ANNUAL PHEONIX OLD BOYS TOURNAMENT

 

75YR OLD JIM GETS HIS FIRST TROPHY

 

Ley Hill CC have long been proud of the fact that they are one of the very few local clubs who manage to put out three teams each Saturday.  In the main, the LHCC 3rd XI is a team made up of players who have retired from league matches but still enjoy a game of cricket, those returning from injury and juniors getting their first experience of adult cricket. 

So it was that on Saturday, led by skipper Ian Walters, the Thirds age range ran from teenagers to 75yr old Jim Rainey - and you can imagine their delight when they won the Annual Phoenix Old Boys Tournament for the first time by beating the other three sides. Nobody was more thrilled than Jim, playing in his first match of the year, who revealed it was the first trophy he’d won in 65 years of playing cricket. The oldest member of the club said, “I was once the Most Improved Cricketer of the Year but that was it.”

 

Their first match was against Thorpe.  The Hill batted first ending on 125-3 with Leigh Dale scoring an excellent 61 and Hitash Parmar 38.  In response, Thorpe made a creditable 114-4 before running out of overs.

 

Next up came the favourites - Phoenix Old Boys themselves.  Once again batting first and now on a wicket not favourable to batsmen at all, Ley Hill were restricted to 59-8 – Ian Peplow top scoring with 21.  Phoenix took the game right to the wire ending just three runs short of victory as they were bowled out for 57.  Three bowlers shared the honours – Denis McCarthy 3-15, Dave Peterson 3-28 and Terry Rothwell 2-7.

 

The final match, played in near darkness, saw the Hill make 55-1 with the top scorers being Parmar (23) and Peplow (18).  They then managed to restrict Farnham Common to 35-3 and so lift the trophy with a 100% record.

 

As he was presented with the trophy, effervescent captain, Ian Walters, looked as if he’d never stop smiling and 75 yr old Jim Rainey, who still plays tennis twice a week, had a tear in is eye.  And then announced he was available for Great Kingshill at Bellingdon on Saturday.