At our recent Annual Dinner the 2024 trophy winners were announced. Unfortunately not everyone who was awarded a trophy could attend.

The Batting Trophy went to James Horler, his father accepting the trophy on James’s behalf. James was also awarded the Silver Dumpling, again for his batting. James had scored two centuries out of just 3 innings for the Dumplings this season.

The Jeffrey Stanyer Bowling Trophy was awarded to Aashay Dube who has bowled  so well for   several seasons now.

The Fielding Trophy went to Billy Buckingham. He had a very sharp runout at Budleigh when at Point and took some great catches during the season. Bruce Coleman accepted it on Billy’s behalf.

The Peter Spencer Wicket-keeping Trophy went to Jeremy Tojy, who had claimed 4 victims behind the stumps.

The Junior Dumpling was presented to Joe Poustie. He was part of two crucial partnerships and took 7 wickets.

 Congratulations to all our winners.

At the AGM in October, Dominic Tuohey handed over the Presidency to Harry Kandampully, presenting him with the President’s Salver. Good luck to Harry in his new role and many thanks to Dominic for having filled the role for three years.

There is one new committee member, Lynne Whitfield, who is taking over as Keeper of The Records. Her contribution will be much appreciated and welcome.

Richard Pyle has stood down as the Safeguarding Officer. His contribution in carrying out this demanding role has been a vital contribution to the running of the Club. Dominic has taken on that role.

There remains a need for Committee members most particularly someone to take over as Honorary Secretary. Wendy Hardy has done it for many years but now has other greater calls on her time. The job primarily involves organising the committee meetings and the AGM, producing the minutes, writing any letters as required, and running the Patron’s Appeal, which constitutionally should be done by the Hon. Secretary. It is not particularly onerous  and she would ensure a smooth transition for whoever takes it on. Please contact her if you are interested or if you can suggest someone else who might be.

Good to see the one-time junior Dumpling Marnus Labuschagne play a significant role in the Final game of the competition. A remarkable end to what has been an entertaining though variable series of games.
Any Englishman's naturally ingrained aversion to celebrating an Aussie success will have been neutralised by the sight of Narendra Modi sitting in the enormous Narendra Modi stadium having to watch as India lost the one game that they really had to win.
At least the national cricket team is one place where there is amity between Hindu and Muslim.

The scheme introduced in 2022 via Peter Spencer's bequest for capping new young players has continued in the most promising way this year.
There were three at the Exeter School gane and another three at the Wye Rustics game
Katie Donovan received her's at Exeter and Josh Paget, Alex Jarman and Alex Tipper ( grandson of the late veteran tea-lady Pearl) played in the Wye Rustics game.
The Club wishes them all a long and enjoyable career wearing them.

 
Next week sees a return to Queen's College for three days of exciting cricket.
We play Nomads Cricket Club on Tuesday 1st, The Frogs CC  on Wednesday 2nd and South Oxfordshire Amateurs CC  on Thursday 3rd.
In all there are 16  playing Tourists and there are a few more folk that may come along
The management will try to keep you all entertained and informed.
There is a full set of  Officials to support the matches and we will have Wendy Hardy, Derek Hardy, Tim Chapman and Lynne Whitfield with us plus a few regular supporters.
 Camping is available as usual and, a first for this year, those wishing to camp on the Monday or Thursday nights will be very welcome to do so at the usual rate of £5 per person per night!
Peter and Judy Jolliffe  will be there from Monday afternoon as usual.

TRANSPORT - if you have spare space in your car/van please contact Peter as we have but  a week to sort it out and some of our overseas tourists rely on lifts! Also campers, if you have space in your tent the same applies.
Much fun in prospect and three wins a bonus!
Peter Jolliffe:    01626 330216 or 07928 294293

 It is with great sadness that Devon Dumplings have lost the Club’s most remarkable post-war cricketer.

As a bowler he was both idiosyncratic and deadly. With one exception he took more wickets than any other Dumpling in the course of a long spell that started in 1961 and continued into this century. Peter Spencer recalls that by 2001 he had 1012 wickets at an average of 20.37.

