Mount CC 2019 Awards Dinner
We held the 2019 season awards dinner at Masoom restaurant in Thorpe Bay on Weds 9th October. A huge thank you to all those who came along for what proved to be an enjoyable and successful evening. Particular thanks are due to Helen and Ilan Frankel for organising the event and coordinating the evening with our hosts; to Anita Hair for her efforts on the night and afterwards in managing the finances; to Ellen Montellier for doing such a splendid job selling raffle tickets and to Will Wilcox and our shirt sponsor, Mrs Foley for donating raffle prizes.
The food was excellent and it was great to have the chance to catch up with so many Mounties with the season now an increasingly distant memory. The conversation flowed as easily as the excellent Indian beers and following dinner and the raffle draw, it was time for myself and the President to move onto the main business of the evening – the awards presentations.
The Batting Trophy for the club’s leading run scorer was awarded to Ilan Frankel who had another excellent season with the willow making 2 centuries among a total of 324 runs at an average of 162! An extraordinary total in a season where we had so few fixtures and a deserved return for his continuing hard work. It was also evidence that the net session llan and I attended at Lord’s in pre-season paid off for one of us!
This year’s proud recipient of the Bowling Trophy was Justin Montellier who saw off a long list of competitors to end the season as our leading wicket taker – finishing one wicket ahead of Anish Lukose and 2 ahead of a cluster of others. Among Justin’s wicket haul this season the highlight was his first “5 fer” for the club in the away fixture at Canewdon.
The David Thomas Cup is awarded for the season’s outstanding performance and with so many tremendous individual performances in 2019, this proved to be a very difficult decision which DT and I discussed at great length. In addition to Monty’s 5fer, there were also 5 wicket hauls for Anish Lukose vs Canewdon at home (5/33); and a devastating spell of bowling on debut from Amaal Ahmad saw him record 5/17 away to a WOSCC XI including a 3 wicket maiden which leaves Amaal starting his next game on a hat-trick! There were contenders amongst our batsman too with Ilan recording 125 and 125no (both vs Canewdon) and Ged William’s 118 ret’d all worthy of consideration. However, David eventually settled on Richard Green’s 107no vs Old Westcliffian’s in our first fixture of the season. This innings featured both stylish shot making and big hitting and kept us in a game that otherwise would have been well beyond us. It was a pleasure to watch and the DT Cup is well deserved.
The Players’ Player of the Year award is, as the name suggests, chosen by the players - those having played the qualifying number of games making up both the candidate list and the electorate. The President acts as the returning officer and reported a very tight vote throughout the polling period. However, one name sneaked ahead in the last days of the poll to take the win. Once again our congratulations and a second award of the night went to Justin Montellier. Clearly humbled and embarrassed by the recognition of his efforts afforded him by these awards, this quiet and unassuming man made little or no fuss upon receiving either of his trophies!
I was delighted to receive the Ken White Cup for overall contribution - many thanks to those who voted for me. It means a great deal particularly as I know that we are blessed with many people who go out of their way for the good of the club. Their efforts are greatly appreciated and they all deserve recognition.
Thanks once again to all for making it a tremendous evening and congratulations to all of our award winners.
It may be “off-season” but we never close at Mount CC! The 2020 season fixture list is almost complete. There are plans afoot for at least one pre-Christmas social event as well the upcoming AGM in early December. Our popular winter fitness camp returns on November 9th and your skipper turns 50 soon! More details of most of these things to follow soon.
Get warmed up the first game is less than 200 days away!