Balcombe’s treble-winning season comes to close

The first team have had great success in being crowned champions of Mid Sussex Division 1 and winning the Wisdom Cup to complete a memorable double. It was 8 years ago since Balcombe won the league and back in 2007 they also won the double. Balcombe batted their way to the league title on the final game of the season as they picked up full batting pints which was enough to secure top spit in the league.

Bolney pushed Balcombe right to the end but Balcombe managed to hold onto top spot which they held for most of the 2nd half of the season. Andy Stillwell had a great first season at Balcombe and he passed 1,000 league runs for the season in the final game and set a new record for Division 1 for most runs in a season, as he beat the previous best of 1,004 set by Ashdown Forest’s Leif Powis back in 2010.

In the Wisdom Cup final Balcombe beat Edenbridge by 70 runs as the Dutton brothers did the damage, Man of the Match Guy Dutton scored 84 quickly with some big blows and younger brother Sam did most of the damage with the ball picking up 4/10 from his 4 overs.

In division 2 the 2nd team avoided relegation on the last game of the season, they left it late in the season but 3 wins from their final 5 fixtures was enough to avoid the drop by 6 points. As a result Balcombe 2nd team will still be competing in division 2 in 2016.

The 3rd team had an amazing final day of the season which saw them start the day in 4th place and almost needing a miracle for them to win promotion to the 3rd division. That miracle came and not only did they win promotion but they gained first place in the division to secure a place in Division 3 for the 2016 season so it was vital that the 2s did enough to stay in Division 2 or else the 3rd team would not have been able to get promoted.

The Sunday side and the newly formed ‘Mid Week Taverners’ side have had great success in playing competitive cricket in on a regular basis.

It is great to see our Sunday side thriving as other clubs have had to give up playing Sunday cricket due to lack of players but we are still putting out sides which will be vital in a few years time when our juniors want to step up and play adult cricket.

Across our 5 adult teams we have been able to offer other 80 games to our members, and for a village club that is a lot of players to pick each week.

Our Junior section is going from strength to strength and in 2016 we will be starting from the bottom again and introducing a new under 9 side as the current Under 11’s and Under 9’s will move up age groups.

Our Friday night junior sessions are very well attended with up to 60 children attending across 3 age groups, and the parents like making use of the bar on a nice summers evening.

Club captain and Treasurer Adrian Ruzicka reflected on the clubs season:

“It’s been an amazing year for the club, it is the first time in our history that 2 of our teams have won their leagues and to have our teams in the top 3 divisions of the Mid Sussex League in 2016 is a great achievement.

“The season has only just finished but the plans are already being worked on for us to try and retain our trophies and have another successful season in 2016.”

Balcombe CC is a very friendly club and always welcome new players,

either Adults or Juniors to become new members so please contact Adrian Ruzicka on [email protected] if you would be interested in joining the club in 2016. Winter nets for both Adults and Juniors will be available to everyone at the beginning of 2016.

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