In addition he is the only member who has been awarded the Silver Dumpling three times.

 Along with his deft skills on the pitch, he will also be remembered for his huge contribution in organising cricket for the Dumplings and Exeter CC. In addition to his Committee roles he was a regular match manager and transporter of players around the County.

As so many cricketers will know, his culinary expertise would result in a range of unusual and enticing lunches and teas for games at Exeter CC.

For many years he undertook the demanding role of Fixture Secretary, maintaining links via the telephone and Royal Mail with all those far-flung clubs who had ever visited Devon over the years. This was combined with an encyclopaedic knowledge of Devon’s cricket history.

He can properly be described as unique, and he has left a cricketing legacy that will survive in the memories of all those who have ever played with him.

Our deepest sympathy goes to his family.

Details of his funeral will be made available here as soon as they are known.

Despite the notable absence of our medically-challenged Tour Manager, the week was a great success in both cricketing and social terms. All three games were played to a conclusion, which is a novelty after previous rain-sodden years. Although attendee numbers were down the ranks were swelled by a few nomadic Londoners.
It was good to see that the Fines Manager was not afraid to place himself at the head of the queue.
Fuller details can be found in the Fixtures and reports section.

Congratulations to Mark on being selected for the England over-50s squad to play India at Loughborough on Tuesday 5th July.
Mark and his offspring have been enthusiastic contributors to Dumplings teams for some time now and it is heartening to think that his success as Captain of the Devon 50s has brought him to the attention of the England selectors. 
Devon was the only Minor County to progess to the semi-finals in last year's National competition.
All fellow Dumplings wish him well for next week's game.

 He died on the 30th October at the age of 88 years and was buried yesterday,15th November at Shobrooke Church.

Peter was a member of Devon Dumplings, Somerset Stragglers, the MCC and many other clubs during his more than 60 years of playing. 

He was  twice awarded the Silver Dumpling,  and most memorably wrote "Three Shades of Green" a comprehensive history of the Club and a most useful statistical resource. 

He served as President,  Keeper of the Records and also as a Committee member for many years. 

His other lasting contribution to Dumplings was to induct Peter Jolliffe  into the Club when playing at Shobrooke against Somerset Stragglers .  

A wonderful innings indeed.

22 people came to Oxford this year as the Tour was finally able to go ahead after months of concern that the ground and its facilities might not be available. It wasn’t until the 27th June that I knew that everything could go ahead so thank you everybody who came and had fun! We had 15 players, 3 officials and 4 spectator/supporters. The numbers were happily so much better than in 2019 and I hope that will remain so in 2022. I have reserved Tuesday 2ndto Thursday 4thAugust inclusive so put the dates in your Diary now. No excuses that “I didn’t know the date”… 

All three matches were played but rain affected the final game after Dumplings had batted. Lost one, won one and one abandoned, Rain. Some great individual performances all of which you will find in the three match reports .

My thanks to all who were involved. Cricket cannot proceed without our scorers so thank you Wendy and Derek Hardy. They  both were very important in getting the Tour going at all. Wendy has been a wonder.

The players all had fun and it was great to have a father and his two sons playing together this year. Mark, Harry and Olli Gribble made a fine contribution. They also brought the rest of the family in support! Half a dozen or so camped on the grounds again and were in reasonable condition by the time the toss was made. Remarkable. Paul Berman helped me with Umpiring when he wasn’t playing, so thank you for that.

My wife Judy supported me with the Tour management and life generally as in every Tour we have been on. This year for the first time, our dog Tally came with us meaning that we couldn’t stay 300 yards from the ground with indoor swimming pool, spa and massage available. I promise to do better next year; our hotel was rather on the  shabby side of “shabby chic”!

Finally, I want to say a huge thank you to Danny and Keile English who looked after us all so wonderfully. Danny had struggled with appalling rainy weather to get the grounds ready and Keile prepared the Pavilion for us and then fed us royally. Everybody, without exception, was delighted with how well we ate  both during the day and at the two post-match BBQs. Keep well.

Now don’t forget the Reports in the Fixtures section.!

Peter Jolliffe