Harry Kemsley, of Town Malling Cricket Club in Kent, receives his Cricket World Rigby Taylor 100 Club Award for his 107 not out, against Gravesend CC, on 31st August 2019. Even though this was only a few days after his 19th birthday this achievement would not normally be enough to win the coveted award. The significance of this century is that he became the third generation of the Kemsley family to score a century for the club following in the footsteps of Dad, Guy who was 16 when he scored his first ton for the club and Grandad Keith.

In addition, a voucher for £350 was presented to Adam Nix representing the clubs groundsmen's team for the club to spend with Rigby Taylor

The Kemsley family have been club stalwarts for many years. Club Chairman, John Paton, told Cricket World that,' I am privileged to be old enough to have seen all three Kemsleys score hundreds for our club. All different styles but very attractive to watch and they have all been key members on and off the pitch for approximately 70 years. We have a framed bat in the club house used to score centuries by both Keith and Guy but due to its age I don't think that it will stand to being used by Harry! We are all grateful to Cricket World and Rigby Taylor for their sponsorship and are confident the quality GM bat will be put to good use. We are equally excited about the chance to get some excellent products from Rigby Taylor  for our groundsmen to use. All clubs have struggled financially during the Covid lockdown and this is a great benefit to the club and might just make our hardworking groundsmen's team tasks a little easier. '

Town Malling CC is based at West Malling in Kent and enjoys a rich history. The first recorded game was played on this ground 1705 and it is claimed that the ground is the one shown on the old £10 note which featured a drawing from the cricket match between Dingley Dell and All Muggleton as featured in Pickwick Papers.

Alastair Symondson, pictured  with Harry commented: “ We were delighted to do these Awards with our sponsors’ Rigby Taylor, the UK's leading supplier of products for the construction, maintenance and improvement of sports, amenity and landscape areas.

When we launched the Awards, we wanted to recognise the special moments with the bat and it was an outstanding achievement by Harry and the additional 'family history' made it special; but we also wanted to recognise, in some small way, the hardwork that groundcare individuals do in preparing the surfaces that they play on as well and hence the award for the groundcare team.”

Five players were selected in 2019 to win a brand new GM Cricket Bat and a £350 Grass Seed/Fertlizer (Cricket Ground Renovation) Vouchers for their club , however, due to unforeseen circumstances (including Harry being away at University and the Covid-19 outbreak) we were only able to complete this presentation to Harry and Town Malling CC at the weekend.

© Cricket World 2020