Hartlepool won't remember the 2008 season as enjoyable after atrocious weather and few memorable performances by the 1st Team.  Perhaps the highlight for the club was the 2nds reaching the final of the Readman Cup where they finished as Runner-up

The need for additional bowling was obvious as we are always under pressure when either Ian Palmer or Ian Jackson are missing.  On occasions we were missing both and that inevitably led to high totals being posted against us to chase.  One bright spot was the development of Callum Prosser this season.  Still far from the finished article but he has improved a lot in the last 12 months and he can become a key bowler in the next few years if he continues to work on his skills.  The lack of depth in bowling inevitable placed more responsibility on the professionals to take wickets.  That didn't happen, perhaps because opposing teams were able to exert caution at one end and score relatively freely at the other on many occasions.  Whatever choices the club make on new professionals it must be stressed that they are employed to improve the competitiveness of the team and not to carry the team through a season.  Perhaps the highlight of the 1st team season was the away victory at Darlington with Ian Palmer bowling his team to victory in an exciting match.

On the batting front we simply failed to score sufficient runs and on occasions we were guilty of adopting a very negative approach to our batting.  The middle order rarely succeeded with Jon Cannon the most impressive of the amateur players with Alan Tebbett showing signs of his undoubted potential..  The other amateur players produced occasional flashes and there needs to be a rethink of tactics when we are batting whether it be first or second innings.  The points system is now designed to reward attacking cricket and when batting second defending is rarely going to be profitable when the points are tallied up.  As with the bowling perhaps there was a lack of confidence and caution was exerted by our big guns because they did not feel they could play with freedom and feared losing wickets.  All of our batsmen need to be able to play with freedom and such an approach is likely to be more entertaining, enjoyable for the players and perhaps help win more matches.  I don't advocate a cavalier attitude but being bowled out for 80 odd a couple of a times a season wouldn't be a disaster if on other occasions we were rattling up the runs by taking the attack to the opposition.

Our cup cricket suffered badly because of a lack of availability midweek and hopes of reaching the Saunders Cup Final were dashed with a heavy defeat in the semi-final.

The 2nds began the season in great style with a highly successful Readman Cup campaign.  Chris Buttery began his captaincy with enthusiasm and obviously had high hopes of a successful league campaign.  A number of players produced match-winning performances and generally the matches were always entertaining to watch.  A number of junior players found opportunities to compete especially with the ball, often at the expense of other more experienced in-form bowlers.  That tactic was unsuccessful in the first defeat of the season against an average Stokesley team and provided evidence that the team were perhaps over-confident of their promotion prospects.  The 2nd  and 3rd teams have fielded an incredible number of players in a rain ravaged season and unless we can establish some sort squad able to play in Division 2 for the majority of the season promotion will not come easily.  Rarely did the same 11 players take the field.  A top half finish guarantees a place in the revamped Division 2 for 2009 and finalists in the Readman Cup was an excellent effort.

The 3rds were led by Rob Snowball and had the usual mix of youth and experience but sadly too few matches due to the weather.  10 wash-outs from a scheduled 18 games so there is little to report on really.  Some young prospects emerged and some entertaining matches but hopefully 2009 will offer more cricket for the Sunday Divisions.