Crowthorne & Crown Wood Cricket Club

Wellington College-educated, Ant joins for the 2011 season with twin brother Will.  Right handed Batsman and Off-spinner. His potency with ball comes from the mystery which he provides, neither batsmen or himself know what the ball will do next, this has been a key weapon his his arsenal. 

Anthony has made himself a key member of the Crowthorne and Crown Wood fraternity, setting up the CCWCC Flag society which currently has 3 members including Kieran Golding. His love of flags has opened up many avenues for him and he recently returned from a 3 month trip/retreat to Kathmandu for the International Vexillology Convention. Ant was among the key note speakers along with Kim Jong-Un, The Dalai Lama and Imran Khan. Speaking after the event he said that he was humbled to be in such esteemed company and Kim Jong-Un is "a misunderstood guy with great banter", The Dalai Lama "has anger issues" and Imran Khan "has little knowledge of flags but makes up for it in his ability to chin a Guinness with no hands"  

Local entrepreneur, Andrew Baines, joined the club looking for a chance to ‘give back to the community that has given him so much’. Baines made his money as a property mogul and Cosplay costume designer winning Best Costume at the London, Paris, Milan and San Diego Cosplay events.

 

During the summer, Baines donates his time, and considerable personal wealth, to the club and even the cold winter chill cannot deny him his love for the club and the game by rattling through batting lineups in the Eversley Indoor Cricket League. Indoor Captain Jeff Cluett and manager, Sinith Chandran, have been overheard on a number of separate occasions at the local watering hole, The Frog and Wicket, singing Baines’ praises as he cleaned up yet another side with his slow left arm grenades.

Not just a bowler, Baines is always good for a few runs and sometimes even more than that regularly contributing 50+ runs to an innings. Nicknamed the ‘Village Bradman’ by local funny man and hunk Ant Avrili, seeing Baines slashing shots through Cover Point in his Baggy Green is one of the sights of the summer. This display, unsurprisingly, attracts many passersby that look on enviously as Baines piles on the pain for opposition teams.

The Red Barron, perhaps the one and only Crows player to attain a nickname before even playing a game for the Club.
Another in a long line of South Africans to have represented the Crows, the main difference being he could actually play.
In 2009, he had 1 innings, scored 90-odd.  

Rich became fully integrated into the Club during the 2010 season. A regular on both Saturdays and Sundays, The Red Barron smashed the club batting record with a staggering 179 against Yateley in July 2010.Like all South African's he's a BBQ/Braaii expert - self-proclaimed. He held the highest average of all the batsmen in the 2013 Div 2 winning side and deservedly scooped the Saturday 1s batting prize accordingly.

A shy and socially awkward man, Barron is more at home in a library or book store than at a bar or cricket club function. He only plays half of the season each year because of this, as too much social interaction brings him out in anxiety attacks. Despite this handicap he puts on a brave face and is a real inspiration.

He Says: 'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, some have greatness thrust upon them. I'll settle for a fifty and a pint.'

Son of Crown Wood legend Sean Brundish. Mikey has the loudest voice on planet earth. 

One of life's true mavericks.  Came through the ranks at Crown Wood under the close tutelage of his father John.  A classy batsman on his day and a bowler who can "bowl the lot"

Really made his mark for the merged club in 2015 after a quiet 2014. Scored bucket loads of runs for both the 2nd XI and Sunday teams including a century and several 50's

HIs crowning glory was the 2015 Cardiff Tour... details of which may never become clear..

Right arm seam bowler and heavy bat swinger, Sin has made the transition from a Crown Wood occasional to a Crowthorne & Crown Wood stalwart known for his miserly opening bowling spells. Sin has been a consistent performer for the 1 XI opening the bowling for the past 3 years.  Unveiled an array of reverse sweeps at the 6-a-side, too.  However, on recent evidence, won't be gracing the football field any time soon.....

Anthony is a left handed top-order batsman and off-spinner. Star of Winter footy, Anthony is an all-round sportsman. Part of the "Holy Trinity" of Cluett brothers signed by the Crows in 2012. 

Created Crows history by scoring back-to-back league 100's in a season where he scored almost 1000 runs.

Deservedly scooped the Player of the year in his debut season and looks likely to dominate the Crows top order for years to come.
He says: 'Why would I celebrate a 50...it's not exactly difficult'

 

Away from taking wickets and scoring runs Ant likes to unwind by taking part in competitive Topiary. The art of creating shapes from trees has long been a passion of Ants and has won many of the regional titles in the South East including the hotly contested 2013 Brighton competition where he narrowly beat Steve Ovett which put him into the national finals of Britain's Best Bush. Unfortunately he was unable to attend the finals as it clashed with the Sunday Holyport fixture in which he scored 166*.

He famously appeared on Gardner's World where he had an altercation with presenter Monty Don. Speaking afterwards he simply said "The way he spoke about my trimmed bush was a disgrace, he calls himself a gardener? He's nothing but a fraud in my eyes". 

