Services to Scoring.
Neil first started scoring for his one and only club, Normanby Hall, when he was 13 – that was 40 years ago, in 1979, when he took on the role as a stand-in for the second team.
His first full season of scoring for the first team was in 1987 and he has continued until now. He completed a staggering 500 consecutive first team league games in 2016, the last one he missed being in May 1995 when he got married... That means if he makes it to the last game of May in the 2020 season he will have scored every first team league game for 25 years.
All told, with cup and other level matches, Neil will soon be approaching the 1000 game mark – a feat very few achieve. Modestly, he says that it did help when he realised quite early on that he wasn't any good at playing and Normanby didn't have a 3rd team in those days!
Notwithstanding his phenomenal dedication to scoring, Neil also makes a huge contribution at both club and league level to the administrative functions of both organisations, fixtures being his specialty. Many years of selfless work for his club have been supplemented by his role as fixtures secretary of the NYSD, a position he has held for more than six years now, and one he carries out with the minimum of fuss and maximum efficiency, handling 1400 matches in an ECB Premier League with superb aplomb.
Well done to Neil on his award and thanks go to him from all of the cricket community for his four decades of dedication.