Willie Leadbeater\’s new-look 2nd XI had big hitters Steve Adams and Tony Catling back in the fold. Together with another ex-first teamer, Phil Wolff, the Seconds batting looked incredibly strong, but would the bowling be left weakened by the absences in the First team? With three wins and a wash-out against Fairview in May, the Seconds seemed to cope well, with colt Matthew Gilmore coming to the fore as the new Rayleigh bowling hope. A 144-unbeaten run partnership between Luke Hedges and Phil Wolff against Stock showed there was a promising blend of youth and experience in the side.

With new and returning players higher up, this left the Thirds with an embarrassment of riches. Players such as Martin Sanderson, John Stirk, Ray Winney and John Suckling had all played at higher levels in the past, and new signing Graham Herbert\’s capabilities lay well beyond Division 10. Add to the mix the best of young talent – Ben Ward, Lee Wright, Mitul Patel, James Ellis and James Robinson, there could finally be a Third team going places. With Division 10 being notoriously difficult to get out of thanks to new teams coming in at the bottom, could this season see Rayleigh under skipper Darren Smith as the first genuine Division 10 side as champions? Hopes were dented early on by a defeat by Canvey, with the opposition fielding a rapid First XI left-armer, but easy wins elsewhere left the Thirds on track.

The Fourths, under Mike Humphrey, looked a chronologically diverse outfit, ranging from the older club members, such as Brian Dawbarn and Tony Lambert, through to some of the promising Under-15s and Under-13s being grooomed for future league cricket. With one win and a draw in May, the side were looking to gel, and a 66 and 51 from youngster Callum Ginbey revealed that he might be a player looking to force his way upwards.

A sure sign of the strength of the club was the emergence of the Fifth team as a regular XI in 2006, the team drawing in a new raft of club members, young and old. The side started off with an impressive win over Eastwood IV, with youngster Lyndon Philby taking 4 for 22.

Sunday cricket was looking to rebuild itself after a few quiet seasons – Danny White wasted no time and put the side back on the map by smashing 188 against Southend II to set a new Rayleigh batting record. The 316 for 4 total was also the first time the Sunday XI had broken through the 300-run barrier. Another two wins, including a 1-run victory over Westcliff ended a successful month for the Sundays.

Player of the Month : John Stirk (266 runs & 11 wickets)

Danny White continued his form with 110, 92 and 88 in June, and new-boy Andy Lynch a 72, as the Firsts won two out of four matches, but with just 3 wins overall they were losing touch with the leaders. The Seconds didn\’t fare any better – just two wins, but Steve Adams underlined his return to the 2\’s with 140 out of a total of 310 for 5 against Rettendon, and Phil Wolff recorded another Rayleigh ton with 111 not out in the loss against Marconi. Matthew Gilmore took 6 wickets in the Rettendon match, but elsewhere wickets were getting hard to come by as the tracks started to improve after the wet weather in May.

The visit by the 3\’s to South Woodham Ferrers resulted in one of the most bizarre matches played by RCC. Reluctantly choosing to bat first, with an outfield that hadn\’t been cut for weeks, Rayleigh managed just 99 all out in 35 overs, leaving the opposition 55 overs to get the runs. With South Woodham scoring at a painfully slow rate, the Rayleigh bowlers kept up the pressure for an agonising 48 overs before dismissing SWF for 78 – Mitul Patel the hero with 6 for 12 off 11 overs. The following week Johns Suckling & Stirk demolished Ecko Monarchs with an unbeaten opening stand of 172, Stirk scoring 100 not out. Lee Wright picked up 4 & 5 wickets in the remaining two fixtures to give the 3s a perfect month and to put them top of the table.

Callum Ginbey continued his form for the Fourths with 74 in a tied match against Chelmsford, Richard Verrinder hit 87 versus Eastwood IV\’s with Lyndon Philby taking another four-wicket haul, Tom Chase also took four in a one-wicket loss against Nazeing Common, and Tom Lovejoy four in another one-wicket loss, this time to Chelmsford V. A highly competitive month for the side, with some good performances and close results. The Fifths played two and won one in the month, including an impressive 10-wicket win over Springfield 4ths. The Sunday XI only played two matches in the month, winning one of them narrowly against South Fambridge.

Player of the Month : Danny White (371 runs)

Temperatures in July soared, becoming the hottest July on record. This did wonders for the cricket, if not the Rawreth outfield, which claimed another victim. For the Firsts, Danny scored another ton, this time against Willow Herbs, with Michael Robinson taking 5 for 56 in the same match. Danny inevitably went on to break his own club record with 191 at Boreham, with John Cook taking 6 for 27 to record a massive 226-run victory. Another two successive 80\’s from Danny helped the 1s to win 4 out of 5 in the month.

187 runs in a stand between Willie Leadbeater and John Stirk saw the Seconds set a new record total of 329 for 6 against Great Waltham, a record which lasted just one week as the 2\’s proceded to score 337 for 5 against Burnham, this time Steve Adams (89) and Luke Hedges (79*) doing the damage. Phil Wolff scored another losing 111 as the 2\’s lost to Stock II, however the most crucial defeat came the following week against league leaders Fairview.