Young fast bowler, good fielder and working hard on my batting. Shot to fame as part of the all conquering Indoor Team that won the 2013 Eversley indoor league. Also part of the U17s indoor team that retained their title in 2014.

 

Dan is a keen bird watcher and can often be gone for weeks at a time searching for the perfect bird. He's attempted to set up the Amateur Bird Watching Society at all of his previous Jobs, including Warwickshire County Cricket club. When asked about his favorite bird he replied "I'm always partial to a Great Tit, but I'm a bit of sucker of the larger birds, they're easier"

Another to come through the youth ranks at CW, Rob has turned into probably the finest spin bowler the club has ever produced. An aggressive batsman as well (Twenty20 stylee), he was a mainstay of the CW teams of the Premier era.

His wife (girlfriend at the time) also has the accolade of the finest tea ever made at St Sebastian's.

Made a blistering 93 in the final match of the 2015 season after being promoted to opening batsman.

Joe is our newest import from Down Under having relocated from Sydney to Crowthorne (can'y be many people that do it that way round). Joe is a legspinner and right handed batsman. He took an instant liking to "The Newbury" at his first net session.
Joe hit an impressive 52 not out in his 3rd game for the club against BBC Caversham. Joe went on to score over 400 league runs in his first season to scoop both the "newcomer" award as well as the Berkshire League Young Player of the year 2012 award, and was a key member of the 2013 Div 2 winning side.

Joe is undoubtedly the best thrower of a cricket ball north of Alice Springs, and is responsible for large numbers of runouts and overthrows in equal measure. He is famed for his vest/wooly hat combo, probably a result of the climate difference from his native land.

He Says: 'My proudest moment on a cricket field was my club record fourth wicket stand of 171* with Jeff Cluett in 2012. It was a privilege to stand at the other end.'

Crown Wood and Berkshire Cricket League legend. 2nd longest serving member of CW, Ravi has played for the club for approx 25 years. Owns Crown Wood's best ever bowling figures of 9-56. But better known for "Ravi's rolls" - his tea speciality.
As a youngster he was a hostile swing bowler with searing pace* and a top order batsman. Now he has reached the age when you start to count backwards, the pace is not quite as hostile but the accuracy is as perfect as ever.
*it's all relative

He was a key member of the 2014 Div 1 winning team for the newly merged club, picking up the Captain's award in the process. This win was shrouded in controversy however as it was later alleged that skipper Ant Cluett's beloved Holme Grange school had received a "significant" donation from Ravi in the run up to the awards' night. Brave whistle-blower Jeff Cluett, who put aside family loyalty to uncover this, went on to say that "everyone was astonished the award didnt go to Ant's brother, and now we know why".

He Says: "I don't want to discuss that affair, my character is above reproach and I won that award fair and square. I am the Pride of Bracknell, that is all you need to know."

Plucked from the relative obscurity of the youth set up by captain Will Avrili, Golding is now regularly the third or fourth name on the team sheet, depending on availability of others. Tesco stock taker in his working life, and a fine left armer, he serves up overs of dastardly cross seamers with an accompaniment of spicy sledging and bamboozling them with the Clubcard double points offers.

 
Away from stocking shelves and bowling tight lines on a Saturday, Golding performs in an award-winning tribute act of the great, early noughties series, The Office, playing both Gareth Keenan and Nathan AKA ‘The Ogg Monster’.  Kieran regularly performs in local pubs and clubs with his fellow actors and gives renditions of his latest fan fiction to the team during drinks and tea breaks.
When asked what his ultimate fantasy would be by local journalists, he said “Two lesbians probably. Sisters. I'm just watching, that, or a hattrick against Shinfield”

Tricky seam bowler and lower order bat. He is known for his striking visual style, colourful glasses, loud shirts, and giant pink foam mallet, known as "Malik's Mallet", as well as his "utterly brilliant!" and "blaaah!" catchphrases.

IT consultant, father of two, love movies/food/travelling. Needless to say, above all, absolutely passionate about CRICKET!

A Wicketkeeper-batsman (in that order!), Fitz has captained Pembroke College, Oxford, played for Wadham College, Oxford and a wandering club call the Gaieties.

While working in Oxford during the week, he plans to make the weekly pilgrimage down to Crowthorne to get his cricket fix. 

Joined the club in 2010 as a fast bowling all rounder and brought the key attribute of being able to smooth over the Wellington College liaison from the inside. The days of bounding in bowling snorting bouncers to Sandhurst openers are behind him and after many years of seeing the likes of Dan come in off three paces and clean up wicket after wicket, the retirement plan of bowling liquorice allsorts was born. Rarely allowed to be released in a real match, those ghastly googlies are mainly reserved for Sundays when every other avenue has been exhausted. Trying to capitalise on a decent batting season in 2016, with a ton against Arcadian Casuals and make an opening batsman role a permanent move.
But it's on the football pitch where he comes into his own. The Golden boot award has been abandoned after he won it for so many years in succession that everyone got bored. Current holder of the Golden Hoof Award too, but committed to stop hogging all the footballing trophies and let someone else have a go.

