Junior Awards 2026

Thanks to everyone who made the effort to turn out at the club on Friday 4th September to celebrate the end of another successful Junior Cricket season. Extra special thanks to the 100 players who attended and thanked the coaches for all their hard work. It was particulary heart warming to see the players clapping and cheering each other in their teams during the presentations for the winners of the awards and medals.

The bar was busy and the sausages were sizzling on the Javery BBQ throughout the evening (thanks to Laura who was on BBQ detail too). The actual award ceremony was staged on the first floor of the lovely TTCC pavilion in three separate sessions, in the groups of; Boys U9s and U11s kicking things off, followed by Boys U13s, U15s, U17s and saving the best to last the Girls U9s to U13s.

It was the first year for U9 Coaches Tom and Greg with a squad of 25 players this season, who played 11 competitive matches with a 60% win rate including an Away win at Aston Rowant – not bad for their debut year! They also won best dressed team photo. Tom will move up to the U11s next season and Greg will take the lead for U9s (any Mum or Dad coaches who would like to help Greg please step up!?).

Next up was a slapstick presentation medley from the U11 coaches led by Guy, Andy, Steve and Dan C. The Boys U11s is a squad of 35 highly energetic individuals who played 20 competitive fixtures, winning more than they lost. Well done to the U11 coaches and Dan Weller for getting through the season in one piece – that squad is a real handful!

Following a quick drinks break, it was the big boys turn with the U13s, U15s and U17s.

Dan Constant U13 Team Manager, kicked this session off with an individual run down of every player in the 25 strong squad whilst keeping to his 10 minute allotted time. 17 competitive fixtures completed during a difficult and highly competitive season with its up and downs, but finishing on a high with a home win against Goring. Matt and Dan will go up to join the U15s coaches next season, leaving the ever reliable Justin to lead the U13s squad, that will be some Hard yakka but I am sure he will cope.

James then presented the U15s – an impressive squad of 20, many of whom are in the younger year group of the team. They completed 15 competitive matches winning half, but what is even more encouraging is the frequency at which many of them are playing adult cricket for the club on a Saturday, and who have certainly contributed to the 4th XI league promotion this season.

Nick presented the U17s, a team which did not exist 2 years ago and now we have a squad of 13 who completed 7 matches and won 4 with a further 3 matches conceded by the opposition. Also encouraging that a handful of the U15s were playing up in the U17s this year so the future of this team is promising and another segway into adult cricket

And so it was to the finale of the evening, the hugely popular and successful Girls squad. 44 girls in total from age U9 to U13. 20 competitive matches played this season with a 60% win rate – what a fantastic prospect we have for the future of our girls section. Steve, Simon and Andy presented the U9s, U11s and U13s in succession to the 25 strong Girls players who turned up on the night to cheer each other on – Girl Power! Big thanks to the fantastic support coaching given this season to the Girls section from Lottie, Manil, Rob & Robin.

We finished the evening with thanks and appreciation to the two most important people at the club, our Chief Ground Officers Max and Charlie, without whom we would not have a pitch or outfield to play on. It’s been a busy year and we keep piling on the fixtures – thanks for your hard work. And last but by no means least we paid thanks to our fantastic Overseas Dinny. All the way from Galle in Sri Lanka, Dinny has been with us for 6 seasons now and what a top club man he is, not only is he coaching the kids, helping out around the club, serving behind the bar, working on the ground but his main job is holding up our 1st XI in the Home Counties Premier league. He is also the HCPL Div 2 Top wicket taker this season with 46 wickets at an average of 16.7 and economy of 3.63, and scored over 400 runs at an average of 29, but he would never mention any of this to you such is the humble nature of this club legend. See you next season Dinny, safe trip home!

And to finish on, excluding All Stars and Dynamos we now have 162 juniors from U9s to U17s, which has increased by 11% on 2025. Across the teams we completed 90 competitive matches this season and if you include rained / sunned off matches and opposition conceding it would have been well over 100. The success has been driven by a coaching team who all get along, believe in the same principles, work hard and most of all communicate with each other (effectively most of the time). Each year we move through the age groups and bring new coaching talent to the fore. Simon Swain (great name no relation) said during his Girls U11s speech how rewarding it had been to coach and develop young people this season (admittedly he has the luxury of coaching the U11 girls and not the U11 Boys), nonetheless if there is anyone out there who has a growth mindset and wants to join us on this journey, we would love to hear from you.

And finally finally, as a junior section we would like to give a huge thanks to our sponsors KUBOTA, J BENNETT, BP COLLINS and FAROL who’s continued support enables us to continue to grow the club for the future.

Written by Matt Swain