Norfolk O 50 History
INTRODUCTION – 2009-2010NORFOLK O50 HISTORY
The ECB O50 County Championship started in 1983
Chris Gillham attempted to start a side in the early nineties but was unfortunately unsuccessful
Martin Pearse, the Cromer opener initiated the entry in 1996 with the ECB and Norfolk entered the ‘Midland Group’
Initially Norfolk had a plethora of players but it took a couple of years to sort the wheat from the chaff.
In 1998 the team started to come together with the introduction of Paul Rice, Marcus Wilkinson and Fred Handley. ‘97 Champions Warwickshire were beaten in the first match. However, Norfolk missed qualifying for the Quarter Finals by the margin of one run in the overall percentage, the narrowest margin ever. There were a total of 40 counties in 5 groups.
Martin Pearse blueprinted the new groups1999 in conjunction with Mark Campkin at the ECB and Norfolk’s group changed radically with a much more logistical Eastern group!
Norfolk started to consistently win the Eastern group (3 years running, 1999-2001) and achieve the play-offs, quarter finals and semi finals starting in 1999.
Since 1996 Norfolk have won the group 4 times, winning 59 matches and losing 39
Pearse 29-17. Captain 1996 – 2001 6 years
Lund 2-4 Captain 2002 1 year
Thomas 24-15 Captain 2003 – 2007 5 years
Sayers 4-3 Captain 2008 1 year
Adams 6-2 Captain 2009 1 year Lost Essex Play-off
We have reached 6 Quarter Finals, losing 5 and one Semi Final and losing two Play-offs
We have constantly (6 times) headed the National aggregate run charts. In 2007 we created a record, 1760 runs, average 251 per match. Unfortunately we created another record, runs conceded, 1795…….
For 2010 Mark Lester has been elected Captain.
A new constitution was formed in late 2007 and a structured official Committee elected, names elsewhere on the site.