That was the season that was. The ‘c’ word proved to be the club’s undoing in a strange summer at The Warren. Commitment or rather, lack thereof, cost the club valuable points across all facets of senior cricket which meant that the real Elstow never had the chance to show itself. Fifth position for Matt Stevens’ first team was an improvement on last year, but there is a left a sense of what might have been. The first XI lost six times this year, most of those defeats to teams higher up. Champions North Crawley finished the season unbeaten but they were given the mother of all scares in a pulsating encounter at The Warren where they limped home by 5 runs. There is undeniably the talent at the club (witness the undoubted potential of Rani Thiarra and Rob Tebbutt to name but two) to break into the top three, if perhaps not the belief and this result probably best underlines this.
The 2nd XI’s final league position was down a couple of places to sixth position this year. The wretched end to the summer; Lewy’s Light Brigade skittled all out for 54 to champions Crawley Green Nomads at Wardown Park, Luton was a cataclysmic conclusion to what felt like a long summer. Relegation stalked the side for much of the season yet Will Wisson’s charges put together a terrific run in early August that made them look bona fide promotion hopefuls; Pete Burraway and Hikmat Waqar were the undoubted stars in this enjoyable rally. However, despite the undoubted talent that lurks within the ranks, a fourth season in Division 5 is one more than anyone would have wanted yet, this is the stark reality that confronts all those involved with the seconds.
The Midweek team’s season mirrored their Saturday counterparts, brilliant at times, bewildering at others. The team finished a creditable third behind Thurleigh and Bedford Pakistanis, mostly down to the heroic efforts of the captain, Thomas Wisson, but it was in the head to head encounters against these two sides where their title ambitions came unstuck. There is little doubt that midweek cricket in Bedfordshire doesn’t carry the lustre it used to and the apparent county-wide apathy to this form of the game seems to have seeped into the fabric at Elstow too. Decisions will need to be made regarding the club’s approach to this area at the AGM along with other important choices in relation to the senior playing structure at the club.
