Hornchurch CC skipper Billy Gordon: Keep the trophies coming

The Harrow Lodge-based cricket club were playing in the Conference Cup final for the Bertie Joel Trophy against Walton-on-Thames at Camberley.

And they ended up storming to victory by 106 runs.

The win joined their Essex League Premier Division title and Gordon is deadly serious when he says he wants this to be the norm.

He said: “It’s been a very good season and the other final we lost in, we had six players away due to one of our players getting married.

“I think if we’d had a full side we could have won the treble but it is what it is.

“To do the double is still a brilliant season and the Conference Cup is a new trophy for the cabinet, we have never won that before.

“Next season we want to do well in the league again but the only cup we haven’t won is the 40-over National Cup.

“It would be nice to have a good run in that if we can next season.

“Basically I just want to keep winning trophies and become a consistently successful team.”

Saturday’s cup triumph saw Hornchurch take to the wicket first and smash 319-4 in their 45 overs.

Paul Murray led the way with 74 but Adeel Malik with 66 in 41 deliveries and Lesbourne Edwards with 61, weren’t hanging about either.

The reply was done and dusted in the 37th over, Malik returning to take 4-35 while Marc Whitlock chipped in with 3-37.

Gordon said: “It was a good way to finish, a double is nice, and as finals go it couldn’t have gone much better.

“It was a lovely ground and a really good wicket so it was good to have a bat and put on a really good total.

“Adeel Malik has been outstanding with bat and ball and we’ve got George Hankins who has scored a lot of runs.

“And our keeper, Paul Murray, has been unbelievable this year.

“To be fair, the new boys who have come in, the new bowlers Arthur George and Gavin Griffiths, they have bowled really well and everyone has chipped in.

“There are quite a lot of batsmen who have got over 500 runs for the season and plenty of wicket takers so it has been a really good team effort.”

The only thing left for this season is to decide who will captain next year and Gordon is on the cusp of changing his mind for that.

“It’s for discussion that,” he said with a wry smile and a chuckle. “I’ve done it for eight years and I was thinking of having a break.

“But everyone seems to want me to do one more year, so I’ll have a sit down with the chairman in a couple of weeks, see what he says and just go from there really.”