The Twelfth Man 2019

Brian Marsh: The John Arlott Trophy Richard Skipworth: The Harold (Dickie) Bird Trophy This young man has really improved as the sessions have progressed. He has a strong desire and has absorbed everything he has been told. His leg spin can turn a long way, but we have worked hard on consistency and hit- ting the right areas. With some subtle variations, he has troubled all of our batsmen. His batting is now solid and his head position good. With a flourishing drive, typical of a graceful left-hand- er, he now has the ability to build an innings. Quick on line and with fast hands, I expect to see him mak- ing some good contribution with the bat this year. A quiet achiever and a real battler; our 2019 runner up is Matthew Blackman . The winner of the 2019 award has performed wonder- fully well throughout the sessions. He is very quick to pick up length and has decisive footwork. He defends well but has a great ability to hit the ball hard. Equally adept on front foot and back, this lad has great poten- tial. Also, I have been impressed by his bowling. With a repeatable action and strong core, I would not disregard this aspect of his game. He plays with a smile and has been a pleasure to coach. Very well done to our award winner, Charlie Miller . Arriving at the nets, 9.30am on a cold Sunday morning in January, seeing all the youngsters, some old, some new, it still amazes me in this day and age with other things going on, that from 1953 to 2019 we continue to get boys and girls willing to come to the WCLS nets to learn all the aspects of the game. I started with seven students but due to other commitments and injury I finished with four and one borrowed from net 4. My most improved player this year is a new lad. I was impressed by him from the start, being a medium fast bowler, bowling a good line and length ball after ball, continually asking questions of the batsmen. Quite a competent batsman but he needs to work on shot se- lection and bottom hand coming in on front-foot shots. A pleasant young person always listens to advice and I’m very happy with his progress. My runner up is Eathan Sefton . My award winner this year is no stranger to the WCLS as he seems to have been around the nets for a long time. Predominantly an opening style batsman, and compe- tent off-spinner. A right handed batsman with a sound defence has all the shots, particularly off-drives, straight drive on the front and back feet. Being an off-spinner he has a good flight and mostly a good line and length with knowledge of the game and always looking to improve. Definitely one to watch in the future. The John Arlott award winner is Oliver Bennett . Review Thanks also to Mick, Skip, and Dean for giving up their time without financial gain to help the youngsters. This year’s coaching group line up at the end of their ten-week indoor programme