Ottery St Mary held their colts awards at a packed clubhouse last week, writes George Southall-Brown.

In excess of 150 people were present to see awards handed over to 36 young cricketers.

The prestigious honour of Ottery St Mary Colt of the Year was presented to Dan Jeacock by Ottery club chairman John Tierney.

Fielder of the Year went to Tom Peters of the Under-12 team for his commitment to the development of his fielding throughout the year.

The award for female Player of the Year went to East Devon starlet Sarah Walker in recognition of her overall development throughout the year.

Rob Major kicked off the evening with the softball pairs team and lauded their enthusiasm through the season at both training and during matches.

Batting awards went to Will Crick and Thomas Major with Joe McKinney and Jonathan Triner picking up bowling awards. Manager’s awards were given to Toby Sanford and Ollie Sycamore.

Hardball pairs manager Allen Morgan raised a few laughs with the uses his team found through the season for abdominal protectors before presenting batting awards to Ben Lawler and Sachin Coppell, bowling trophies to George Taylor and Lewis Morgan with Managers awards given to Tom Swaite and Owen Foster.

Ian Jeacock managed both the Under-11 and Under-12 teams and so had a double stint at the microphone. In the first section he congratulated the Under-11 team on an excellent cup run before nominating Eddie Rudolph for the batting trophy, Ethan Allen as the team’s bowler of the year and Ollie Brealy for the Manager’s award.

In the Under-12 team Tom Peters received the batter of the year, whilst Dan Mayor was awarded the bowling trophy and George Mutter the Manager’s award for his all round contribution to the team.

Jon Mutter’s Under-13 team had a tough season in Division A of a two-tier league. Mutter commented that ‘despite some excellent bowling and fielding performances it was hard to defend low totals’. The team did, however, had a good cup run beating Thorverton and Exmouth before losing to Seaton in the semi-final.

Batters award went to Stephen Lilley, George Mutter received the bowling award and Joel Trim the manager’s award for his commitment through the season.

Ottery had two teams in the Under-14 age group with one team being led by Brian Conway and Jim Bugler. Led by Henry Mutter, who also won the batting award, this team won the East Devon Youth League at this age group without losing a game. After awarding Jack Katene bowler of the year and giving the Manager’s award to Will Pitcher, Conway remarked that ‘it’s fair to say that not one game was down to individual effort, the team spirit on and off the field was a credit to each and every one of the boys’.

Guy Peters ran the other Undef-14 team and he nominated Tom Peters as batter of the year, Ethan Glanville as bowler of the year with Manager’s award going to Cameron Derry.

Peters said: “I am delighted to be able to report of a successful years cricket for the whole team. My emphasis as a team manager for this year was to make sure everyone had a chance to play a role in the team, where they may not have done in the past. This allowed the Under 14 B team to create a real team bond for which I am proud to have managed this year.”

Rounding off the evening with the Under-15 team was Will Katene who awarded Billy Rudolph the batter’s trophy, Ollie Reed the bowler’s trophy and Henry Mutter the Manager’s award.

Katene paid tribute to both Rudolph and Reed who both represented Devon on the Under-15 tour to South Africa last winter and, in turn, Reed presented Katene with a gift to acknowledge his commitment to this team over the last five years.

Rob Southall-Brown, chairman of Ottery’s junior section, reflected on a splendid season saying: “Its been a good year for the club with excellent weather, record numbers of players, particularly in the girls section, and a committed team of volunteers. The future continues to look bright with a large number of our junior members representing the club in the Devon Cricket League this season and we look forward with some anticipation to 2015.”