TAKE A LEAFE...

By Nigel Fisher
Bob Leafe, the former Lincolnshire Minor Counties batsman who has given such sterling service to Cleethorpes CC down the decades, is approaching the magnificent milestone of 35,000 runs for the Meggies.
And, amazingly, this is the strokemaker's 50th successive season playing for his beloved club!
Before the current campaign started - and these days he plays for the 4ths in Lincs League division two - Bob had scored 34,357 runs; so far in 2009 he has managed 425 - so club colleagues reckon he needs only another 218 to achieve this super feat.
"Both must be some kind of record," suggests Paul Hewstone, who has kindly supplied Lincs Cricket Latest with a chart listing all Bob's season-by-season batting statistics since his debut way back in 1960.
That first season, his solitary knock was two not out), but the 1961 campaign saw him record his initial half-century.
It was not until 1964 that Bob became a regular, scoring 470 runs in 24 games - and holding an impressive 15 catches.
During the 1970s his seasonal batting average never dropped below 20 - and reached a high of 39. Things then got even better during the following decade, with 1986 a memorable season, producing 1,124 runs at 40.14.
Moving on down the years, 1996 was another bumper one for Bob, during which he stroked 1,234 at 41.43. But the evergreen batter - despite advancing years - even managed to improve on that. For, during 2002, he averaged a very impressive 41.94 - and in 2005 that went up to the dizzy heights of 43.08.
Last summer he averaged 20.95 - a figure most Lincs League batsmen half, or even one-third of his age - would happily settle for.
From 1984, until nine years ago, he regularly appeared in the Yorkshire League, and even today, in the 4ths, he's turning out in the third tier of Lincs League cricket - a decent standard.
I've counted 14 in the centuries column of Bob's career chart, the last being in 2002.
So it would be fitting if, in his 50th season, he could reach three-figures yet again.


PS Although Bob has shown himself a decent enough bowler for the In A Spin X1 in the August bank holiday charity fixtures at Outcasts CC, he has turned his arm over very, very rarely for the Meggies. Just 20.2 overs, infact, and a career total of three wickets, two of which came in 2007. If you were one of Bob's victims that day, hang your head in shame!