At time of writing the Saturday team are experiencing our best run of the season having won our last 3 games and have one fixture left away at Lowestoft (Saturday 28th August). Think we must have drawn the very short straw with this away fixture which surely must be the longest trip of any club....and on a Bank Holiday weekend too. We are now fifth from top (with your pint glass half full) or fifth from bottom (pint half empy) or, more importantly for Elmham supporters......we are now above Brisley for the first time this season! Clearly we have timed our run well and go into this last game with bowlers and batters in form. Last weekend we defeated Felthorpe, one of the League's stronger teams, by an incredible 10 wickets (see picture) with our best performance of the season. Earlier this season I got some stick from my readership in the Brisley area when I stated that I thought we had one of the best bowling attacks in League 6 - whilst in some games we have let ourselves down, last weekend I think we demonstrated the potency of the team when they all turn up. Elder especially has bowled well although Roy's delivery to remove the Felthorpe skipper (who averaged 100+ last season) was surely the ball of the year.

With the bat Stephan Malherbe has hit a rich vein of form since his return from holiday with 86 and 65 not out in his last 2 innings to go with his 100 earlier in the season. The fielding has also improved immeasurably with very few dropped catches although it is sometimes difficult to be heard when you have such a noisy (new) wicket keeper in the form of Christo (at Garboldisham he was asked to not appeal until after the ball had at least pitched first!). The new players all now appear to have bedded in well including our latest addition James Dagless who gives us even more options with ball and bat. However, all of this makes the first half of the season so frustrating. At one stage we were candidates for relegation but if our form in the second half had been like the second half then we might have been up there contesting the promotion spots. At least our current form gives us reason for optimism for next season. Looking ahead we have a Presidents XI match at the playing field on Sunday 4th September and will be our last match of the season - let me know if you can play as soon as possible. Into October we have our Annual Awards Dinner at the Lodge in North Tuddenham on the 8th. If you wish to come along please let me know ASAP (home 01362 667089 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ) along with your menu choice - cost is £17/head - menu available. Wifes/ girlfriends/ friends and family all very welcome. As ever we are always keen to recruit new players. Finally, details of the AGM will be circulated shortly - we have a number of posts that need filling so please come along and volunteer your services.

Regards

Iain

NECC - Saturday XI Captain

Hi All,

To say we have had a mixed start to the season is, I think, putting it mildly.

Six games in we have won two and lost four of our Saturday fixtures. Taking this at first sight you might perhaps think that we were early candidates for relegation.

I disagree for a number of reasons and yesterdays comprehensive win against Ketteringham Hall helped support this view in my mind although I will admit that a few more wins will help....

•                  in both the games that we won we did so by over 90 runs which is comprehensive....and one of those was against the current League leaders

•                  three of the four games we lost we should have won - no prizes for consistently snatching defeat from the jaws of victory - Brisley we lost with 3 deliveries to go and Horsford by 4 runs - only Rollesby have turned us over seriously this season and even that was our batsmen not turning up rather than being outplayed by them

•                  our new players are beginning to bed in with Juan Olivier scoring his first 50 for us (and taking the catch of the season vs Horsford), Elder Grobbelaar taking his first 5for against Horsford and James White scoring runs for fun on a Sunday (I am sure his time will come on a Saturday soon)

•                  also now we are seeing some of the old guard beginning to play well especially amongst the batters - Stephan Malherbe scored a brilliant 100 yesterday against Ketteringham Hall that set us up with a target that Ketteringham Hall never looked like getting especially with our miserly bowling attack that has only "failed" once this season against Horsford

•                  Christo Slabbert scored a brilliant 71 in 48 balls against Horsford and is taking a very active interest in his average this season which also augers well for us for the rest of the season - also I am hopeful that Grant King will be available more often as he is a definite match winner with the bat and the ball (even off that funny short run he used in the murk yesterday against Kett Hall)

•                  When we have our regular bowling attack available I have not seen a better attack anywhere although we must learn to bowl teams out more regularly which occasionally means trying to hit the stumps when numbers 10 and 11 are occupying the crease....

Our early season can be summed up as a collective failure of the top order to score enough runs that our bowlers could defend. In the three close encounters we lost (Great Melton, Brisley and Horsford) a few extra runs could have meant victory. These are very close margins but as the old saying goes "look in the scorebook it still says we lost". In the Railway last night Mike the Camera provided some interesting insight from other teams - they cannot understand why we are in this position as we have a good team and indeed some feared players - something to think about - personally I blame the leadership!

In the field I have been pleased with the efforts of everyone and as a team we are gelling much better each game as players on the opposite side of the pitch to our trio of South Africans with strong throwing arms have learnt to back up and eradicate the over throws. Ant Keeble managed to sprain his ankle saving four runs, Jon Pennell stopped one on his chin against Great Melton, I have a bent little finger thanks to Brisley and James White stopped one somewhere down below yesterday - all injuries taken for the team and appreciated!

Steph continues to deputise for Rich Futter behind the stumps and is also getting better with each game (even after scoring a hundred) with byes no longer top scorer for most teams. He is also a great help preparing the pitch and has become somewhat obsessed with his line drawing even if he did not appreciate his skippers constructive feedback in the midst of his century innings yesterday that one line looked wonky.

