TATTINGSTONE CRICKET CLUB
2002 TO DEATH
TATTINGSTONE ARE TWO COUNTIES DIV. ONE CHAMPIONS.
2002 : For a small village club to win the Div.1 championship
was a remarkable feat and can go down to a great team
effort. Ian Connell, joined us from Felixstowe and forged
a match winning opening partnership with Stuart
Hammond with was built upon by our overseas player
Darshan Shivalkar. Gavin Bland was top wicket taker
with 45, but everyone played their part.
The second team struggled in the Two Counties but won
Section D of the Suffolk Alliance, with a blend of youth
and experience.
Toxic chemicals were applied to the cricket square at the
end of 2001 and as the picture above shows , this area had to be excavated at considerable cost to the club.
On the right is Stuart Hammond who had two brilliant seasons with Tattingstone, before moving to Copford.
2003 : After winning the league championship in 2002, there
was only really one way to go, but to go through the
season win only one league win and relegation, was a
more rapid decline than was expected. The early signs
didn't look good as Adrian Stockton, Stuart Hammond
had left and Darshan had gone back to India, so we
were bound to struggle. After a poor start the news of
the possible merger with Browns had surfaced which had
a negative effect on Mark Sproats and Gavin Driver, who
were strongly against any such move, so there was no
interest in trying to pull things around.
The second team had a poor season in the Two Counties
but moved up another section in the Suffolk Alliance, to
play under the Ipswich C.C. banner in 2004.
MERGER OR NOT ?
The merger with Browns Cricket Club in November 2003, to
become Ipswich Cricket Club, recieved a heathly majority and seemed a good idea at the time. The main opponents in the Tattingstone camp, didn't bother to vote, and just moved on.
With the problems with the damage to the square and the lack of any support from the village, to improve or replace the pavilion, a move seemed inevitable.
With hindsight however, had the Tattingstone members, known that after four years, the playing levels would have sunk to Divisions 3,5,7 & 9 , only 11 of the current 48 players were still involved and almost every trace of the Tattingstone cricketing culture having been erased, would the voting have been the
same ?
(C) Mel Phair 2008.