Grenville Dale Inducted into the MildenHALL OF FAME 2017
Honours:
1st X1 Player of the Year 1987
Single Wicket Winner 1972, 1985, 1987, 1992
History: Grenville joined the Club in the mid 60’s aged just 16, and soon established himself as a top order batsman and tremendous fielder.
In 1968 he led with the bat as the Club won the Exning Gibson Cup, and he was still there when they won the same cup in subsequent decades. The following year he was pivotal in helping the club win the coveted Orby Wood Cup.
He was on the committee that set up the initial Dinner and Awards night (1970) and starred in many of its cabarets, and he was also on-board during the early years of Wamil Way cricket. Grenville took full advantage of the new and improved ground, topping the 1st X1 batting averages three times in both the 1970s and the 1980s.
In 1974 he was the first Mildenhall batsman to score a hundred (109*) at the new ground, a year in which he amassed over 1000 runs, repeating the feat in 1975. It was then that ‘Grenny’ almost single handedly won the Littleport Cup for the Club making 90 against a star filled Lakenheath team. That same year he set two Club records; that of runs scored in a season (1097) and the highest individual score (153) in a tour match. These records lasted 10 and 18 years respectively.
He was with the Club during the transition from friendly to league cricket, continuing as a regular member of the successful mid-week cup team. In 1991 he was a member of the 1st XI that gained its first Two Counties success, winning Division III, and then some 26 years after joining the Club, he topped the 2nd X1 batting averages.
During his career he also had success as a medium pace bowler, and that as a natural right hander he would uniquely bat left handed when the need arose.
His legacy was that for many seasons his wicket was the one the opposition prized most.