Although we toured India, the season was always going to centre on our debut in the Cricketer Cup, the first new entrants since the competition was expanded to 32 teams in 1968. We received a home draw against Harrow, and our side was a real cross-section of the club, with ages ranging from 19-year-old Alan Cope through to 46-year-old Graham Webb. We made a good start with Henry Watkinson, fittingly for the captain, taking our first wicket, and for much of their innings Harrow struggled against tight bowling. Only some late hitting saw them through to 197.

However, the game seemed to be slowly slipping away from us as the asking rate climbed above six an over on a day where runs were surprisingly hard to come by. Harrow, whose top-order batting had let them down, fielded like demons. Alan Cope kept the runs flowing, but when the penultimate over started we still needed 20 with three wickets in hand and the odds were against us.

Alex Craven pushed a crazy run off the first ball to get Cope on strike – had the fielder picked up cleanly from ten yards then Cope would have gone, but he fumbled. Although there were five men in the deep, Cope threaded three fours from the next four balls, a clip over midwicket, a rasping straight drive and a lofted drive over extra cover. Crucially, he pinched the strike with a tip-and-run single from the final delivery. Last over, six to win. The finest of sweeps found a big gap for four from the second ball – sweeping, both reverse and conventional, were shots Cope milked with skill all day, including two perfectly-executed reverse versions. Two to win, four balls. The third was hit straight to a cover fielder, and then Cope was trapped leg-before trying a slog sweep. As he trudged off for 61 the celebrations of the Harrovians suggested they thought the wicket had won the day. They had not come up against Michael Chetwode.

Chetwode, with a year at Eton under his belt before most of the Harrow side had been born, had several points to prove. Two to win, two balls. The first was full and squeezed to point. Despite urging from the crowd to run, Craven stayed out leaving Chetwode to face the music. Under the competition rules, if the scores were tied then it went back to each side’s total after 25 overs. Harrow had been 82 for 6 at that stage; we had been 72 for 2. So we needed two, but that seemed to be lost on the Harrow skipper who, rather than push men out to save two, brought everyone in on the one. Chetwode clipped the ball past the full-length dive of short midwicket and set off on what passes for a sprint when you are 44 and not as fit as you once were … he pumped the air in delight as he came back for the second and the celebrations began. The closing overs in front of a large OC Day crowd on a sun-drenched Jubilee were about as dramatic as you can get.

Our second-round opponents were Old Cholmeleians (Highgate) but in a dismally wet summer the match was rained off on successive weekends (not helped by our opposition not having any covers on their pitch) and we were knocked out on the toss of a coin in a London pub.

With the Brewers Cup wound up, we opted to also enter the Cricket World Trophy, another competition for the old boys of public schools which we had first appeared in back in 1990. We fielded a much younger side in these matches, and on reaching the final, Eds Copleston somehow convinced the organisers that Jubilee would be an ideal venue for the match. While that was fine for us, our opponents, Old Grovians from Harrogate, had to set out at 6am and never recovered from their journey. Ed McGregor clubbed an unbeaten hundred as we eased to a nine-wicket win.

Outside the cup competitions, we were fortunate in that we lost fewer matches to the weather than many clubs. Of the 15 matches we played, we won 12, drew two and lost only the one, against the Grasshoppers at the start of the cricket week. It was our best summer in living memory.

The week, which contained more social outings than Tara Palmer Tompkinson at her peak, was enjoyed by all both on and off the field. We thrashed a poor Eton Ramblers side, Kings Canterbury and Old Georgians, and were only really tested in a close three-wicket win at home to Tonbridge. The most remarkable result came against Georgians where we chased 264 and got them without loss, Dane Groenveld and Seren Waters smashing hundreds in a record stand for any wicket.

The most satisfying part of the summer was the performances of the young players. Groenveld, who we thought we had seen the last of (in a nice way) returned from Australia, scored heavily, and forced his way into the cup side. Cope scored heavily and also bowled with fire when wound up, while Waters, the school captain with one more year left at Cranleigh, looked a class act with both bat and ball. Stuart Meaker, when not on England duty, was a handful, but the abiding memory was his wicketkeeping in a pair of batting gloves against Eton. Matt Crump proved a most useful allrounder.

The bowling still leant on Watkinson and Chetwode, although less so than in former years, and Webb’s more regular outings reminded everyone what a difference a quality spinner can make – the performances of 18-year-old Phil Roper give hope that we might have finally found another classy slow bowler.

Behind the scenes, we are, as always, grateful to the headmaster of Cranleigh, who we failed to lure into action after his run-out for 0 in 2006, for allowing us to use facilities that continue to excel. That they are always perfect is down to the hard work of the groundstaff. The strength of the school side has benefited us tremendously, and for that we owe thanks to Stuart Welsh, the coach, even though his one appearance this summer was against us.

We are also grateful to the work of John McDermott, our president, whose appetite for the job has been reinvigorated by the realisation that with the role comes a free lunch at the Cricketer Cup final. Tristan Rosenfeldt, the captain-elect in his own mind, avoided any major disasters in his first year as fixtures secretary.