Graham White (wk) – Chalky joined Goresbrook along with Richie Williams from May & Baker for the 2000 campaign, a transaction in which both men still to this day regard the other as the makeweight in the deal…. Entering the twilight of his career by the time he joined, Chalky gave several years sterling service largely in the 2’s as an opening bat/wicket keeper, sneaking into the top 40 all-time dismissals list. Graham was still playing the odd game into the late 00’s, ran a Colts side and coined one of the more memorable catch-phrases in recent club history, although any Colts chastised for throwing the ball in on the half-volley to the keeper would be hard-pressed to say why they were rebuked as ‘disgaaastin’. Still living in the area, Graham was last seen supporting the Matchplay side at Chelmsford last year.

Steve Foote – left handed opening bat who featured in most of the 2’s games in their inaugural season in the Morrant, Steve was a former postie friend of Chris Lovelace’s who stopped playing for the club in the early 2000’s. Now lives in Wickford.

Michael Winsley jnr – A technically correct batsman and skiddy medium pacer, Michael is one of a number of Winsley’s who have played for the club over the years. Michael won the prestigious Player of the Season award in the early years of Goresbrook running two sides after a block 2’s vote saw him carried to victory as the 1’s vote was split. The chief consequence of that result was the creation of separate player of the season awards for each XI… Another who stopped playing cricket after the first couple of years in the Morrant League, Michael’s Goresbrook activity is now restricted to turning up at the odd golf day off a handicap about 6 higher than he actually plays off. Usually to be pipped by Toby Maund who is playing off something about 8 shots higher.

Billy Gell – one of the club’s first Colts intake, Billy was a stylish batsman and occasional seam option who played a few first XI games amongst his 122 for the club, with a top score of 145*, before packing up his whites in favour of the pub / golf course in the mid-2000’s. Never a man wedded to the game or the concept of indoor nets, Billy used to start his cricket seasons shortly after bumping into Lol around Dagenham, at which point he would ask, ‘has the season started yet?’. As Bill lived in Rainham and Lol rarely ventured anywhere other than the route from his house to Dagenham Heathway, that conversation could happen any time between April and July, hence Billy’s appearances in some seasons were sadly curtailed… Billy was always included by Shan in the year end stats as WK Gell, a situation that has lead to Richie (who being a Yorkshireman never buys his own hair products) asking Kurt (who brings a separate bagfull) if he could borrow his William Kenneth after every post-match shower since 2002.

Martin Rooke – the heart & soul of any Goresbrook XI that he plays for, Bolt turned out in the clubs first ever game in 1981 and is still going strong in the 3’s more than 600 appearances later. A seam bowler by trade, Bolt is restricted by knee injuries to a batting role these days, so appears unlikely to move his career tally of 456 wickets towards the 500. Instead Martin sells his wicket dearly in the middle order and barracks all and sundry (in a Goresbrook shirt) from the outfield where his catches taken tally have him in the top 5 in club history, the highest non-keeper/slip fielder in the list. A true clubman Bolt managed the 2006 Matchplay team to Chelmsford and only recently stepped down from the Treasurer role that he had held for decades.

Dean Barwick – the Chairman makes a surprising appearance at number 6 in the 2’s batting order and even more surprisingly struck 20 crucial runs in the opening game to help his side to a winning total. The driving force behind the club for much of its existence Dean is Chairman, Fixture Secretary, statistician, historian and happily for him, no longer top of the all-time ducks list, Martin Rooke having sneaked past Deano’s imposing total of 69 from 299 innings in 2012. The only man who looks capable of challenging that sort of duck ratio in the long term is Dean’s son Joe, who is currently batting at a similar 1 in 4 percentage, so this one will run and run. Unlike either of them in the field. A fiery quick bowler in his youth, Shan’s pace and ability to charge-in off the long run declined after one of many of the knee operations that eventually finished his cricketing career (although he still dons the whites occasionally when we’re short) and he has played much of his 430+ games for the club as a lower order hitter and captain of various sides where he takes great pride in bringing through the youth of the club.

Dave Whisker (capt) – Dave took the reigns in the early days of Goresbrook’s 2nd XI where his accurate seam bowling and lower order hitting made him a force to be reckoned with. Another victim of knee injuries, Dave’s Goresbrook career ended just short of 400 appearances, but his 394 wickets at 20 have him solidly in the top 10 all-time bowlers for a club that he only joined in his late 30’s after a long career with the Railway. Along with Martin Rooke, Dave is the driving force behind the Colts set-up that has transformed the clubs fortunes in the past decade and as a famously tough taskmaster, he refused to pick son Kurt for the 2’s until midway through the season, deeming him not ready for senior cricket until he could score down the ground against men’s bowling. Fortunately that criteria was relaxed, otherwise Kurt would still be waiting for his debut.

Darren Robinson – another of the clubs first Colts players, Robbo was a hard hitting (some would say reckless) batsman, terrific keeper and Dagenham’s foremost Screech from Saved Bell the Bell impersonator. Robbo played regularly, mostly in the 2’s, until the 2008 season, with his most successful season being as the Gen’s first lieutenant in the 2’s title winning season of 2007. Robbo would also make any Goresbrook all-time indoor side, with his straight hitting and acrobatic keeping being ideal for the tight confines of St Edwards School hall, where he was ever present in the Club’s only Havering League winning side in 2004. Now a father, Robbo’s sporting outlets these days are rugby, golf and fishing.

Jeffrey Williams – a popular figure both at Goresbrook and in local job centres, where legend suggests that he has been a regular fixture since Italia 90, Jeff defied a glass-back to stroke 3,500 runs over the course of 350+ appearances for the club. A sweet timer of the ball through the off-side, Jeff was a fixture of the 2’s and 3’s middle order in the 2000’s before bowing out at the end of the 2011 season. The king of obscure music and daytime tv trivia, Jeff formed a formidable, if frugal, Team Scab quiz team partnership with Matty Jones and Richie Williams in the early 2000’s and their rivalry with Team Atters and the Church Elm were a feature of the club’s popular quiz nights in that era.

Jo Wilkinson – the workhorse of the 2’s bowling in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, Jo would undoubtedly be in the top 5 all-time Goresbrook wicket takers were it not for a horrific injury that he suffered in the field at Ilford. That injury shattered his elbow and ended his bowling career on 384 wickets for the club, and in a spell which saw him consistently topping the 2’s wicket taking charts he was probably unfortunate that the club were relatively well stocked with seam bowling, as he would have been a first team bowler at many rival clubs. Many people assumed that the injury would mean the end of Jo’s cricket career, however he is a determined man who loves the game and Jo painstakingly reinvented himself as a middle order batsman (an almost unimaginable transformation for anybody who saw him bat in his bowling pomp) to the extent that he played a key role in the 3’s promotion to the heights of Division 1 of the ECCL as a batsman and in 2013 he held down a place in the 2’s, hitting a couple of league 50’s.

Bradley Winsley – the Cat made the leap from Colts cricket into senior cricket a few week ahead of his contemporary Kurt Whisker and his stylish stroke play and extravagantly spun pies are still on show for the club in senior cricket, where he is the 3’s skipper. A talented batsman who emerged from the Colts as a first XI prospect, 15 minutes of watching Brad bat tend to be more than enough for the casual onlooker to wonder why he’s playing 3’s cricket, whilst 20 are usually enough to find out, as he is nothing if not creative in his quest to find new ways to get out. Not the most obvious candidate to skipper the 3’s, his first campaign was a success, as his young team responded well to both his approach to playing cricket and his tips on approaching girls on Facebook.