Biddestone Cricket Club Final League Table Youth Teams 2005

Review of the season

Biddestone Cricket Club continued to go from strength to strength in 2005 with the first team and the third team achieving promotion and club membership numbers higher than ever before.
The first team made up for the 2004 disappointment of third place in the Gloucester / Wiltshire Division 2 by finishing one better and will be playing next season in Division 1. The firsts only lost four games all season, and two of those were after promotion had effectively been secured. Well done to Kris Boulton and his team! Next season will be a real challenge, as Biddestone will be one of the top 40 teams in the West of England, in the same league as Westbury, Stroud, Swindon and Warminster.
The second team also improved on their 2004 record, winning 9 and losing 6 in the Gloucester / Wiltshire Division 2 second team league. Promotion remained a real possibility until a narrow 18 run defeat at Goatacre in the penultimate game of the season. During the season, captain Andy Short was able to introduce a number of Under 18's, and even three Under 15's, into the side. They performed very creditably, which bodes well for the future of the club.
The third team secured successive promotions, finishing second in Division 7 of the Crusader Wiltshire League. The strength of the club at the moment means there is little to choose between the seconds and the thirds and the latter team produced some comprehensive winning displays. We are endeavouring to provide a grass wicket on the top pitch next season to supplement the excellent all-weather wicket that the thirds have played on for the last three years.
Finally, we fielded a regular fourth team for the first time and they played the game in an excellent spirit with a mixture of young and old players and a firm principle of ensuring everyone who played was fully involved in every game. The team finished in mid-table in Division 8 of the Wiltshire League, notching up some impressive victories in the process.
With ever increasing numbers in 2005, we had the unfortunate 'blessing' of having to leave some players out during the season and, although those affected took it well, the club has taken steps to prevent a recurrence in 2006. We are well-advanced with plans to enter a Sunday league next year with a structured fixture list of around 18 games running from May to August. In effect this will become our 'fifth' team and we are, as a club, determined to repeat the success of our fourth team launch in 2005.
Biddestone now has 96 junior members and we played 88 youth matches in 2005 from Under 9 level right up to Under 15. The highlight was without doubt, the Under 15's winning the Bath League Cup beating Keynsham in a superbly played final. The Under 15's also finished second in the Bath League and 3rd in the Wiltshire League. All the other age groups had good wins during the season and most teams found themselves around mid-table in their respective leagues.
With the success of our national team this year, cricket looks to be going from strength to strength. Biddestone are excellently placed to take full advantage of this surge in enthusiasm and, although the challenges of 2006 will be significant, we look forward to next season with great excitement and well-founded confidence.

Team	Matches	Wins	Draws	Losses	Abandoned / not played	Percentage won of games played
First team	18	10	-	4	4	71%
Second team	18	9	-	6	3	60%
Third team	19	11	-	6	2	65%
Fourth team	19	6	-	7	6	46%
Other senior team matches	22	6	-	6	10	50%
Under 11	23	6	1	8	8	40%
Under 13	23	8	2	8	5	44%
Under 15 (two teams)	42	22	2	9	9	66%
Total Club Fixtures	184	78	5	54	65	57%