The 1990s -  Transition.

We entered the 1990s with Lambert still in the hot seat His performances were still as good as ever, but the team were probably coming to the end of an era in playing terms. The odd cup success still same our way, but the personnel of the 1980s were now starting to break up and the team entered somewhat more of a transitional period. Lamby re-signed for his 8th consecutive season in 1991, a season in which the West Indies were touring. Many at the club found it unbelievable that he had not had a run in the West Indies side. Some blamed the complex politics involved in West Indies national selection. He was given a chance in a one day game hastily arranged in Guyana after the Test had been washed out against Gooch's England in 1991, but an ill-judged reverse sweep against Eddie Hemmings when he was going very well may not have been seen as the most responsible act. Scorecard of that game is here.

On the 1991 tour, however, an ageing Gordon Greenidge picked up a leg injury, and the West Indies Cricket Board made the formal approach to the club for us to release Clayton from his contract in order that he might join the tour party. He made his test debut in the final test of that series at The Oval. You can see the scorecard here.

Arrangements were made via Clayton and the West Indies Cricket board for a replacement pro to be flown over for the remainder of the 1991 season, and Colwin Cort was installed as our new pro, another Guyanan. Colwin was a fast bowler who turned in some impressive performances initially, but maybe lacked the nasty streak required for a fast bowler, and in 1992 the club once again had to apply for re-election.

Pakistani test player Aamir Malik was engaged for 1993 & 4. A very good cricketer, Malik's claim to fame was that he was batting at the non-striker's end during the famous spat between Mike gatting & Shakoor Rana in 1987. The two seasons he had at the club saw the team striving to obtain respectability in the table. The league had introduced a rule change to attempt to get more teams to bat first in games, offering more points to the team batting first in a drawn game. This was a situation we used to our advantage. The team had a strong batting line up, but the bowling was somewhat weaker. In the early 1990s John Darby was another Blackhall player represented to select Durham. Huge totals were often racked up at home on flat tracks, and high-scoring draws ensured mid-table respectability for Blackhall.



Maybe the early 90s represented more of a successful era for the second team, who scored some notable cup victories. A fine win in the prestigious James Bell Cup in 1989 was followed up by further cup success in the 90s, most notably the George Coates Trophy in 1993.

For the 1995 season we returned to the West Indies, and our Trinidadian era started. Richard Smith was the first, and he was followed the year after by Keno Mason. Richard struggled to cope with early-season wickets in England, though he did score a lot of runs at the back end of the season, and Keno never quite put in the performances that his ability suggested he could do whilst at the club At this time the league had abolished re-election and introduced promotion and relegation. Since that time, various league restructures have taken place until we have arrived at the situation as it is today.

Also the old situation of a 55-over first innings and time cricket in the 2nd innings was removed, to be replaced with a 100-over game format, with the team batting first getting no more than 50. This rule change made the game far more exciting, and although the draw was retained rather than go to win/lose cricket, many more matches reached a successful conclusion.

The team managed to finish 5th in the league with Richard Smith, though with Keno the league placing was more modest.



South African HD Ackerman was engaged for 1997, and similar to Smith, he scored lots of runs on good wickets with style and panache but struggled a little on the "puddings".  Playing strength at the club from within Blackhall was declining, mainly due to the club being behind the times with junior development, still only running an under-17 team, when many other clubs had seen the way forward with structured coaching and other age-group sides playing competitive cricket.

Players were attracted from other clubs, something which created some resentment within the local players who felt they were being denied opportunities. In my opinion, however, without some of these other players, we would have struggled an awful lot more and been in relegation trouble.

The engagement of Doug Watson from Natal as pro in 1998 saw a successful season once again. Doug scored over 1500 league runs and won a number of games for the side, so that they finished 5th in the league. The team were in with a shout of chasing the Championship up until August Bank Holiday, when they were beaten by eventual champions Norton.

At this time, neglect in upkeep from the Parish Council (who had taken over the running of affairs from the Welfare some years before) meant that the old pavilion was condemned. The old wooden floors were rotting, and the roof of the building had so many slates dislodged by cricket balls over the years that it was leaking everywhere. The Parish Council took the decision to demolish the old building, and replace it with portakabins as a "temporary" measure. Sadly those portakabins still stand today, barely adequate as a changing facility. Many members lament why the money was not spent on gutting and redeveloping the old, solid shell of the changing rooms, but we can't turn back the clock, it wasn't our decision to make. Hopefully in the near future a significant change will occur.

Watson did not sign the lucrative contract offered to him from the 1999 season, so Ackerman returned. As with most of the rest of the decade, the team treaded water, a solid if unspectacular NYSD Premier Division side.