In summary, there are signs that our batsmen are beginning to value their wickets more and not throw them away needlessly. I am convinced that if we can score nearer 200 than 150, that we have the bowlers to defend that total successfully. Maintaining the momentum going forward is important over the next few weeks as we visit Felthorpe and then entertain Lowestoft as victories here will lift us further up the table and keep us well out of any relegation dog fight.

Off the pitch Tony continues in his role as head pitch fairy and has used his water devining skills to great effect to keep the square reasonably green during the dry spell and well rolled. It has played as true as any other ground all season despite the dry conditions.

Rich Futter will hopefully be having his ankle operation shortly with the original one having been cancelled. His assorted injuries have not stopped him umpiring for the Saturday team most weeks. It is clear that his injuries have not affected his ability to signal wides or raise his finger skywards to dismiss a number of us this season......thanks Rich!

Cricket teas have been great this season and a special thanks goes to Barbara and her team at the Railway. Cakes have also been kindly provided by Roy's mum as well as my daughter (who recognises a potential pocket money making scheme when she sees one) - it is noted that there are never any items left at close of play so many thanks to all for your contributions.

The Sunday side are doing better (at time of writing) than the Saturday team being well placed in the League and Callum is doing a good job steering the team in their first season. I hear there are some good young players on a Sunday who will hopefully filter through to the Saturday team before long. More on this soon....

Finally, a plea......can all players be at the ground no later than 13.30 for home games. There are plenty of jobs that the usual suspects would appreciate a bit of help with - putting the scoreboard up, flags out, carpet down, stumps in, etc. Again big thanks to Steph and Tony for your continued support.

Any thoughts or suggestions please let me know.

Cheers

Iain

A major disaster was narrowly averted during our game against Snettisham on Sunday that might have ruined NECC's reputation for generations. Literally minutes before tea Keebs and I realised that we had no milk.

We had juice, sugar, sausages, interesting bits of chicken, sausage rolls and butties but no milk. Both of us realised the implications of this error. It was a bank holiday and the shop was closed - who was going to tell Christo he couldn't have milk in his tea? For those of you who don't know tea drinking is the one thing that makes Christo civilised and reasonable.....calm even. Can you imagine what he would be like without a decent brew???

A panicked call to Mrs S to empty the fridge of the white gold was not met with the hoped for support due our own shortage of milk.

Fortunately Tony (aka pitch fairy) chose the right moment to wander into the kitchen and was berated, sorry persuaded, to surrender the two pints in his fridge despite the misgivings of Bridg and the knowledge that their early morning brew would have to wait until replacement milk could be purchased. Tony took one for the club, honour was saved, Christo and the teams had their milky tea and the crisis was averted - phew! (Bridg thanks for allowing us to liberate the bumper packs of biscuits as well).

What's the point of this I hear you say...?

Well as Keebs and I discussed over a pint of chewy Wolf ale in the Railway afterwards, it's the small things that you have to remember when you are Captain. I have said before that Chris made it all look easy in the past but there were plenty of other things that I forgot to do before, during and after the game the main one being to have my lunch. However, I keep telling myself that was the reason we played a fairly strong team against Snettisham was so we could iron out the problems and get better with each game and reduce the errors.

For a start we won the game so most people probably (hopefully) didn't notice (or care) about my errors. We scored 136 - 8 (7 of us bowled) but skittled them out for 67 - a good start and 21 points in the bag. Match report will be in the paper this week (?) and Mike will stick on the website for you to see when he has time.

BUT what else did we learn......?

1. My motivational team speeches need to be:-
- motivational
- shorter in length

2. That all the old hands know Chris P's standard lines off by heart...."no god given right, etc"

3. When laying out the pitch put in three stump holes at each end not one and don't leave it to 5 mins from the start to realise you can't get your stump in!

4. Bring the bit of paper that lists the team and use it to check off who has paid what and don't try and do it by memory and wonder why it doesn't add up

5. Because a team like Snettisham turn up wearing smart club shirts doesn't make them world beaters but the psycological effect on us was interesting especially when they had a very good opening bowler - plenty of us thought we were going to get hammered - how can we do the same thing to the opposition?

6. On our day we have a very strong bowling attack that should be able to bowl out most teams quite easily - we have plenty of options - this is a good problem for me.

7. Our new signings are looking good - Roy was strong with the bat and (eventually) with the ball and Elder will scare many a batsman (and wicket keeper) this year with his pace.

8. Danny Websdale may look laid back but he has a deadly arm on him when fielding

9. Our interim standby caretaker wicket keeper needs a bit of practice taking the ball down the leg side (and well OK on the offside as well)

10. We need a fielder permanently at fine leg as well....come back soon Futtie

11. Our batting needs strengthening although Roy and Christo batted well in a kind of total destruction kind of way - Christo has a big score in him and maybe needs tea during a drinks break to focus?

12. Buy milk before the game starts and when the shop is open

The above are all things that can improve and will but they don't matter so much when you win.

We have a few more potential new signings that will add more strength in depth to the Saturday and Sunday squads so I am hopeful that both teams will be competitive and compete for promotion this year.

Finally, Richie is due to have his long awaited ankle operation this Friday and on behalf of the team I would like to wish him a speedy recovery and return to the team so he can reduce the number of byes we may be about to give away or at least do his share of scoring and/ or umpiring.

Cheers, Iain