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”
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"
Will joined us in the 2011 season, the younger Avrili, learned his Cricket under the guidance of Mr P Daines at Yateley Manor and subsequently at Wellington. Along with twin-brother Ant, Will has injected some youthful enthusiasm and agility into the Crows ranks. Will is known for his wonderful stroke play and diving catches from behind the stumps.
Nicknamed 'Fray Bentos' after the famous Cuban leader by his team. Will dictates the play in the middle and from behind the stumps. Will's nickname and intentions have now truly come to light as he was selected as ONES CAPTAIN. Avrili quipped when wished good luck, "You don't need luck when you're me"
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.
AKA :Belmont Maracas
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"
Father of two leading CCWCC cricketers and husband to a committee member, it would not be an understatement to say that Damon Emes has single handedly secured the future of the club. ‘The club cannot repay the debt that we owe him but we shall nevertheless try’ said club legend Dan Partridge when interviewed about Damon by local journalists.
Away from the field, Damon is a keen musician playing the French Horn in a number of local bands and orchestras. Never one to be pigeonholed, Damon is also able to turn his hand to a number of other instruments including the bassoon, the viola and the steel drums. This has prompted him to say that ‘he would start a band of one but he can’t play all the instruments at the same time’. His love of brass instruments also took him round the world with The Barmy Army as the head trumpeter. His tenure was ended with a mysterious dishonourable discharge in St Lucia leading to his dismissal. Not widely reported after a skilful PR campaign by the Barmy Army, the local police report simply listed the offence as ‘Carib Beer’.
Even in sport Damon cannot be limited. For many years, throughout the 1990’s and 2000’s, he was the throwing partner of darts legend Phil ‘The Power ‘Taylor. Taylor even attributed his 1995 and 1997 World Matchplay and 2001 and 2002 World Championship wins to the coaching of Damon. It comes as no surprise then that Damon is constantly on the spot with the cricket ball regularly racking maidens and wickets on the cricket field.
Another fine product of the clubs youth system, who’s appearances are limited nowadays as he has gone away to flight school. Think Top Gun academy but without the Sunglasses, Cool Planes, Girls, Leather Jackets and Excitement.
Also forced in being a Chelsea fan by his father.
Although probably one of the most gifted all rounders to have graced Crowthorne, sadly it has only ever been his bowling that has been recognised by the club (and scorers). He won the club bowling averages five consecutive years and collected two Berkshire League divisional awards. Has never managed to capture the coveted player of the year award, probably down to a vote rigging/ drunken outrage incident during the mid-nineties. Best bowling? Either 8-37 or 3-0 off three balls, take your pick!
Interesting FACT: The Long Room at Lord's is named in honour of Aran's 6 consecutive "Bowler of the year" awards.
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'.
I joined Crown Wood Cricket Club in 1993 and I haven't missed a season. I've played in all Berskshire league divisions from the Premier to the 5th. I've captained Saturday 2's and later 3's as well as Sunday friendly sides and indoor teams. I'm getting too old and decrepit these days but I'm looking forward to never earning a baggy green coz I'm too crap these days.
Best figures for Crown Wood (living past successes coz I'm so old and sad now):
Batting: 72 vs Sulhamstead and Ufton
Bowling: 4.3 Overs, 0 Maidens, 7 wickets, 6 runs vs Newbury
Division 3 winner 2003
Division 1 winner 2006
Best batsman 2nd XI 2005
Runner up friendly bowler 2000
Adrian Chatters Day winner (there's no date on the medal but probably about 2013)
Bracknell Midweek League winner early 2000's
Newbold College Indoor Winter League runner up early 2000's
I am a keen enthusiastic learner and still want to learn for the age group I am now but this is not an issue as age is no barrier to learning
I played cricket before with a group of lads at Uni of Reading for couple of years but now disbanded so I have moved on to join a club
Medium Fast Bowler with Both way Swing Ability.
Middle order bat's Man with good defensive technique
The Duchess joined the crows in May 2019, following a successful 2018 on a personal level culminating in a bit of celebration in Windsor. He also joins an illustrious group of Landed Gentry to join the club over the years. The Duchess has now decided to turn to the age old English sport of Cricket. Having started over the pond in the 2nd XI he quickly made a name for himself and has sailed up the ranks as an exciting young addition to the Crows royal household. As a well known humanitarian, The Duchess has decided to continue with this and not let his station get the better of him and off the field he puts all his efforts in to helping young school children in Slough achieve their sporting dreams.
When asked about his charity exploits Sussex replied "You've seen me entertain, and raise money, but maybe i'd like to do that in the future for a living you know. Use my humour and my profile to both help and amuse people. And if it's ideas for TV shows, game shows or whatever, i'm your man"
International man of mystery whose criminal career is punctuated by cricket during the summer months. Ben’s life in the underworld has left him with a myriad of aliases including the infamous Ben Willams of Workington. Known to ‘the fuzz’ as the Scarlet Pimpernel, he evades capture despite numerous accusations of public lewdness and indecent exposure.
Ben recently went past 50 career runs and fathered a child ‘Barry’ named after his favourite place in the world, Barry Island in South Wales. An astonishing fact considering he has never been there.
Also a philanthropist and keen model railway enthusiast in his free time, Williams/Willams donated an eye watering sum of £250,000 to the Crowthorne Model Railway Club in 2016 following a huge fire that was reported as being seen as far as 20 yards away. Crying over an ashened remains of a 12 gauge replica of the Flying Scotsman, Williams vowed to dedicate his life to cricket.
He is rapidly becoming the first name on the Sunday XI team sheet and even holds the crown of being the most inked person at the club sporting a number of tattoos. The club eagerly awaits a neck tattoo of the club crest inspiring some to undertake a whip round at