Hampshire Under 17s, 2001 season report

Under 17s - 2001 Photo Victor Isaacs

It took a very creditable team performance to reach the semi-finals of the ECB County Championship - to do so with a significant number of players under 15 or 16 years of age is particularly pleasing, especially to those involved in the early development of Hampshire cricket talent. Invariably we found ourselves playing against opposition who were older, therefore physically stronger, and more experienced than we were, but not necessarily of greater ability.

Notable individual performances came from 15 year old batsman Kevin Latouf and 16 year old all rounders Chris Wright and Naqeeb Ali Mohamed who formed a successful new ball partnership with another all-rounder David Wheeler providing excellent support. Matt Hooper (off spin) was a model of accuracy and returned some excellent figures. Paul Cass scored the only century of the season plus two other fifties and used his experience well, whether batting or fielding. Mike Barnes as wicket-keeper turned in some commendable performances with gloves and bat. Skipper Ed Brogan must be acknowledged for his part in the successful season. He fully deserved the respect he received, not just from the players, but also from coaches and manager in the mature way he conducted himself and the players both on and off the field.

Acknowledgement is also due to Jon Ayling as coach for all his hard work during winter and summer; also Raj Maru for his dynamic pre-match "warm ups" and fielding drills and to scorer Jenny Beer for keeping us all informed of what was going on in the middle, statistically at least.

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