The club held its AGM and social on Thursday 24th November at the Rifle Volunteer in St Ann’s Chapel. Stephen Lees took over as chairman and other posts remained unchanged. The team will therefore be led by Mark Everett again next year, with Dean Organ as Vice-Captain. Having finished second in the League it is highly likely that we will be promoted to Division 5 East for next season.
Trophy awards were:
The following is Mark Everett’s review of the year:
The season started with hope rather than confidence after finishing 5th out of six teams in the previous year. Gunnislake welcomed in the shape of Andrew Dickerson and Ross Potter to the team as well all the existing players from the previous season.
The first match was against Menheniot Looe 3rds at home and, with the leadership of Kevin, the team won easily by 154 runs and a maximum 20 points was gained. Both Brian Martin and Ross scored 50’s with the wickets shared by Paul Lees, Sylvan Pook, Dean Organ and yours truly.
The second match was another home tie, this time our opponents were Launceston 3rds. A convincing victory by 9 wickets with standout performances from Mark Everett with 4 wickets and Adam Emerson and Dinesh Thirupuvanarajah with the bat; the latter scoring a 50 plus.
Our next opponents were Ladock 2nds but alas they were unable to raise a team and conceded. With the 20 points gained Gunnislake were in the surprising position of being top of the league.
Our first away match was at Grampound and on the very few occasions this season the bowling attack did not perform to their high level. Only Dinesh with 3 wickets came out with any credit. On the batting a number of players had a start but nobody went on to make a meaningful score and we lost by 34 runs.
The following week was the lowest point of the season when we had a humbling defeat against eventual champions St Austell 4ths by 9 wickets. The only bright spot was Spencer Whatley who took 2 for 12 off his 5 overs. Kevin who was captain up until this time decided after the match that due to personal issues that he no longer wanted to be captain. I would like to put on record thanks for taking on this role and moving the team forward over his tenure. At first, I was reluctant to take on the role but after a few phone calls from some of the senior players, I was persuaded to be captain for the remaining part of the season.
My first game in charge was to be at Lanhydrock but due to the weather it was cancelled.
My first actual game was St Stephen (near St Austell) who at the time were second to our position of 5th. I could not have asked any more from the team as we easily won by 8 wickets. Dinesh, Sylvan and Mark taking the wickets with excellent back up from the fielding with Josh Crow taking two catches and responsible for a run out. On the batting it was Stephen Lees with a 50 plus not out who completed the win inside 20 overs.
Our match against Newquay was another one-sided victory by 9 wickets and another maximum 20 points. Ian Dawe was the catalyst with a 5 wicket haul ably supported by Dinesh, Sylvan and Paul. Adam scored his first 50 and we won inside 8 overs; yes, it was 8 overs.
The final match for the first half of the season was at Saltash who decided to put us into bat. A surprising decision, as we amassed 290 for the loss of 3 wickets. Ross scored an impressive 116 not out with superb contributions from Adam and Dickers; who scored 50 plus. Ian made it back-to-back 5 wicket hauls with the remaining wickets shared by Sylvan and Paul. At this stage we were in fourth place and looking upwards.
The closest match in my opinion was the return fixture at Menheniot where we lost the toss and were put into bat. We totalled 166 for 9 with Steve anchoring the innings with 50 plus being the main contribution. Vital scores by Dean and Spencer ensured 4 batting points was accomplished. The bowling of Gunnislake ensured they did not reach the score, in particular Dinesh bowled a miserly 10 overs for 15 runs. My champagne moment of the year was when Spence hit a 6 over extra cover boundary. My other memorable moment was also this match when Dean ran a 3 for the first (and probably last time) this season.
The next match was also notable from a bowling point of view. First off, we batted and after a stuttering start excellent scores from Ross and Andrew ensured we reached a more than competitive score of 193 for 9. The innings started calmly but with the introduction of Mark, they collapsed to 95 all out. Mark produced the best bowling performance of the season in division 6 East with 6 for 18.
The team was on the rise to third place and now faced promotion chasing Grampound Road. Gunnislake were in a promising position of 141 for 4 from 24 overs but the rain began to fall and we never returned and the match was abandoned. We will never know what the result would have been but I was confident if it had finished, we would have won.
Up next was top of the league St Austell and although it was a much-improved performance from our first encounter we came up short. It was obvious after this result that finishing top was unlikely but second was still achievable.
The encounter with Lanhydrock was cancelled as they could not raise a team and we scored maximum points. The number of cancellations in 6 East is worrying and was one of my motivations to try to be promoted.
The next match for the stats nerds amongst us was the most remarkable this season. We decided to bat first and amassed the incredible score of 359 for 5 of 40 overs. Adam batted throughout the innings and scored a total of 192 not out (28×4, 2×6), Steve was paltry in comparison with 72 from an opening partnership of 206. The bowlers then bowled the opposition out for 40 inside 17 overs with Dawsie striking with a 3rd 5 wicket haul. Dinesh, Lee Roberts and Sylvan were the other wicket takers. The final margin of victory was by 319 runs.
Due to non-availability, we played with 10 players away at Newquay but this had little impact on the result as we gained 19 points and won by 9 wickets. Adam scored back-to-back centuries with a 104 not out from 86 balls.
The final home match was a must win to almost guarantee second place. The visitors were restricted to 156 all out with Dean starring with the ball taking 4 for 26. We easily reached the total for the loss of 3 wickets with Dickers and Dinesh both scoring half centuries.
The final match was to be a celebration after confirming second place but alas the match was cancelled due to the weather.
At the end we finished second on 268 points with 15 wins, 3 losses, 2 cancelled and 1 abandoned.
This was a great accomplishment and every single player should be proud of their contribution big or small. We win as a team and lose as a team.
I had two regrets for the season:
- The number of games that were one sided. Apart from one or two games all our results were dominated by the winning team. Hopefully if we are in div 5 next season this will change.
- My decision in the last game to uphold a player being dismissed as out of his crease when the bowler appealed and the umpire gave it out. I should have discussed this with Dean (vice-captain) prior to making a decision.
Finally for the stats nerds, well done to Adam and Steve who both were in the top ten run scorers and average (minimum 8 innings). On the bowling Mark, Ian and Sylvan were in the top 10 wicket takers with Mark also in the top ten by average (minimum 10 wickets). Congratulations to Adam x2 and Ross for scoring centuries and Ian x3 and Mark for taking 5 wicket hauls.
I really enjoyed the season captaining a great group of players who played with spirit, enthusiasm and a quality of cricket which meant we finished 2nd in the league. At the time of writing this report, I still have no idea what league we will be in next year but I am confident if we carry on the form of 2022, we will be a force in either division 5 or 6.
Go Gunny!
And we will see you all next season!
