I am delighted to report that the 1991 season was packed with good cricket, close finishes and much fun writes Iain Wilkie. Our teams were built around a strong and enthusiastic nucleus yet, as always, we were privileged to attract a large number of more occasional players of all shapes, sizes and ages.

The second year of the Cricket World Trophy saw us drawn in avery strong group. Having beaten the Old Blues by six wickets we went down very narrowly to Cranbrook Lynxes, the 1990 winners. A theme of the game, which repeated itself several times throughout the summer, was our ability to play the opposition back into the game at a time when they were firmly out of it. Mike Chetwode and Richard Radbourne showed their class in both of these games with ball and bat respectively. In our third cup match Richard Gutteridge ripped the heart out of the Old Eastbournians batting with a super spell of controlled, aggressive bowling. Unfortunately, their openers had already batted very well to put on 190 for their first wicket! Set to chase 283 of 55 overs, we were denied by the rain and Eastbournians sailed into the next round. This competition gives us the chance to compete against some of the best old boys sides in the country. To date, we have done well, but we certainly have the potential with our younger and better balanced side to go even further next year.

Nigel Radbourne captained expertly against the School managing to inspire Zaffir Khan to take four wickets to bring us back into the game. At the end we might even have sneaked a win, but a draw was the fairest result against a School XI for whom Henry Watkinson showed his worth as an all-rounder, batting particularly well for 73.

And so to cricket week when we played attacking cricket to get results The one wicket win against the Ardinians and our three run defeat off the penultimate ball at the Georgians were the highlights, but in terms of enjoyment the other games against Uppingham, Merrow, John Cooke's President's XI and the Frogs were not far behind. There are, of course, many memories in the week of personal and collective exploits, but most worthy to mention are Stuart Baker's maiden century against the Frogs, which with Iain Wilkie (83) resulted in the second highest partnership in the Club's history, Richard Pollitt's stylish 83 against the President's XI, the bubbling performance to bowl out the Ardinians for 127 and Pollitt's marvellous unbeaten 54 to win that excruciatingly tense game. We were also delighted to see Jim Swanton on the Friday of the week as he visited Cranleigh, the scene of his maiden century, in the course of filming a BBC documentary about his career.

Against Walcountians and Wellingtonians we played below our best and settled for draws, whilst in the final game at Esher, Richard Radbourne (97), David Bugge (73) and Mike Chase with six wickets saw us home to an emphatic victory.

Indeed, Richard Radbourne's batting was one of the hallmarks of our season. Ever competitive, never quiet, he scored four half-centuries and added a new aggressive dimension to our batting. However, scoring runs remains the Club's biggest problem with Iain Wilkie the only other to score over 300 runs in the season.

Mike Chetwode was again the champion of our bowling attack. He has become a very skilful and astute player, much respected by our opponents. Nigel Radbourne's off-spin was probably under used, but he is another player with the ability to bowl sides out. Steve Isaac re-discovered the penetration in his bowling; on his day he is a match winner with either bat or ball. Adam Lax successfully returned to OC cricket after eleven years in Australia and Mark Ballinger, one of our most attacking players, again provided variety with his swing bowling. In addition, thanks are due to Richard Seeckts and Tim Cook for raising Second XI sides and to Brian Adams, our very fair and consistent umpire of many years standing.

I shall be standing down after five years of Captain at the end of 1991. It has been great fun, I have enjoyed the cricket on the field and I have been fortunate to build some valued friendships along the way. The toughest challenge has been to balance the ambitions of individuals of varying abilities with the needs of the Club. In doing this the support of John Cooke, the Club's President, has been terrific. John, who is also retiring from his position, has been a very active and positive President and has given a lot of time to the Club, whether playing or not, and we very much hope that he will continue to do so. Mike Chetwode, as Vice Captain, has grown into his role and I am sure that the transition to Captain will be easy and successful. Martin Williamson as our Club Secretary and Treasurer has been ever present, providing ever more impressive accounts for approval at the AGM. Finally, Richard Seeckts has worked hard at the fixtures, a thankless task but a very important one.