mid-season they won 6 or 7 games on the trot and this gave them a whole fistful of points that sent them spiralling up the table. With North Runcton’s final game rained off on the August bank holiday Monday, the 1sts were confirmed as Division 1 winners. They won 12 games and this was the most of any team in the Alliance. 1st team Batsman of the year was Kristian Williman with his amazing tally of 737 runs and Bowler of the year was Rob Fuller who took 33 wickets. Alex Hogg was awarded Player of the year for his performance with both bat and ball. Danny thanked Dawn Briggs for scoring and for compiling all the player stats and Dawn was presented with a bouquet of flowers.
Hoggy and Pascal then presented the Club batsman 2015 award which understandably went to Kristian Williman for scoring most runs, and the Club bowler 2015 award was picked up by Rob Fuller who took most wickets. Robert wrapped up the evening with the Chris Bunning Memorial Tankard presented to GCC President Trevor Lambert for all the unseen work that he does in and around the club. Clubman of the year was awarded to Nick Paul for designing and editing the new look website and for his help with mowing the squares each week.
Thanks to Sarah McGahan and Danny Cash for organising the evening