First of all, on behalf of us all at Leeds and Broomfield Cricket Club can I take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2010.

Full details are in the newsletter and flyer - links at the bottom of this note - but briefly the winter training programme is again at the excellent new facilities at Maplesden Noakes.

There are six sessions on Sunday afternoons from 21st February to 28th March. The first session is from 13:15 to 14:45 is for all Leeds and Broomfield Junior boys playing (or going into) hardball at under 11, under 13 or under 15.

The second session is from 14:45 to 16:15 is for all Leeds and Broomfield Women adult players and Leeds and Broomfield Junior girls who have reached hardball level.

RICHARD ATKINSON is again responsible for all the arrangements for the Winter Nets and you'll need to make your booking with him - there's a form attached to do that.  The cost is £25 per person for all six sessions.

You'll see from the newsletter that PAUL FARBRACE, Kent's First XI Coach will be taking one of the sessions -  we're certainly very pleased he'll be taking part!

ALL of the other news from Leeds and Broomfield CC is in the newsletter attached but if you still have questions about anything to do with the Club don't hesitate to contact either myself or John Higgs - our full details are at the end of the newsletter.

Finally, if you know anyone, a young player or an adult, who wants to play cricket with us in 2010 please do pass this email on or send their contact details to Bob Patterson and I'll drop them a line.

The LBJ Winter Newsletter is available from here

The Winter Nets details and arrangments are available from here

Lydia Greenway with her ICC Women's World Cup Winners Medal

As many of you will know, the Club has been involved with the Cricket Foundation's 'Chance to shine' Scheme for four years now.  The scheme brings cricket coaching to young people around the country and Leeds and Broomfield CC was one of the original 100 Clubs (there are now over 800) chosen to deliver it in their area.

For the last two years, we have been very well supported in the scheme by Kent and England's Lydia Greenway who is a 'Chance to shine' Ambassador.  Lydia is part of the all-conquering England Women side and 2009 has, for her, been a quite remarkable year.

We thought we'd bring you the details of what she has achieved this year.  This story has recently appeared on the Kent Cricket Board website.

The unprecedented success for Kent and England’s Lydia Greenway in the 2009 season means that she holds a unique record for any cricketer, male or female, in the history of the game.  The list of her individual achievements in one year is truly remarkable.

With England, Lydia won the World Cup in Australia in March, where she was the leading fielder with eight catches.  In June, with England on home turf, Lydia was a winner again with the England team as they triumphed in the inaugural Women’s World Twenty20 Cup.  In front of big crowds she enhanced her reputation as being the best fielder in the world.

This was followed up with England retaining the Women’s Ashes, where the twenty-three year old left-handed batsman took on a new role opening the batting for her country.  Then she was a winner again as England beat Australia 4-0 in the NatWest ODI series.

At county level, a fortnight ago Lydia scored 89 not out to help Kent win the LV Women's County Championship.  This was the third time in four years she has been on the winning Kent side.  She was also the leading fielder in this year’s County Championship with 14 dismissals in 10 games (11 catches and 3 run outs).

On the weekend of 20th September 2009, the final piece in the jigsaw of this remarkable success story was achieved at club level, and it came in style.

Lydia with the ICC Women’s World CupLydia top scored with 74 for Hayes Hurricanes, her Kent club, who won the Southern Division, to help beat Northern Division winners Ransome & Marles in the National Premier League Club Final by 212 runs.

Lydia’s astonishing winning record of six titles at international, county and club level in one year may never be achieved by anyone else again.  Yet Lydia, who works as a 'Chance to shine' Ambassador with the Cricket Foundation and ECB, takes it all in her stride so modestly.   "I've not thought about records really.  I just enjoy playing cricket with England, Kent and Hayes.  I am so lucky to be with such good cricketers who are my friends,” she said.

A quite remarkable story and journey for a remarkable cricketer.

Lydia in action for England

The Women’s Cricket Southern League Super 8 Twenty20 Competition that started in early August reached the finals stage on Sunday, 13th September at East Molesey Cricket Club in Surrey.

In the first of the semi-finals matches Twickenham ladies faced Radlett.   Thanks to some good bowling and fielding Twickenham restricted Radlett to 98 for 5 wickets in their 15 overs.

In the second Semi-Final, Leeds & Broomfield batted first against Brighton & Hove and made a solid start with Riti Patel and Melanie Abeysinghe posting 75 at run-a-ball before Patel was bowled by Sophie Cawley for 41. Elysa Hubbard 26 not out kept the run rate up with some aggressive batting to help L&B to a healthy score of 124 for 2 as Abeysinghe (41) fell in the final over.

Chiara Green and Sophie Cawley started cautiously but Nithu Jayalath produced an unplayable delivery to bowl Cawley in the second over. Kath Sealey joined Green and steadied the innings until Green was dismissed by Georgina White with the score on 38 in the 7th over. Sealey and Emily Hopkins accelerated until Abeysinghe struck in the 10th over with wickets of Sealey and Kerry Poundsett.

Hopkins sensed the urgency and went on the attack but soon became Abeysinghe’s 3rd victim as B&H could only manage 99 for 6 to lose by 25 runs.

The result set up a Final between Twickenham and Leeds & Broomfield, two teams that had never played each other. Again Twickenham's bowling plus an excellent run out was good enough to restrict L&B to 114 for 5, Pottay again doing her magic by taking two of those wickets.  Top scorer for Leeds and Broomfield was Abeysinghe on 36 not out, Patel made 18 and ex-Twickenham player Jayalath a rapid 17.   Leeds and Broomfield showed their sharpness in the field with 3 good runs outs, putting pressure on Twickenham to get the runs.  Despite Kat Dickens pushing the runs 42 not out and Pottay 17, the Twickenham were 9 runs short of victory when the final ball was delivered.

The tournament has been an overwhelming success for players, all of them showed improvement in batting, bowling and fielding departments. Most importantly the competition was played in good spirit over a period of six weekends with almost 70 matches involving 17 teams from the League.

Some photos, courtesy of Bipin Patel.  Click any photo to go to a larger version.

If you would like to become a member of the Women's section of Leeds and Broomfield Cricket Club please contact Bipin Patel or Michelle Johnson-Kerr or, if you're under 18, either Alan Moyler or Bob Patterson.  We'd very much like to see you!