The Year 2000- a historic year for the club.

2020 marks the twentieth anniversary of the club's only Two Counties Division 1 Championship win. This article looks back at the year that was 2000.

2000 was the year of lorry driver petrol protests, the opening of the Millennium Dome and the arrival of Big Brother onto our TV screens. Bob the Builder was Christmas No 1 with, "Can We Fix It", which also aptly described the actions of South African captain Hansie Cronje, who was caught match fixing final test match of the test series against England in return for $10,000 and a leather jacket.

The year started with sad news, following the sudden passing of John Ellis in March. John was Chairman of Selectors, Club Statistician and Handbook Editor at the time of his death. His death left a huge hole in the club, which is still felt to this day.

On the pitch, the first were back in Division 1 after a season in Division 2 in 1999. The season started with a Damian Westwood inspired win at Mistley, which was followed by victories over Ipswich and East Suffolk and Sudbury. The victory over Sudbury prompted one well known club member to state, “We only needed one more win and we are safe from relegation.”

The winning run continued with defeats of Exning, Frinton, Copdock and Braintree. The win over Braintree saw Peter Wargent's maiden first team league century, with 86 not out by a fifteen year old David Randall.

Wargent had a year to remember at number 3 scoring 794 runs at an average of 57 in Division One after a winter of playing club cricket in Australia. He was ably supported by Robbie Barber with 469 runs, and 395 runs for David Randall. Their contributions were vital as Ian Elliott missed most of the season following knee surgery.

The bowling was led by Jay Trevaskis. Trevaskis was originally due to play club cricket in Cornwall, but thanks to the a new tool called the internet, Chris Elliott was able to use his network of contacts in Australia to find Jay and invite him to join the club for the year. Jay's impact was enormous, with 55 wickets at an average of 15.69. He was backed up by Paul Symons and Paul Raymond with the ball.

The first team experienced a wobble in July with a couple of defeats including one to Sudbury. Sudbury’s victory was led by a John Kent century and 5 wicket haul. Less than two years later, Kent has made both his test and one day international debuts for South Africa.

The title run in saw a vital clash against fellow high fliers Wivenhoe. Their side included ex-England international Neil Foster, who would be coaching Maldon less than two seasons later.

We remained unbeaten through the remainder of the season with the title race was concluded with defeat of Braintree of the season. Maldon scored 221-8 on the back of 63 by Peter Wargent and Robbie Barber scoring 61. Braintree got 209-9 in 50 overs, with Jay Travaksis taking 5 wickets as Maldon won by 12 runs having been pushed by Exning and Wivenhoe for the title. This victory prompted loud and raucous celebrations that evening at Drapers.

The following week we defeated Longstanton Grasshoppers in the East Anglian Premier League play-off by 5 wickets with 4 overs to spare. Robbie Barber top scored with 78, and led us to the promised land of East Anglian Premier League Cricket.

In other club news, the second team narrowly missed out on promotion, coming third in their league. This was despite doing the double over second place Braintree, which included a 3 run last ball win against them. The seconds season included the infamous game against Frinton at Drapers which we lost by one wicket despite Martyn White’s best efforts, which was described as particularly galling in Andy Barnes’s captains report.

Other noticeable performances in mens cricket that summer included Calvin Hill getting a seven wicket haul against Harwich and a six wicket haul against Clacton, David Richardson hat trick against Braintree and Colin Philpott getting three hundreds in a week.

Robbie Barber made the national press scoring 40 in an over in a rain reduced league cup quarter final at Braintree, which was rained off.

It was the first season for the Maldon Ladies team, who played in the local Ladies league and improved throughout the summer. The squad, under the guidance of Sue Randall, mostly consisted of young players who were new to competitive cricket. The youth section continued to flourish; in the Matchplay, George Sims took 6-17 in the Matchplay against Old Parkonians, which was the second best bowling analysis in the competition that year. Friday nights junior cricket was a prominent part of the club week, with Alan Sims winning Clubman of the Year for his work with the Junior sections over many years.

The season will also be remembered for the achievements, which set the foundations for our years in the East Anglian Premier League.