Swardeston’s annual presentataion dinner at Brasted’s saw a night of tributes paid to Mark Thomas, who has stepped down as Premier XI captain after 13 years.
Alongside the annual player of the season awards, the evening saw a slideshow capturing some of the memories made by Mark during his time at the club and in particular during the past 13 seasons.
Swardeston Director of Coaching David Thomas, and of course Mark’s uncle, delivered an emotional speech which charted the success that Mark had brought to Swardeston.
The speech reflected on when Mark made his debut as a Swardeston 1st XI player under David’s captaincy, right through to the glorious summer of 2016 when Swardeston became national T20 champions again.
The evening also saw Northants batsman Rob Newton attend with dad Irving and also featured a special video message from Jaden Hatwell in New Zealand.
The club honoured Mark back in September when he was presented with a gift by former England captain Michael Vaughan at the annual cricket dinner. The gift was a James Anderson signed match shirt and menu from the 2016 NatWest National Club T20 final victory
This time club president Mrs Ros Thomas, and Mark’s grandmother, presented him with a silver salver which detailed the outstanding achievements under his captaincy.
Club president Mrs Ros Thomas presents grandson Mark with a silver salver on behalf of the club.
