Well, I think it was a mistake to bowl first and our bowling has not been up to scratch this season. Antoine has had the wrong orders and I hold my hand up for that - he's not an attacking bowler. We were beaten comprehensively by Ducks today, by 150 runs, and are now third. Promotion is now in question this season but we'll see - we have very promising bowlers coming through and if we don't manage it this season then we'll be good enough next time. Murdoch has had an awful run of scores with the bat which is disappointing, but he's going to be very, very good next year. We started the season really well but a mixture of my mistakes and our shortcomings in the bowling department may cost us this year.

That said, it's not over, everything hinges on the game against Thornley CC in a couple of weeks time I think.

I've been a bit slack of late in my affairs with Connells Estates; though I have been keeping an eye on them!

Rubbish performances all-round vs. Ducks. Wright isn't good enough to be bowling IMO.... Not sure why, but he proves to be far too expensive. Sometimes, for no obvious reason, our batting order has a collective failure; though Adu is proving to be one of the best bats in the league.

Wright is a decent bowler, but we'll need someone in a season or two's time to replace him as the all-rounder. He's done well this season up until the last couple of games, especially at the death, but from the start of next season we'll need a new all-rounder, someone we can train for as long as possible on two nets. In the meantime, better support bowling will help him, especially when Acton and Rees come in next season.

Well, season five ended not in the way it shaped up to be early on, as our early momentum gave way and we finished fourth after losing to our bogey team, Young Boys Burn. The bowling should definitely become good enough next season and the batting is there already.

Yes. A tough end to the season, we lost form and almost got sucked into the play-offs. The league should be easier without Ducks in there next year, but hopefully we won't get any even tougher teams coming through next year. We'll wait and see. Also, the first class games will be on-line with a bit of luck. Could be tough!

First class games aren't coming next year apparently, so we've got more time there! We did beat Ducks twice in two seasons, but Daniell was a pain. That said, Adu almost out-did him this year!

I think we'd be the top team if we could find a top fast bowler from somewhere. Wright and Marsh aren't up to scratch really (Marsh will improve, but Wright won't). They don't keep the runs down and they don't seem to take wickets. Antoine should be coming on with the middle order in, not the top order, I think that's why he didn't have such a good season.

True, but Marsh isn't far off Superb and Wright is getting stamina nets to improve his performance in the meantime. I'm really looking forward to getting Acton up to scratch, but I certainly don't want to make the mistake of bowling first again - we are definitely a "bat first" side!

On the plus side, here are the players of the season:

Graeme Adu - 15 appearances, 1175 runs at 130.56 including 4 fifties and 7 hundreds.

Quincy Heskey - 15 appearances. Only 122 runs at 20.33, but I'm sure he'll do better next year and the top/middle order are good enough to score our runs, he took 32 catches and 7 stumpings (including 2 off Skalding) this season and is an awesome keeper.

Andrew Midworth - 15 appearances. His batting has long deserted him, but my his experience with the bowling is reaping rewards. 25 wickets at 24.64 bringing him to the landmark of 100 one-day wickets for CECC, what a servant to the club! He won't make 100 appearances, I don't think, but he deserves to stay around for a bit to support the new guys and not just be shovelled off when he is surpassed.

A decent win for CECC yesterday - 181 runs over Pukka Pies.

After my stinging criticism of Skalders last week, he came back with a vengeance this week with a quickfire 21 off 13 balls before bowling his heart out in five overs of pure bowling bliss to finish with 5 - 3 - 4 - 6

It was an emphatic win but nothing less than expected against the bottom team. I don't think giving Midworth defensive bowling orders works though, he went at 7 an over although he did pick up a wicket, so maybe it's back to normal orders for next week's game. Skalding was class, as was Beattie, as the leading lights of the team stuttered slightly (Adu 34, Cooper 1, Murdoch 27). Antoine had an easy game, only bowling one over!

Cup game tomorrow, against a bot. Wright is rested and Acton has another outing ahead of his impending introduction into the league team.