Surrey's Youngest Stars Honoured at the CAG Awards

18 September 2009

Some of Surrey’s youngest stars were rewarded on Wednesday night when the Brit Oval’s England Suite hosted the 2009 County Age Group Awards, presented by the Club’s young fast bowler Stuart Meaker.

The evening recognised some of the fine performances put in throughout the season from the best young players in the county, who represent Surrey from U9 level upwards. There were also presentations for the Surrey Women and the chance for two of the Club’s young international stars to have their England caps presented to them by a true great of English and Surrey Cricket.

Throughout the year, over 700 players were involved in the County Age Group programme with 310 matches played by teams of both boys and girls. Nine male players have been selected for regional teams and three female players have also played at a higher level. Two players – Michael Burgess and Matthew Dunn – have represented England at age group level.

U9

The Surrey Under 9 team, managed by Nigel Holman and coached by Matt Cussans and Kym Osborne, won five and lost eight of their sixteen games. Their leading batsman was wicket keeper Jamie Smith with 319 runs at 31.9 and their leading bowler was Gus Leonard with 19 wickets at 12.4. Jamie and Gus were named as joint Players of the Year.

U10

The Surrey Under 10 team, managed by Dave Sheppard and coached by David Court, won ten and lost four of their fourteen games. Their leading batsman was Owen Kennett who scored 208 runs at 41.6. He was also their leading bowler, taking fifteen wickets at 7.5. Owen was named joint player of the year with Angus Dahl who scored 180 runs and took fifteen wickets.

U11 Girls

The Under 11 Girls team, managed by Chris Hardy and coached by Katherine Robson, won four and lost five of their ten matches, suffering one abandonment. Their player of the year is all rounder Bryony Smith who has scored consistent runs, taken regular wickets and on occasion captained the team.

U11 Boys

The Under 11 Boys team, managed by Geoff Richards and coached by Ricky Anderson and Brian Berthoud have won ten and lost seven of their seventeen games. Their leading batsman was Kiran Beri who scored 291 at 26.5 and their leading bowler was Tom Homes, who took 30 wickets at 7.3 including an extraordinary performance of seven wickets for one run in 6.4 overs against Berkshire, where the opposition were dismissed for just 34. It is for these reasons that Tom was named Player of the Year.

U12

The Under 12 Boys team, managed by Dave Sheppard and coached by Richard Hall, won four and lost eight of their thirteen games with one tie. Their leading run scorer was Oskar Kolk who scored 248 runs at 22.6 and their leading bowler was Will Pereira who took 11 wickets at 18.9. However, the Player of Season award was given to Oli Batchelor who averaged 35.6 for his 178 runs.

U13 Girls

The Under 13 Girls team, managed by Jacqui Marshall and coached by Richard Singleton, Rachel Walters and Dudley Graham won eight, lost two and tied one of their thirteen matches, reaching the ECB National Finals (due to be played this weekend). Their Players of the Year were Jenny Tipple and Edie Kelly.

U13 Boys

The Under 13 Boys team, managed by Richard Bedbrook and coached by Sid Lahiri, won seven and lost five of their 12 games, reaching the ECB National semi-finals. Their Player of the Season was Dominic Sibley who was both the leading batsman and bowler. He scored 261 runs at 37.3 and also took eleven wickets at 14.6.

U14

The Under 14 Boys team, managed by Richard Bedbrook and coached by Tom Benge, won ten and lost two of their twelve games and were crowned National Champions after winning the ECB Final. Their leading batsman was Richard O’Grady, who scored a magnificent 439 runs at 87.8. Their leading wicket taker was Marcus Dawes who took sixteen at an average of 16.5. The Player of the Season was named as Richard O’Grady.

U15 Girls

The U15 Girls team, managed by Honor Donkin and coached by Dan Feist and Dudley Graham, won two and lost nine of their eleven games. Their Player of the Season Award was given to their leading batter, Claudia Kelly who scored 178 runs at 36 with a top score of 51.

Surrey Women

The Senior Ladies team, managed by Caroline Barrs and coached by Kim Price and Charlotte Dickinson, were crowned as inaugural Twenty20 Cup Champions. However, overall out of thirteen matches they only won three and lost ten. Their Player of the Season award was given to the wicket keeper Sinead Goodden.

As well as the presentations to the Age Group stars, Surrey's specialist batting coach Graham Thorpe took time out from duties in the ongoing NatWest Pro40 match with Warwickshire to present England caps to Michael Burgess, Matthew Dunn and Ebony Rainford-Brent