Players - Adrian Barrett (VC); duncan Barrett; Dr. Paul Bates; Chris Bell; Nicky Brown; Steve Duke; Darren Eaton; Peter Hull; Adrian Lamberth; Duncan Perry; Andy Thompson (C); Richard Thompson; Howard Turner (FS); John Williams; Nick Wilson-Jones

    The involvement of local businessman John Gaisford was pivotal in garnering a renewed interest in West End Cricket Club through the village. A meeting of interested people at his house around the end of the 1980's saw ideas tossed around which gradually became formulated into a plan of action for the coming season, and also with the long-term development of the club in mind. Club representatives present were asked where we wanted the club to go and what it as to achieve, and those around at the time will remember our grand aim was to develop our current site on the Recreation Ground or - somehow - obtain our own ground. John's land included several sizeable fields behind his house and for a while, the belief was that we might obtain use of one of these for our own ground in the not-too-distant future. Sadly, that was not to be - too many obstacles evetually made that particular project unviable, not least of which was planning permission for such an ambitious venture. The whole episode valuably demonstrates the secret that John Gaisford had, to make us believe things could happen. Perhaps it was inevitable that we wanted him to become our new President in 1992.

    Before John, local Chemist Keith Hewitson became our first modern-day President - a position that had been defunct for many years - as well as taking on Treasurers duties in this important, evolutionary year in the clubs' fortunes. Vice-Presidents were also introduced, a type of 'sleeping partner' whose subscription to the club was mostly in a financially supportive manner. It certainly gave us a financial kick-start toward our goals before other fundraising venues really got going. A possible problem with over-subscription for matches was offset by implementation of a “selection committee” comprised of the Captain, Vice-Captain and Fixture Secretary was implemented, meet on Wednesday evenings probably with the venerable Hare & Hounds as the most likely venue. Net practice utilised two bays at the Gordons Boys school on Thursdays, 7.00pm start.

    1990 was the first without the Old Guard, most of whom left the club after last season. In response to that some new (and consequently notable) players were introduced to help bridge the gaps. Among the incumbents this year was Peter Hull, the fit and athletic son of Alan Hull. As well as growing into being a classy-looking left-handed bat Peter also bowled - right-handed - and with some venom when the occasion required. Alongside Peter was Duncan Perry with a good eye for the bad ball, which helped him stake a claim on the number four position as well as wicketkeeper. An experimental period of having Duncan opening the bowling led to some interesting deliveries though. Two more were Steve Duke and John Williams, both of whom preferred to open. Steve was left-handed while John performed his duties in 'normal' right-handed mode, potentially an unsettling opening partnership for bowlers.

    Local GP Paul Bates also graced our ranks. A good enough batsman to make it into most cricketing sides, Paul would go on to deliver many devastating spells with the ball to the extent that one year his bowling average was less than half that of the nearest competitor! It was only the fact he didn't play enough matches in 1990 that prevented Paul qualifying for the best bowling award! Paul went on to become our Club Chairman and early on in the new millennium, after his retirement from the game full-time (due to a knee injury) accepted our offer to become our first President in the New Millennium, presiding over the opening of the new grass wickets on 4th May 2003.

    Our opponents for the first two fixtures, Chertsey Rec and Woking Vandals, were no slouches. So to start the season with two wins under our collective belt them meant it was with an excellent feeling that we entered into our third game. with two reasonable wins. Fleet Hotel came from the Links Hotel opposite Fleet railway station and on the main road into the town itself. It wasn't a high scoring game - our opponents batted first and we though we'd done well to restrict them to less than a ton, however their opening bowlers - especially the tall, blond Zanco - just wouldn't allow our line-up to get going. After having a disheartening defeat inflicted on us the rest of May went from bad to worse with another defeat inflicted on us from Thorpe, this time by a massive 8-wicket margin.

    You'll notice from 25th June onwards there are seven matches accorded the status 'result unknown', the results being locked away in the scorebook somewhere. The first President's Day would have taken place on July 8th. Unfortunately, a match of the 1990 World Cup and the Wimbledon men's finals occurring on that day meant in all reality we had to reschedule to later in the year to make sure we could get two full teams out! When it did take place, the result was a loss, but at what margin is yet to be re-discovered. What we do know is that April 6th was the last win of the season, a downer after the early promise, and the whole amounted to just about the worst season in the modern era results-wise. The unusually high number of cancellations suggest weather possibly played a part in allowing us only thirteen games. Had we'd played more, who knows what difference it would have made?

    The awards evening as slated on the fixture card as Thursday 13th September, four days after the last game. We're not usually THAT organised, and I suspect it was moved to a later date. Steve Duke with some nice strokes won the batting in his first season with us, while Adrian Barrett, who joined in 1985 won the hotly-contested Bowling Award for the first time. He would win it again, but not until 2003 when he was in his fortieth year.