RASEN REVIEW

From Andy Richley

With autumn poking its head above the parapet, the leaves beginning to turn and the nights drawing in, now seems as good a time as any to review the 2009 cricket season in Market Rasen.
Purely in terms of participation, 2009 was an immense success for the Rase Park outfit, with four senior and six junior sides representing the club in the Lincolnshire, McKinnells Lincoln, Lincoln Youth and West Wold Leagues. With the exception of the U15s and the 2nds, each team won more games than it lost. In the junior section the standout sides were again the U11s, who won 8 from 10 and finished second in their division and the U13s, who won 6 from 8.
The U11s were led by the fine batting of James Keast (143 runs @ 72), Paul Martin (98 runs @ 20) and Sam Williams (69 runs @ 17). They were backed up by some fine fielding from the team and some excellent bowling, in particular from Nick Keast (10 wickets @ 5), James Keast (8 wickets @ 5) and Paul Martin (6 wickets @ 12).
The U13s’ batting was dominated by Seb Darke (143 runs @ 29) and James Fussey (129 runs @ 32). With the ball James Keast (11 wickets @ 6) wreaked havoc playing two years above his age-group and Fred Fenwick (8 wickets @ 6) was the other main wicket-taker.
For Rasen’s senior sides the 1sts consolidated their position in Lincs League 2 with injuries and work-enforced absence leading to a curate’s egg of a season that had, at one point, promised much more than the eventual seventh place. ‘Keeper Mark Robinson finished the season with 23 victims to top the Division 2 averages and lead the way for Rasen in the field. Once again the Bierlein brothers (Gary and Karl) dominated with the ball, Gary Bierlein (37 wickets @ 15) placing 6th in the Division Two averages and Karl Bierlein (33 wickets @ 19) 11th. Whilst a variety of bowlers toiled manfully for the rest of the season, Chris Potter (15 wickets @ 12) was the only other player to break double-figures in his wickets tally.
With the bat, Rasen relied heavily on Jon Stephenson (450 runs @ 35) and Luke Robinson (325 runs @ 30). The pair blossomed both home and away this season with Stephenson’s 87 against Keelby and Robinson’s 98* at Hartsholme particular highlights. Gary Bierlein (238 runs @ 27) was again his consistent self with the bat, but no other player broke through the 200 run barrier for the year.
The 2nds - pictured above - fielded a young side against, on the whole, much older opposition and found themselves unfortunate to end up in ninth place. They require re-election for 2010, despite a haul of 167 points that left them only 23 points ‘off’ 5th place. The 2nds struggled to impose themselves with the bat, with only Simon Clark (207 runs @ 30) totalling more than 200 runs for the year. However, encouragement can be taken from the contributions of 14 year olds George Fussey (172 runs @ 17) and Tom Corden (129 runs @ 16) and more can be expected from Ivan Nash (199 runs @ 14).
With the ball the skipper, Andy Richley (30 wickets @ 14) led the way and finished 9th in the Division Four league averages, ably abetted by Luke Richards (19 wickets @ 15), As Rampal (15 wickets @ 15) and Aaron Wells (15 wickets @ 23). Richley was the only regular bowler who was not a teenager and, as such, the 2nds efforts with the ball this season were exceptional.
2009 saw Rasen’s Sunday XI looking to re-establish their pre-eminence in the Premier Division of the McKinnell’s Lincoln Sunday League after a year of consolidation following their promotion in 2007. Whilst the team were not able to scale the giddy heights of a pennant, their top-four finish was thoroughly deserved. Leading the way with the willow was Graeme Bell (568 runs @ 44) who had a breakthrough year with the bat, smiting five 50s and striking his maiden ton. This was one of four centuries the team’s batsmen compiled during the season, with Matthew Rutherford (492 runs @ 49) collecting two more and youngster Luke Robinson (185 runs at 92) accumulating the other.
Rutherford (22 wickets @ 11) and Bell (21 wickets @ 16) continued their fine efforts of recent seasons with the ball and received excellent support from Jon Darke (14 wickets @ 12) and skipper, Dale Chambers (12 wickets @ 19).
The Club would like to thank all of its sponsors and followers from this season and look forward to welcoming you back to Rase Park next year. 2010 will see the club looking to continue the development of its young players, and its senior sides consolidating and building on their current positions.
The Cricket AGM is at 7.30pm on Monday, 5th October at Rase Park and we encourage members and non-members alike to attend.