News: Relegation spoils Drew's celebrations (November 2004)
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| Played his 100th 2nd XI innings in final game of 2004 |
What should have been a double celebration for two of the YM's most prolific run makers, Chris Drew and Dave Moss turned sour last season as both players tasted relegation for their adopted second team for the first time...
By August last summer former Second Eleven Captain, Drew had taken his total to over 3,000 league runs and, on the final game of the season, against lowly Stapleton, walked out to bat for the 100th time - the only second team player ever to do so (see below). But the moment was all but over looked as Drew and his team-mates played out a tense, and ultimately unsuccessful, battle to stave off the drop into Division Two.
| Most 2nd XI league Innings | |
| C.B.Drew | 100 |
| S.R.Sutor | 93 |
| J.R.Boyce | 84 |
| R.J.Parsons | 75 |
| J.Davis | 71 |
Speaking for the first time about the season, Drew began by acknowledging his own batting record: "Being the highest [run scoring] Second Team batsmen is an achievement of which I am proud. It is important to contribute to the success of the team and the only way you can do this as a batsmen is to stay out in the middle, concentrate, play the averages and receive a few bruises from time to time."
"Relegtion is very disappointing as we challenged for promotion the year before. There have been major changes which did not help! A successful side needs strength in all departments and needs consistency."
100th innings proves to be frustraing Reflecting on his own form, the powerfully built cricketer was quick to be self-critical: "Personally, I would say that I had a below average season - I stuck around when wickets fell, but did not get a score which would win a game. My 100th game was probably the most frustrating - having seen of the better bowlers, a new bowler appeared who bowled one of the worst deliveries I have seen - nevertheless he bowled me round my leg."
'Newly wed' Drew then offered his team-mates some sound advice on the art of occupying the crease, something he does better than most: "The rest of the batsmen lost their concentration from time to time. To me, playing across the line is dangerous and the law of probability is not in your favour! We were something like 35 for 5 against Blagdon's very average bowling attack but we threw the game away. Tom Herbert and myself both made 40+, in a fighting stand of around 80. We still lost heavily."
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| Spink, Quaife & Yeo - three promising yongsters identified by Drewy |
Crop of youth give Drew hope for future
Like his long standing team-mate Andy Spicer, Drew singled out several of the younger players for next season: "The youth is obviously the future and it is good to see the like of David Spink, Matt Quaife [and] Callum Yeo coming through. We need to keep up the good development work."
Moss makes great comeback
Drew's final thought offered a word of praise was to his friend and opening partner, Dave Moss who scored over league 300 runs in a his first season after returning from serious injury. The stocky right-hander, better known as 'Mossy', made an excellent contribution to the Seconds year and took his personal run total to over 1000 - becoming only the sixth Second Eleven player ever to do so: "The batting clicked on one game when everything went right and we put 260 on the board against Carsons and Stapleton. Dave Moss had, in my opinion, his best year and I believe he scored 83 [Moss' highest Second Eleven league score] in this game" said Drew.
Take a look at the Second Eleven Overall Batting Averages from 1978 - 2004, which have recently been uploaded. This year saw a maiden fifty for K.B.Bradley, over 500 runs for M.S.MacMahin and a superb start for V.Mandalia.
