2002 Review

For the first time in many years, the weather over the preceding months to the season had been good. The scenes of the Rawreth outfield resembling a marsh were not repeated and the season got underway with relatively dry wickets. Things looked good in the pre-season friendlies – Willie Leadbeater put in a very early bid for the batting cup with 141 in the Firsts\’ win against Hornchurch Athletic, whilst the Seconds easily beat Old Southendians. The start of the league season told a different story – the Firsts and Seconds barely managed 200 runs between them in the first week, but at least the Thirds under the stand-in management of Andy Thurogood made a fight of it at Springfield.

Things didn\’t improve much as the month continued – both The Firsts and Seconds slumped to four straight defeats, but to be fair, the Seconds played their toughest four fixtures first. The Thirds got the first league win at home to Hullbridge, the Sundays beat Writtle and the Fourths maintained a 100% record Beating South Woodham Ferrers and North Weald.

Things didn\’t improve much in June – another three defeats for the Firsts, but then the first win came at Roxwell thanks to a solid 107 opening partnership between Paul Dudmish and Andy Thurogood and superb bowling performances from Tim Rees and Mike Law. The Seconds started winning too, against Burnham, Fairview and Purleigh, mainly due to the Rayleigh bowling attack of Tofts, Cane, James, Dunne and Starling whilst the Rayleigh batting struggled. The Thirds found wins hard to come by, two successive nine wicket defeats preceded a win against Hockley, whilst the Fourths had a mixed month. The Sundays lost all matches, but a 50 on debut from new wicketkeeper Mike Hillis pointed to a strengthening of the batting line up.

Back in the league, things were looking very bleak as the Firsts only managed two more wins in the season and ended bottom of Division 3. There were some plus points to be taken away from such a dismal season – Jon Cook developed into the all-rounder he always threatened to, scoring almost 400 runs, Mike Law had a great season with the ball with 42 wickets, and Danny White and Michael Robinson showed great promise for the future playing at the higher level.

The Seconds struggled too – again, the batting let the side down, although the batting highlight of the season was Simon Harwood\’s and John Suckling\’s 188 partnership against league leaders Canvey Island. Two wins in the last matches saw the Seconds pull away from the relegation zone and finish a creditable fifth in the league.

The Thirds had a mixed season with only five wins, but the younger players did well and gained valuable league experience. The Fourths had similar fortunes, chalking up four wins in their first four games followed by six straight defeats, but always playing with good spirit.

The Sunday XI struggled with a team depleted of some of its major stars from previous seasons. Mike Humphrey had a great year with 29 wickets, and Andy Thurogood got his maiden ton against Great Dunmow in an otherwise disappointing season for the team. The undoubted high spot of the season was colt Matthew Nobes\’s 6 for 27 in the very last game against Navestock to snatch the bowling cup.

The end to such a memorable season was marred by the sad news of the passing away of President John Monk, a great Club member throughout well over half of RCC\’s 100 year history, who will be sorely missed.