The 2021 Season saw one of the most successful seasons in recent times across all sections of the club and aspirations are high for the upcoming season, as the respective team captains now reflect:
First Team
We started the season with a great victory away at local rivals Attock, thanks to runs from Kaiser and Suraj, giving Ashfield a less than competitive total. Looking dead and buried we turned to Sully, who completely changed the game on its head with 5 for 29 and brought home what looked like an impossible 24 points, a sign of things to come for the rest of the season. We remained undefeated for 6 games, leaving us joint top of the league after 6 games.
Unfortunately, at this point the league thought it would be a good idea to introduce a white ball, horrendously fitted Pyjama’s and win/lose cricket, which took a few weeks for us to get used to, along with availability struggles, meaning we lost 6 out of the next 7 games.
Fortunately the Ashfield fighting spirit kicked in and with some slight personnel changes and a different approach with the bat, we managed to turn our form around away at Streetly, brilliantly guided by Hayden and Salah with 34 and 40 respectively at the top of the order and then the master blaster himself hitting a brilliant hundred. From this point we didn’t look back, and finished the season with 6 wins and 3 draws.
This season was a real team effort, seeing the individual brilliance of several players with both bat and ball. In the 2020 season Oliver Thomas scored 800 runs and contributed over 50% of team runs, but in 2021 several people put their hands up in the tough moments. Similarly with the ball, we had four bowlers with over 20 wickets, which is an incredible feat and shows the class we have within this team.
Statistically, we:
Played: 22
Won: 10
Lost: 6
Drew: 3
No Result: 3
Leading to a: 4th Place finish and plenty to build on for next year.
2nd Team
Following a successful campaign, the Second XI were Division 6 champions in 2021 and aim to be challenging for promotion again this season. Significant contributions were made by many, culminating in Tariq receiving the batting award, Akeel the bowling award, with Noel being captain’s player of the season. We are also pleased to confirm the signing of Rayyen Khan who we believe can help push us even further this year. Hoping for a successful, injury free season for all.
3rd Team
2021 was a very good season for the 3rd XI, finishing 3rd in the division and just missing out on promotion. It was pleasing to see a number of players promoted from the 4th XI and further reflecting growth and development a similar number promoted to become regular members of the 2nd XI.
During this successful season we saw 5 different centurions including two maiden tons in the same match. Two junior members were leading wicket takers for the side with 16 each. The aim for 2022 is to push for promotion whilst providing further opportunities for junior development and promotion to higher teams.
4th Team
In a similar vein, 2021 very good season for the 4th XI with lots of junior development. A mid-table finish was fitting reward, with many noteworthy performances and an unprecedented number of juniors who donned the MACC whites. Several of these progressed the 3rd XI,. With an increased senior and junior membership we are looking forward to great season in 2022.
