Cricket week is fun and games for young players

1:19pm Wednesday 27th August 2008

WOODFORD WELLS JUNIOR CRICKET WEEK

THE Woodford Wells junior cricket week started in the early 1970’s when daily colts’ games were arranged for U13s and U16s against local and county opposition.

This still continues during the middle weeks of August when clubs are invited to bring two sides to The Wells in Monkhams Lane.

This year’s visitors were Hadleigh and Thundersley, Woodford Green, Waltham-stow, Bentley and Wanstead.

The Friday sees an inter-club eight-a-side competition where each team is made up of a selection of children from across the age groups.

The eventual winners receive the Frank Hooper Trophy in memory of a man who was associated with Woodford Wells Cricket Club for many years.

This year the club was able to have eight teams where an U16 would skipper the side which would include a selection of children aged from ten to 15.

They were divided into two leagues where the winner of each league played each other for the trophy and the two next best sides played off for third and fourth places.

This year the trophy was won by a side captained by Chris Briggs which included Krishnan Aswani, Efosa Uwaifo, George Ellis, Matthew Tembey, Mohammed and Mal Khaira. Some of the boys added a bit more fun to the day by dressing up.

This produced the unlikely scenario of a boy dressed as Spiderman batting against an opponent in a florescent tutu.

The culmination of the cricket week is always the annual Friday night supper which was attended by more than 120 junior cricketers and their parents.

Club president and cricket coach Ken MacLeod presented the awards along with the senior cricket section chairman Dilip Jajodia.

Junior cricket co-ordinator Freddie Goldman oversaw proceedings which saw children between the ages of nine and 16 receive coaching awards for their cricketing skills.

This section of the evening has been extended during recent years as Wells will sometimes put out up to eight teams on a Sunday and each age group will have their own best bowler, batsman, fielder, player of the year and coaches special award.

The finale to the evening was the presentation of the Frank Hooper Trophy to the winners.

This year the club has had unprecedented success in both the U13s and U16s section.

The U13s reached the Essex regional semi final of the National Spirit of Cricket Cup before going out to eventual winners, Wanstead.

They have also reached the semi-finals of the Metropolitan area Len Stentiford Cup where they will face Leyton County over the next few weeks as well as recently qualifying for the semi final of the Essex County Cricket Board Peter Coe Cup, which was played over the Bank Holiday weekend.

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