Nick moved to Crowthorne at the end of 2012 and quickly became a mainstay of the 2013 Div 2 and Div 1 title winning team taking over the Captaincy of the first team in 2017. He is a solid top order batsman with plenty of runs in his locker and one of the sharpest fielders at the club. That's what he tells us anyway, it's difficult to remember as he tends to be on the proverbial physio table most of the time, most notably after the 'exploding finger incident of 2013' where he was spectacularly injured fielding a ball off his own bowling at nets. Nets! Lesson learnt.

He Says: 'I just love the taste of Jalfrezi, the colour isn't important.'

Fun Fact: A young Nick can be seen in the music video for the 1980s classic number one 'Snooker Loopy', appearing as a young snooker fan who Willie Thorne high fives.
 

Club Stalwart and all round legend of the Crowthorne area, The Partridge can often be found at the club or touring the away games when unable to turn the arm himself. Having taken a 18 month absence out of the game he was thrown back into the fold by the ONES Captain Will Avrili, who was looking to motivate and inspire the younger generation in the club. Dan has consistently taken wickets throughout his cricketing career and continues to do so to this day. 

In his spare time The Partridge frequents the Mad Stad to watch his beloved Reading FC or spending his wages following the England cricket team across the globe. Back in 2013 a mini documentary series was commissioned to follow Dan in his daily life called 'Up with Partridge - The Making of a Legend', Dan declined to speak on the documentary, instead the BBC recruited Ashley Giles to narrate the series after a personal request from Ashley himself. In the series we see Dan's memorabilia room which was once a childs bedroom, in this shrine he has many prized artifacts of his 2 loves, Reading and The England Cricket Team. The room includes a pair of Stephen Hawking's football boots (Unworn), a jock strap from Reading's all time leading goal scorer Trevor Senior, and a 'used' tissue from his favorite England cricket Alan Mullaly. After a high profile court battle the series was removed from Netflix and is now permanently on BBC iPlayer. Partridge's lawyer later stated that this was due to Dan's insistence that the series be free to air, citing the demise of English cricket since 2005 for his decision. 

A recent petition has taken place to get the Nine Mile Ride End by St Sebs renamed the Dan Partridge End which is currently at 55,000 signatures. When asked what it meant to be the centre of such a fantastic cause he simply replied 'No comment'. 

Tom joined the club in 2019 after being extensively scouted by W.Avrili. Another off the Wellington College production Tom played under W.Avrili's captaincy from the age of 13. A handy bowler and great exponent of swing bowling Tom and useful with the bat also. After a hiatus of a few year Tom is back with a vengeance and ready to make his mark in the Berkshire league. 

Transitional-lens wearing former skipper of the Sunday team. A complete novice a mere 6 years ago, Dave has developed into a hard-hitting, but sturdy bastman, good fielder (using all availabile body parts to stop the ball) and an appalling bowler.Scored his maiden 50 in 2009, hitting all his runs entirely on the leg-side. Dave attributes his fielding prowess to his 20 years man-and-boy goalkeeping experience. About to tie the knot to Fliss who is the 2011 WAGS cakebaker of the year.

Simon earned his Saviour nickname for scoring the winning runs off the final ball in a tight Berkshire League encounter against Swindon NALGO in his first season. Joined as a bowler but went on to win the batting averages in 2006. Outstanding fielder and twice winner of the fielder of the year award, this despite one particular fungus related instance away at Purley. Currently the Club's Fixtures Secretary. For all his good work, he lets himself down by supporting Swindon Town. A mystery bowler who has a different style every time you see him, he ran Dan very close for the 2012 bowling award.

Marv, joined Crowthorne Cricket Club in 2018. Living Just across from the Ground - Home games take on a whole new meaning.

Having Played Provincial Cricket in Zimbabwe and a game for Zimbabwe 'A's he's looking forward to testing his leg spin and batting in the English game.

Whitehurst has returned to the local area following a brief trip The Orient to ‘find himself’ and ‘begin an uprising in the Chinese controlled state of Hong Kong’. Having reeked political havoc abroad, he now reeks cricketing havoc across Berkshire. A fine, attacking batsmen and one of the most mobile fielders in the team, he is another leading addition to the ones for the 2019 season.
An active member of the club’s Alan Partridge Appreciation society, (CCWCCAPAS) he has held the positions of Chairman and Treasurer; the only person in the society’s history to hold both titles successively and simultaneously. Whitehurst is often heard shouting ‘A-Ha!’ from the square leg boundary when appealing in lieu of the more traditional ‘howzat’.
No stranger to the media spotlight, Whitehurst was recently spotted exiting The Prince in Crowthorne saying that he’ll “be captain of the ONES by this time next year”. A well-liked and popular character around the club, with a clear disregard and disdain for ‘the system’, incumbent captain, Will Avrili, may have a battle on his hands come AGM time.