Youngest member of the Reynolds cricketing family showing great promise

Ray Reynolds finished as the leading runscorer in the under-13 division of the South East Hants Indoor Cricket League in 2019/20 - aged just nine!

Ray - the youngest son of Waterlooville CC stalwart Andrew - scored 204 runs in eight matches, with the last game of the campaign cancelled due to the pandemic.

‘When the season started Ray was only eight,’ explained his proud dad, ‘and he is the youngest ever winner of the award.

‘He says his aim is to win it for the four years he’s got left in that age group!’

Ray is certainly on a roll - last summer he won the Waterlooville CC under-9 batting and bowling awards and the under-11 batting and bowling awards as well. In addition, he was voted the club’s overall junior player of the year.

Ray’s three older brothers also play the game.

Archie, 20, is a spin bowling all-rounder in Waterlooville’s 1st XI in Division 2 of the Southern Premier League.

Seam bowler Sonny, 18, is in the Hampshire Academy, and was looking to bounce back in 2020 after missing the whole of last summer through injury.

He had been a regular in the Academy’s Southern Premier League side in 2018, taking 12 wickets in 15 games.

Stan, 14, regularly appears for Waterlooville’s 2nds and 3rds. In 2019 he won the club’s under-13 bowling award.

Andrew - the club’s chairman of cricket, who has been associated with Waterlooville for 43 years - is the 2nd XI captain.

The 54-year-old used to be the 1st XI skipper when Waterlooville were an established top flight club in the old Southern League.

Between 2010-2018, Andrew played for Waterlooville when the club won the South East Hampshire Indoor League senior title six times.

He has played in the same team as all his offspring – when Waterlooville played Shanklin on the Isle of Wight in a tour game.

As well as being the youngest son, Ray is also the third to be named after a famous boxer.

He is named after the legendary Sugar Ray Robinson, the former world welterweight and middleweight champion.

Archie was named after Archie Moore, who held the world light heavyweight title for a decade between 1952-1962.

Sonny, meanwhile, was also named after an American boxer - one-time world heavyweight champion Sonny Liston.

Stan was named after one of his dad’s grandfathers.

Andrew Reynolds insists Waterlooville CC have ambitions to improve both on and off the field of play.

On it, promotion to Division 1 of the SPL is the aim - the highest league they can currently play at due to the fact they don’t own their ground, instead playing at Jubilee Park in Waterlooville.

Off it, the aim within 18 months is to take ownership of pitch preparations and maintenance from the local council.

‘We’re an established club,’ said Andrew. ‘We have a good mix of experience and youth.

‘The plan is not just to stabilise in this division, but to push for promotion and stabilise in Division 1 - that’s our target.’

Andrew says the pandemic has not affected his club financially, and they haven’t applied for any emergency grant funding - unlike other clubs in the area.

Instead, ‘we are saving all our energies for applying for grants for pitch maintenance improvements.

‘We’d like to take ownership of the square from the council, and try and raise it to a higher standard.’

‘That’s our next project, hopefully within 12-18 months.’

The council are due to rip up the club’s existing artificial wicket at Jubilee Park and replace it with a brand new one.

The surface in the nets will also be relaid next April.

Andrew is hoping that the juniors’ return to training next week will help keep them interested in the sport.

Like many cricket clubs, Waterlooville’s biggest fear is losing some of their juniors due to a lack of playing opportunities in 2020.

A winter coaching programme at Crookhorn College - starting in October and running through to early spring - will offer ‘another chance to reinvigorate the youngsters.’