As the first half of the cricket season comes to a close, our Director of Cricket, Patrick Latham, reports on the season so far.
We thought last year was one of the wettest we had ever seen. This year, the cricket programme has been significantly affected, with very little grass available until the end of the third week, matches cancelled and frustrations all round. Thanks to the amazing efforts of the groundstaff, lots of pitches were available for a good number of fixtures whilst others around about, including league fixtures, were all being cancelled. My thanks also to the coaching staff and students who found ways to get cricket on, entertaining and making the best of the conditions to improve and prepare for when we did get onto grass.
There have been some excellent performances, with F Johnson (F6 Haywoods) scoring his maiden 100 against Denstone, Tuck (F7) taking 5 wickets against Bedford, fifties for Clarke (F7), Siddall (F4), Davey (F6), Howard (F7), Hoyles (F4), Joice (F3), Kinnear (F2) & Latham (F2).
Wins for the 1st XI Boys over Uppingham (T20 Cup) and Bedford School in the same week was . The boys have come up against some experienced sides this half term, playing against the Leicester Gents which included 2 OOs Tom Rollinson (’17) and Will Begy (’23), before travelling to Norwich to play in the National T20 Cup East Region QF.
The Girls have had a positive start to the season, enjoying the season opener against Marko Marvels before our annual MCC fixture and more recently a visit from Jenny Thompson. Jenny spoke to the girls about her World Cricket Tour and her career in cricket as a woman before playing a friendly game of cricket in the afternoon to round off an enjoyable day.
We look forward to the second half of term which will be sunny, with plenty cricket to look forward to, including MCC and The Army for the boys, RAF for the girls as well as the BOWS Festival on the 30th June for both teams. This year the boys will travel to Sedbergh with the girls heading to Wellington College both looking to bring home the silverware.
