Following some improving seasons recently, it is a great surprise to be sitting here at the end of the season disappointed with our performance and wondering about what might have been.

We started off very slowly and our first game against Tamil United unfortunately set the tone for the rest of our season – in both weather and performance! It was a cold and rainy day on a public park pitch with no facilities to mention. We failed to post a decent score and lost by a sorry margin. After the game, a league official told us that they had made a mistake promoting Tamil United as their ground facilities were nowhere near up to scratch… thanks for that, could have told us that a few weeks earlier!

This continued for the first half of the season.  We had four matches called off for rain when, in at least two of them, we were to be the certain victors. The second half of the season was much improved with some good batting performances backed up by a good, varied and dynamic bowling attack. But alas, we drew games we should have won, and lost when we should have drawn.

There were glimpses of what Old Lyonians as a team can do, but we must learn to play as a team. That is the crux of the issue: cricket is a team game. If we can bat in partnerships and bowl in them too, this will lead us to better performances.
Our batting has just not been at the level that is required, and even more worryingly, not at the level of which we are easily capable. Our fielding has been even more disappointing: being a young and athletic side, we should be way ahead of where we are now. This is something we really need to sharpen up for next season.

Despite our batting and fielding, the definite highlight has been our bowling. Unlike previous years, we have had four or five bowlers with the ability to take wickets and bowl out the opposition. With Dipesh Mehta finishing on 22 wickets, Ravi Mehta on 15, Lasitha Wijeratna on 14 and Vishal Mittal on 13, we have a very strong Lyonian nucleus.

A significant change, from  previous years - and a welcome one - was that we had a squad of 19 players to chose from.  For 80% of the games, we had 14 or 15 available. So it was my task to pick a team from those available… something I can honestly say after previous years I never thought I would do! We even on two occasions actually had a 12th man! My thanks to everyone that has played: it has made a huge difference knowing that we don’t have to go into games with 8 or 9 players and that there is competition for places! Now we look forward to next season, where competition for places and the experience gained from this year will propel us up the league!

Dipesh Mehta