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1. Tom James Says:
   September 25th, 2009 at 2:07 pm

   The 6ths finished the season with their most comprehensive victory of the season away to Rush. I lost the toss and we were put into bat. Opener Kev James smashed his way to an excellent 30 runs from 26 balls to give us a flying start. The second wicket fell quickly but after that Brian Cotter joined opener Marguerite Burke at the crease and both batted superbly to get their 50’s. Brian fell on 50 while Marguerite batted the 40 overs out and finished unbeaten on 63 giving us our highest total of the year of 189-4.

   We bowled very well to keep the run rate down and while one of their batsmen dug in, wickets fell regularly at the other end with the wickets being shared around among the bowlers. Rush were never going to chase down the total but it took us until the 39th over to take the 10th wicket with their score on 138. Pick of the bowlers was Eamon Donohoe with 3-38 and Kevin Hinds with 2-22. Credit must also go to Rory Kirk for keeping their run rate down with figures of 1-15 from his 8 overs and to Ian Smilie for the best direct hit run out I’ve seen all season.

   It was a nice way to finish the season and all in all I would consider the first year of the 6ths a great success. In the league we played 14 games, winning 6 and losing 8. Six of the games we lost were against the top 3 teams in the league. There has been a marked improvement in our performances, particularly with the bat as the season has progressed.

   Leaving aside the win/lose ratio what has been the biggest success is the volume of new players who have been involved. There have been no fewer than 11 youth players who have played, some of whom who have moved up to play for the 4ths and the 5ths. Players like Rory Kirk, Eamon Donohoe, Ross McCullagh and Kevin Hind (top wicket taker with 15) have all seen their games improve from the experience of playing mens cricket regularly.

   There have also been a large number of new adult members who have made a big impact and have thoroughly enjoyed their cricket, some who had never played league cricket before. Dave Brodrick, John Watson, Daniel Nolan, Orwell, Vidyha, Ian Smilie, Ian Jackson, Ash, Brendan Duggan, Tony O’Shea to name but a few are all new members who brought a mixture of experience (in years!), enthusiasm and in some cases genuine ability. Special mention also to our best batsman this season - Marguerite - who scored in excess of 250 runs with an average of 36.

   Without sounding like an Oscar speech, there are a few people I’d like to thank –
   •Iain, Stella and Deryck for supporting the idea of a 6th team in the first place,
   •To my fellow captains in the club, particularly John Cotter and Paul McShane,
   •My vice captain Kev James,
   •Fergus Carroll for his hard work on the fixtures,
   •Lindy for her hard work as team secretary and also for scoring the book for us a few times during the season with her multi-coloured pens,
   •Roger McGreal for his support on various issues,
   •Mount Temple for allowing us to play there,
   •Deryck Vincent for his excellent coaching on weds evenings – every single player has improved some element of their game as a direct result of Deryck’s hard work.

   And finally to every one of the 30+ players who have played for the 6ths this season, thanks for all your support and encouragement. It was an absolute pleasure to captain the team and I hope to see you all again next season.

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