ACC 1st XI were crowned Division 5 Champions on the final day of the season beating Wallinton CC.

The report of the season can be seen below written by Andy Poulton, 1st XI Captain.

1^st XI – Div 5 Surrey Championship

Having been promoted back into the Surrey Championship after winning the Fullers League and League Cup the team were excited by the challenge of playing championship cricket again and the season didn’t disappoint.

Having lost no less than four first team regulars from the previous year, the captain had no option but to put faith in the youth of the club and hope that the more experienced players in the team would perform and help the younger players develop. This policy proved to be successful when the 1^st XI were crowned Division 5 champions on the final day of the season.

With the new format of the league, the team enjoyed early success winning all of the first four limited over games taking maximum points and sitting top of the league which is where they stayed throughout the entire season.  Within this period some fantastic individual performances worth noting were Jack Docherty scoring 152* and Richard Johnson scoring 101 against Kingstonian sharing a partnership of 220.  Richard Johnson scoring 115* in the next fixture against Stoke D’Abernon.

The good form with both bat and bowl was continued throughout the season, good run chases and excellent bowling performances saw Addiscombe in what appeared to be more or less an unassailable lead just past the half way point of the season.  The game against Chipstead & Coulsdon will live long in the memory at Addiscombe, the significance of the fixture at the time was huge and the game didn’t disappoint.  The A’s bowled the opposition out for 159, which appeared to be very ‘gettable’.  The run chase didn’t start well with Addiscombe 12 for 5.  The heroics of Sean Crowie scoring an unbeaten 96* won Addiscombe the game, albeit doing his best to draw the game blocking the first 5 balls and then taking a scampered two from the last ball of the final over. The A’s continued the form throughout the season, the confidence of the younger players grew and the experienced players continued to perform.  With a few stumbling blocks along the way the team needed to win one of their last three games to win the league.  Having lost the first two of the three it was right down to the wire in the final game against relegated Wallington.  No mistake was made and the A’s won the game comfortably thus winning the league, Dale Cooper’s spell of 6-29, his season best figures proved to be the decisive performance.

Naeem Anjum the returning overseas topped the bowling taking 46 wickets at an average of 12.73.  Richard Johnson topped the batting with 658 at 59.82.  All round performances from Richard Johnson scoring 658 runs and taking 33 wickets at 15.55, also Sean Crowie scoring 201 at 33.50 and taking 24 wickets at 16.33.  The development of young players such as Jack Docherty and Steven Cox with the bat, Jason Moore and Scott Benham with both bat and ball give an indication that Addiscombe have a bright future.

Thanks goes to Ron Burton for umpiring, Linda Poulton for scoring, the chairman Mike Rogers and his committee for all their hard work and commitment to the club and to our faithful supporters who make a huge difference.  Also to the Surrey Championship and all the people that do so much hard work ensuring that we can play a good standard of club cricket in a very well organised league.