A stand of 167 between John Suckling and Gary Hirst and five wickets from Ben Ward helped preserve the Thirds winning streak against a Hockley III side strengthened by 1st team ringers, Gary then went on to score 100 not out the following week against Galleywood, Mitul Patel also taking 4 wickets in that match. The Rayleigh bowlers then turned on the style in the top-of-the-table clash with Canvey to restrict a usually big-hitting side to 181 for 5, but it was a valuable rear-guard 22 not out from captain Darren Smith which saved the game after a Rayleigh batting collapse. It was an overly-strong Eastwood III that brought the 9-win streak to an end the following week, but it still left Rayleigh clear leaders. The last remaining threats to promotion, Bentley IV, were brushed aside with a nine-wicket win, John Stirk scoring 92 not out in that match.

The Fourths had a disappointing month with just one win out of five, with few performances of note, one of which a return to form from Mike Griffiths with 72 against Springfield, and a personal best of 70 from a bright new hope, Andy Impey. The Fifths had a good month – firstly Brian Dawbarn and Stuart Cheesley held on with a 10th-wicket stand of 52 to save a draw against Chelmsford V, and then the 5\’s set their own new batting record of 263 for 7 against Hornchurch Athletic IV, with Chris Grobb becoming the first player to score a ton for the Fifths.

Sunday cricket picked up – Danny continued his league form with a ton against New Calypsonians. A win against East Hanningfield followed, followed with Craig Baird scoring his second career ton in a win against South Weald. Matthew Gilmore announced his all-rounder intentions with 83 in a win against Leigh-on-Sea. Danny couldn\’t stop scoring runs, he hit another 144 in a mid-week win against Leigh, leaving him with 831 runs for the month.

Player of the Month : Danny White (831 runs)

The Firsts\’ season limped to a close with three defeats and a no-result in August, with Danny scoring his second ton for the season against Canvey Island.

The Seconds were still in the title race with Fairview, but they took a knock in an unlikely defeat against Broomfield. Batting first, Rayleigh scored another record high score of 374 for 3 with Willie becoming the first Rayleigh player to score a double-hundred with 220. A depleted bowling attack did not have the firepower to trouble the opposition and Broomfield won by 6 wickets. The 2\’s followed that match up with three straight wins against Chignal (Peter Davenport taking 6 for 51), Marconi (John Stirk scoring 185 not out) and finally Rettendon to seal promotion.

Having seen off the main competition, the Thirds had an relatively easy run in. An ill-tempered game against South Woodham Ferrers was narrowly won with a weakened team, and Ecko Monarchs were dispatched despite the contant threat of a washout – promotion was secured with matches elsewhere rained off. Martin Sanderson and Mike Hillis both scored tons against Hullbridge, and OCs were bowled out for just 83 thanks to 5 for 27 from Lee Wright. This gave the 3\’s the 25 points they needed to finally become champions.

With all the record breaking going on with the league sides, it was the turn of the Fourths to start setting some. James Wratten in defending a total of 97 against Fairview, returned the best ever bowling figures of Rayleigh bowler with 9 for 20. Matthew Verrinder took for 5 for 49 in a drawn match at Westcliff and the month was rounded off with a good win at North Weald. The Fifths finished off their season with defeats against Eastwood and Hornchurch Athletic, scoring just 62 all out in the latter match. Overall a record of played 9, won 3, lost 5 was a promising start to now what had become a regular Rayleigh team. The Sundays played out a win, a draw and a defeat in the month, with Luke Hedges\’ 70 against South Fambridge the highlight.

Player of the Month : Lee Wright (14 wickets)

The Seconds could mathematically clinch first place in Division 7, but lost to Great Waltham, Willie rounding off a successful season with the bat with 124. A win for Fairview elsewhere made the defeat academic. In the friendlies there was one narrow win by just one run against South Weald II, with John Stirk scoring a fifty and taking 5 for 12.

The Thirds for once had a run chase at Hockley – with some erratic bowling and two bowlers being taken out of the attack by the umpires for persistant high full tosses, at total of 253 was posted. John Stirk scored his second ton for the 3\’s with 158 not out to win the match and take his final average for the side past three figures. In the friendlies Steve Tuckerman and Tom Wong both took four wickets in a close defeat at Eastwood, the final match against Ardleigh Green saw colt Andy Impey open and score 65.

The Fourth\’s season finished with defeat against Liberty Casuals, with young Matthew Walker taking 3 for 24. The Sunday\’s again won, drew and lost a match in September, finished off with a good win at Navestock for a change.

Player of the Month : Willie Leadbeater (298 runs).

Batting

Willie Leadbeater 220
Danny White 191
John Stirk 185*
Andy Lynch 145*
Mike Hillis 104
Chris Grobb 100
Gary Hirst 100*
Richard Verrinder 87
Matthew Gilmore 83
Luke Hedges 81
Callum Ginbey 74
Andy Impey 70
Phil Hammond 66
James Wratten 57*
James Robinson 45*
James Donaghue 43*
Ellis Shepherd 41
Tom Walker 36*
Peter Davenport 33

Bowling

James Wratten 9-20
Mitul Patel 6-12
Matthew Gilmore 6-47
John Stirk 6-47
Peter Davenport 6-51
Lee Wright 5-27
Martin Sanderson 5-27
Ellis Shepherd 5-27
Matthew Verrinder 5-49
Ben Ward 5-60
Tom Wong 4-32
Tom Chase 4-35
Lyndon Filby 4-41
Steve Tuckerman 4-50
Graham Herbert 3-15
Tom Osborn 3-52
Dave Attfield 2-8
James Robinson 2-20
Richard Mantell 2-40
Andy Oliver 2-40