Seren Waters heads off to ICC Cricket World Cup

Seren Waters’ inclusion in Kenya’s squad for the forthcoming ICC Cricket World Cup is a fantastic achievement for him and also for Cranleigh cricket.

Waters, who made his debut for Cranleigh’s 1st XI as a 14-year-old, broke the record aggregate of runs scored in a season in his final year, and is now on the books at Surrey while he studies at Durham University.

He made his Kenya debut against Ireland in October 2008, and the following month made his best ODI score of 74 against South Africa. In 14 full ODIs he has made 299 runs at 21.35.

His first-class debut for Kenya also came in October 2008, and in 2009 he made a career-best 157 not out against Canada, sharing a record third-wicket stand of 330 with Steve Tikolo.

His club cricket recently has been played at Weybridge, alongside another Kenya international, Abeed Janmohamed, and he has also played a number of times for the OCCC.

All Kenya’s matches in the World Cup can be seen on Sky Sports. Their first game is against Pakistan on February 23 (0900GMT).

OCCC banned by Wikipedia

Rather amusingly, a page created for the OCCC on Wikipedia, on the back of a suggestion made to me a few weeks back, has been deleted by one of their moderators because the Old Cranleighan CC are “not notable” and are too insignificant to warrant an entry.

The person who made this decision - pictured right (seriously) – also lectured me on the content and expressed doubt that I had the ability to write for a living. Still, nice beard.

Somethings old, somethings new

The averages for 2010 showed significant contributions from both young and old, but the story of the season was provided by the veteran Simon Copleston, who returned from exile in Dubai to record his sixth OC hundred, equally the record of Nigel Paul; despite barely lifting a bat in anger for several seasons, he also came within six runs of a second century. His 267 runs at 89.00 topped the averages and took him past 4000 runs, only the second batsman to achieve the landmark, again after Paul. He also leapfrogged his brother, Eds, whose own departure for New York curtailed his own record-chasing activities.

There were two other hundreds, one in his first innings for the club, one in his last. Duncan Allen, at the time in the Upper Sixth, made a much-lauded 109 not out against Old Wykehamists on his debut, and went on to play for Kenya Under-19s before the year was out. The other came at Headley where Nathan Ross scored 112 shortly before heading back to Australia after a nine-year stay in which he became the first and only non-OC to play regularly for us. It was a popular and deserved way to sign off.

The Crump brothers again weighed in with valuable runs, Sam Langmead showed rowing the Atlantic had left no scars with a brace of 70s, while Dave Wilson proved a far better prospect than his father (Mike) with a pair of 60s.

Of the 116 wickets taken during the season, only three bowlers managed ten or more, two youngsters - Matt Crump with 11 at 15.73 and Andrew Goudie, in his debut season, with 13 at 22.38 - and another older than those two combined - Michael Chetwode with 10 at 24.30. Matt Crump was also one of only two bowlers to take a five-for, the other a man two years older than Chetwode, Graham Webb, whose 5 for 25 came in the Cricketer Cup defeat against Old Malvernians, only the third time anyone had taken five in a cup tie, the other two occasions almost inevitably featuring Chetwode.

Paddy Harman looked a useful allrounder with runs and wickets.

Click here for averages

Click here for 2010 match photos