After a very promising first season in the Edwin Arthur Sunday league where the team almost won promotion, much was expected the 3rd XI going into the new 2003 season. Adam White remained in control as captain for the second consecutive season while Jamie Fellows took over Mark Osborne’s roll as vice captain.

We kicked off our 2003 campaign on the 20th April in a friendly match against Shireoaks at Clowne. The inexperienced and raw captaincy team didn’t get off to a very good as Clowne crashed to a resounding 80 run defeat.

Not to be disheartened by this result, but knowing that performances would have to improve, the team kicked off the league campaign at home to Harthill. On a terrible day weather-wise Clowne cooked up a stylish performance bowling Harthill out for 96 with Jamie Fellows getting 5 wickets which included the one of Barry ‘king of the crease’ Kinsey. Clowne then went on to knock off the runs losing only 3 wickets along the way with Nige Spencer being the pick of the batsmen with a solid 39 not out. However, the momentum wasn’t allowed to continue as the weekend after 3 teams had to be fielded on the Sunday and with the majority of the team that played against Harthill in action elsewhere, Matt Linacre was handed the reigns. The fact we were a little stretched for players gave opportunities for the less well established players to shine and they did them selves proud with the team losing by only 11 runs. A career best 47 from Josh Womble was the highlight of the game.

A defeat to Rain worth followed thanks to the help of their Pakistani under 19 academy player but a better week followed as Clowne hammered Shireoaks by 9 wickets with Bong getting 49 not out. A weakened Clowne side then took on a very strong Blyth team and got a pasting in all fairness. However, Lee onion has to come in for some praise as he clean bowled Blyths 1st team opening batsman for 112. A good result against Mansfield and Pleasley followed but Clowne were pegged back again the week after, losing to Teversal in a very tight and exciting game.

Clowne then lost their next four games against Clipstone, Harthill, Cuckney and Rainworth pretty heavily and with the team floundering towards the bottom of the table and with 5 defeats on the bounce, Adam White decided to call it a day as skipper. Many off the field incidents and the fact that we couldn’t field the same team each week had helped him make him the decision. Jamie took over as captain and Adam dropped to vice.

Now it was all about playing for pride and Jamie’s first game in charge was away at Shireoaks. In a blistering hot day, Jamie got off to the perfect start by winning the toss and putting Shiroaks into bat. The wrong choice as Shireoaks went on to rack up 242-3 in their innings. Clowne however did have something to feel pleased about as they scored 167-8 in the innings and this was the first time they had scored over 130 for 5 weeks!! However, Jamie could not get a victory from the remaining games in charge and Clowne went on to finish second bottom of the table.

A very disappointing season for the club as a whole really, but from being the best placed team at the club last season, the 3rd XI were the worst placed side this year. So what went wrong? Well it was really a combination of many things but the outlining factor was the inconsistent selection of the team. The fact we couldn’t field the same side 2 weeks on the trot was the problem. And this went for all the teams at the club.

However, it wasn’t all doom and gloom as there were many positives to come out of the season. We were subjected to many funny Bong comments and moments, not least when he went a**e over t*t into the bushes ‘escorting’ a ball to the boundary. Matt Parker played his first full senior season and showed what a talent he is, improving each week he played and playing a very impressive innings at Shireoaks. Richard Askew, not only did he get the players player award, but in my opinion was the most improved player the team last year. His work behind the stumps was excellent and he even displayed a few cricket shots when he was batting. Matt Linacre and Josh Womble continued to make progress and both were very important parts of the team last year. Matt scored his maiden 50 and Josh got a career best 47. However, the average winners once again were Adam and Jamie, not just for the 3rd XI but also for the league.

So, with the new season now only months away, what are our aims for next year? Well, personally, I would like 20 wickets again and contribute a bit more with the bat. But for the team, I think a promotion challenge is well within our reach. The introduction of the 4th XI now makes the 3rd’s really the ‘Sunday 1st XI’. This means that we get the pick of the 1st and 2nd team players too which means a strong squad for us to pick from. We have the talent at the club for us to get to section 3 so why can’t we do it?

All the details of the 3rd Team perfomances can be found by clicking on the following links :-

1st Team League Tables 2003

1st Team Match Reports 2003

1st Team Results 2003

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