Review of the 2002 season

The 2002 season always promised to be one of transition for the club. It was the first time since their success in the East Anglian Premier League started that they went into the season without a recognised overseas professional. Instead the club chose to recruit three overseas amateurs in order to hopefully offer strength throughout the club. In part this proved a success with Australian, Jason Shields proving a hit both on and off the field. Jason was joined by his brother, wicket-keeper David and South African Nicol Grobler as the overseas contingent for 2002. David showed his great skill as a gloveman and had his batting been slightly stronger would have been pushing for a regular first team berth. Nicol Grobler started slowly, but by the end of the season was bowling longer spells of pace and control. The first team were defeated by the weather in the early season, having their first three fixtures washed out. As a result they were playing catch-up for the rest of the season and could not afford to slip up in any match. Having had a good run in June which saw them win 3 of their 4 matches and a strong winning draw in the other, they lost two matches on the bounce in July which wiped out their chance of winning a hat-trick of league titles. One of those defeats was at the hands of eventual and deserved champions Vauxhall Mallards who enjoyed a relatively ‘rain-free’ season and one which saw their professionals perform extremely well. Revenge was achieved in the final of the Biss Trophy with a resounding victory over Mallards at their home ground. With the absence of the Floodlit Trophy in 2002 and Mallards winning the other two trophies, the end of season Biss victory brought a much needed boost to Norwich. Paul Wiseman again captained the Biss side to victory for the second successive season. Michael Eccles deserving the Man of the Match award for his 5 wicket haul. The 2nd & 3rd X1s struggled against strong opposition for much of the season and endured different run-ins which saw the 2nds relegated and the 3rds, thanks to a flurry of victories finishing 4th in the table. Following on from a difficult 2000 season which saw them stave off relegation at the 11th hour, the 2nd X1 finally succumbed to the dreaded drop this time around. The writing was on the wall with over a month of the season to play and it was no surprise that with a week to spare they were finally relegated. The team was led by 5 different captains during the season and this lack of consistency did not help their plight. Paul Wiseman captained the majority of the games as he had done in 2000, but on this occasion he was unable to inspire his men to great things. Paul Newman the Club Director of Cricket chose to step down from 1st X1 duties during the middle of the season, but was banned by the league from playing in the 2nd X1. Although not planned purely to try and bolster the 2nds, it was unfortunate that he was not able to bring his experience to the side for the important run-in. The 3rd X1 was ably led by Stuart Hobday for the first time in 2002. He not only managed to return an excellent all-round performance with bat and ball, but he also led an often changing side to 4th place in the table. Security in the league was not however achieved until the final day of the season, but a victory and with other results going in their favour, they managed to climb 4 places in what was to prove an extremely competitive league. The 4th X1 again got themselves into a table-topping position early in the year only for them to fall away during the second half of the season as both holiday and 3rd X1 commitments robbed the side of key players. Don Gyton again put in great amounts of time in getting a side together and he deserved more than the lowly end of season position the side achieved. The club has decided not to run the 4th X1 next season and Don should be congratulated on his achievements and also on nurturing youngsters, many of which have moved up to 3rd and even 2nd X1 status. The ladies managed to retain the league title for the second successive year, but in doing so they endured a much tighter finish than in previous seasons. A change of captain during the season saw Deb Smith take over the reins, but with the experience of the side coming through the team managed to see off all-comers in the run-in to the title.