Teenage left-hander Ben Johns winning the batting award for his run scoring exploits is the icing on the cake of Calmore Sports’ amazing Southern Premier League Division One title triumph.
The Loperwood Park club clinched the title – their second in succession after last year’s Second Division win – with a seven-wicket victory over Portsmouth.
Topping the divisional run scoring charts is 19-year old Ben Johns, pictured, whose 539 runs underpinned the side’s batting.
“It’s a great personal achievement for Ben and it's been a long time coming,” beamed championship winning captain Mark Lavelle, whose 32 wickets were equally significant.
“Since his debut in 2013 – when he made 122 on debut against Tichborne Park – Ben has been in the top ten of the charts, so for him to finally win an award is great for him and tops off an excellent season for us as a club.
Lavelle has been very impressed with the youngster’s level of consistency, but wants him to go on and plant big scores.
“He averages almost 40 with only one fifty and a century against Basingstoke on the opening day of the season,” the captain continued.
“It starts to get annoying when he keeps getting out in the 40s – I reckon he did this five or six times during the course of the summer – but he is a class act and will go on to break every club record, that I have no doubt.
“He’s only 19 so has a lot of years left in him and still has room for improvement, particularly converting those 40s into big scores
“I watched him from the non-striker’s end loads of times since his debut four years ago and its been a pleasure.
“Ben is a one club man so I'm looking forward to many more seasons watching.
“He deserves a go at Premier Division cricket more than anyone in our side so I hope he gets that opportunity next year.”
The Loperwood Park club clinched the title – their second in succession after last year’s Second Division win – with a seven-wicket victory over Portsmouth.
Topping the divisional run scoring charts is 19-year old Ben Johns, pictured, whose 539 runs underpinned the side’s batting.
“It’s a great personal achievement for Ben and it's been a long time coming,” beamed championship winning captain Mark Lavelle, whose 32 wickets were equally significant.
“Since his debut in 2013 – when he made 122 on debut against Tichborne Park – Ben has been in the top ten of the charts, so for him to finally win an award is great for him and tops off an excellent season for us as a club.
Lavelle has been very impressed with the youngster’s level of consistency, but wants him to go on and plant big scores.
“He averages almost 40 with only one fifty and a century against Basingstoke on the opening day of the season,” the captain continued.
“It starts to get annoying when he keeps getting out in the 40s – I reckon he did this five or six times during the course of the summer – but he is a class act and will go on to break every club record, that I have no doubt.
“He’s only 19 so has a lot of years left in him and still has room for improvement, particularly converting those 40s into big scores
“I watched him from the non-striker’s end loads of times since his debut four years ago and its been a pleasure.
“Ben is a one club man so I'm looking forward to many more seasons watching.
“He deserves a go at Premier Division cricket more than anyone in our side so I hope he gets that opportunity next year.”
- The Southern Premier League’s management committee will rule on Calmore Sports’ potential elevation to the ECB Premier Division later this month, once the club’s accreditation grading for 2018 has been determined.
- The club requires its current ‘silver’ status to be raised to ‘silver with gold potential’ for this to be achieved.
