This year’s NDL side finished 5th in the league claiming 4 wins from a total of 9 games played, with the moist Devonshire climate getting the better of us on three occasions. Despite not finishing in a position to claim any silverware the side viewed the season as a successful one. Admittedly this may seem strange to those who aren’t closely involved but those who are will know one of the main targets of the team is provide up and coming youngsters with added exposure to a strong level of men’s cricket. This meant more than 15 different juniors played in the NDL team and on several occasions we had upwards of 6 juniors playing and at times as many as 8 played in the same team.

All the juniors that played did more than simply participate, they held their own against seasoned cricketers and at times were the standout performers. Most notably was Jools Hughes taking a hatrick in the first over of the innings against Nomansland and Navindu Vanderbona scoring 96 in the return fixture against the same side. Further success of the NDL side this year can be found in the support and experience provided by Steve Moore and Roshan Lakmal, two exceptional role models to all the juniors wh0 played as well as the chance to play with other senior members of the club like first team captain Jack Moore, an opportunity which youth players otherwise would not get this early in their senior playing careers.

Hopefully we can continue to build on the progress made over the last few seasons and hit the ground running in our first NDL fixture of 2026 which is fast approaching on the 26th of April!

James Tyson