It was another successful season for Upminster’s colts sides as five of their squads reached the knock out stages of their Metropolitan or County competitions.

Leading the way were the U9s who went all the way to the Final of the Don Coates Trophy (the Metropolitan Board competition) before losing a closely fought final against Woodford Green. Under the leadership of captain Ross Taylor the side won four of their five group games before beating South Loughton by three runs in a thrilling semi-final at Upminster Park. Their victory against Buckhurst Hill in the group stages also saw a first ever hattrick for Michael Pedrick!! As well as their efforts in the Don Coates Trophy the team also won four of their five games in the Havering League.

The U10s/U11B side dodged the Sunday showers to play eleven games during the season. Despite being up against sides made up predominantly of older players in 2017 the team competed well and picked up a brilliant win against Harold Wood in one of the seven Havering League games they played. As well as these local fixtures the squad also travelled to Shenfield and Billericay St Johns to play in some enjoyable friendly contests.

A narrow defeat to Wanstead in the quarter-finals bought to an end the U11s run in the Haydn Davies Trophy. After an opening group defeat against Loughton the team won their next three games to move through to the knockout stages before losing out to a strong Wanstead squad. In the Havering League, the side when unbeaten, winning all six of their fixtures to finish top of the table.

The U12s enjoyed an excellent campaign in the Peter Coe Cup. They won five out of their seven group games, including impressive performances against Rainham and Woodford Green, to move through to a quarter final against Saffron Walden. Saffron proved just to strong though and advanced to the semi-final at Upminster’s expense.

The U13s also progressed from their group in the Len Stentiford Trophy. They lost one of their group games, to Wanstead, but an excellent win in their final group game against Frenford saw them advance to play South Woodford in the quarter final. Unfortunately with the game falling in the middle of the holiday season Upminster were unable to raise a side and South advanced to the next stage. In the Havering League they picked up three wins from their four games, including a fine win against Rainham.

It was a frustrating season for the U15s who again found it difficult to find fixtures against other Clubs. Having opened their Cox and Kings Cup campaign with a victory against Bancroft Lions they suffered three defeats in their next games to exit at the group stages. They also suffered a National Cup exit at the hands of Goresbrook but did win one of the two Havering League games they played.

It was also a strange season for the U16s. They brushed aside Goresbrook in their opening Matchplay encounter and then saw rain wash out their next two group games against Wanstead and Brentwood, meaning they topped their group. This set up a quarter final with Saffron Walden, but despite the efforts of Ellis Pickering and Ollie Woods, Saffron produced a fine performance to progress to the semi-finals.

As well as all of the above teams, the Club also provided coaching to more than 70 youngsters in the U5, U6, U7 and U8 age groups meaning there were nearly 200 local children registered with the Club in 2017.

As well as junior cricket we were pleased to see over 35 players from our U13-U16 sides play senior league cricket for the Club during the season. The Club strives to produce as many home grown players as possible and it is always pleasing to see young players not only move into the senior sides but also make telling contributions.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the dedication and commitment of the Team Co-Ordinators who give up their time to make colts cricket happen at Upminster. We would like to thank Stuart Hulbert, Graeme Lawes, Claire Bannister, Keith Pedrick, Dave Siggins, Andrew Berry, Nick Hollamby, Dave and Elaine Brown, and Bal Kullar for their efforts over the summer.

We must also thank our excellent coaching team for running the enjoyable and exciting coaching sessions and the coach support workers for giving up their time to assist with these sessions.

Thanks are also owed to all other senior members who assist on and off the pitch to ensure colts cricket at the Club runs smoothly and of course the biggest thank you of all should be to Andrew Berry, our Chairman of Youth Cricket, who pulls everything together.

Details of the colts winter coaching programme will be available soon and will be published on this website.