Flamingo Cricket Club - Formed 1953
Flamingo CC Review 2002 (written by Colin Savage)
Flamingos looked forward to their second season in the League with some concern, having lost
three major players - Shane Merkel and skipper Gary Fenigan, the two main run-makers in 2001, to
Australia and all-rounder Ian Hitchings to the USA.
On the credit side Stu Shapland resumed the captaincy, all-rounder Tim Richman returned after a
few seasons' absence and Jason Dodd was available more often. Young paceman Nick McMurray (28
wickets) continued to develop, four other bowlers (Richman, Adie Heath, Shapland and Dave Wright)
performed well and Hampshire Under 15s opener Tom Cledwyn showed his class at the end of the
school term. Best of all, the final position of eleventh represented a determined team effort.
After two narrow defeats in the first three games, a run of five successive wins propelled the
team to the dizzy heights of second place in early July, but as unavailabilities and injuries
took their toll - Shapland and David Breach were the only players not to miss a game - squad
proved just too thin to sustain the momentum and the last six games were lost.