By Gwyn Price

THE 2017 season was one which was very much anticipated at Brecon Cricket Club with the first team competing in Division One of the First Division of the South East Wales for the time in the Club’s history having won Division Two in the 2016 season. This anticipation was greater with the second team also playing up a League following their promotion to Division Two of the second teams.

First Team

The first weekend of the season saw the first team comfortably defeat visitors Pontypridd to record a confidence building victory. With the bowlers hitting their straps quickly to bowl the visitors out for 64 runs to set-up a 9 wicket victory.

From there the 1st team recorded victories away at Chepstow by 94 runs and home against Pentyrch before the early season run ended with defeat against Newbridge in what was then a table topping encounter played out in very damp conditions.

The following week saw the eventual champions Malpas defeated by 44 runs to keep the team in contention at the top. The sizzling heat and opponents Usk proved a combination too much when a batting collapse proved the teams undoing the following week. This set back was quickly put in the past with a convincing win against Blackwood, which brought up the following Saturday the halfway mark for the season but on Presidents day visitors Sudbrook ran out victors by 34 runs to nudge the 1st out of the top four.

There followed a disappointing reverse against Pontypridd but winning ways were re-established with victories against Chepstow and then a stunning performance to unseat table topping Newbrdige by 6 wickets. These results were backed-up with massive performances against the eventual League winners Malpas with 13 run success to record the double and then against a strong Croesycelliog team to stand within touching distance of promotion.

However it was not to be a 34 run defeat at Usk ended any lingering hopes and there followed defeats against Blackwood and the season ended with a 5 wicket reverse at Sudbrook. However this did not undermine what had been a marvellous competitive debut season and a third place finish was a just reward for the teams efforts.

Captain Sam Williams led from the front with some memorable personal performances to take 32 wickets with a best of 4-14 and score 248 runs with the bat to win the SE Wales Division One player of the year award. Richard Lovering also put in excellent all round performances to take 19 wickets and scoring 219 runs.

James Mitchell contributed 17 wickets to the cause closely followed by John Kenchington with 16 in what was an injury riddled season for him and Tom Jones took 13 wickets. With the bat Greg Webber again led the way with 266 runs with Matt Williams on 199 runs in addition he took 13 wickets. Also amongst the wickets were Iain Mitchell and Ben Kenchington with seven each.

Second Team

The second team too had a highly successful season on their return to Division Two of the second team division.

After a poor start with three defeats on the bounce things did not look too promising but then came the turn around with a home victory against Dinas Powys. From there things really took off with only one more defeat suffered in the remainder of the season and ending with nine consecutive victories to just fall short of promotion in third place.

Stephen Kenchington had another memorable season scoring 594 runs with a best of 114no to top the Division two second team aggregate runs total and he also took 17 wickets to underline his massive efforts. Also in the runs was Gwyn Price with 352 including a century of 114no.

The other players in the runs were Rhys Pritchard with 193, closely followed by Terry Dickson with 187 and Finn Starkey 185, with a best of 85no to end with the formidable average of 93. James Morgan put up 185 runs from 4 innings and Mark Waldeck 180 with his son Sean in his first senior season totalling 127 runs with a best of 62. On the bowling front captain John Cooke led the way with 19 wickets with a best of 3-3. Finn Starkey showed his skill with the ball too taking 16 wickets to make it a good season for him. Ryan Morgan also made a significant contribution to take 15 wickets and score 139 runs and with Derek Osborne and Rob Hudman taking nine each the bowling was always probing in what was a thougthly enjoyable season.

The second team were joint winners of the Divisions most sporting team which reflects well on Captain John Cooke and club umpire Tony Evans who earned the respect of opposition players with his decision making.

Junior Cricket

The junior section was a vibrant section of the Club with training evenings massively popular led by the qualified cricket coaches organised by co-ordinator Terry Dickson. The training evenings provided youngsters from 5 to 16 years of age the opportunity to develop their cricketing skills.

The Club fielded teams in competitions for under 9 age group through to 15 and all performed with credit and always great enthusiasm. Indoor training nets will be held once again pre season 2018 so keep an eye on the Clubs facebook account people for updates.