Sports Report: Cloister Time, Week 3

Monday 9th May:

Cricket: National U17 Cricketer Magazine Cup: U17 XI v Seaford College (a)

Having lost the toss, Seaford elected to bat and were off to a good start, after 10 overs of their allotted 30 they were 60-1. Callum Whillock, Zain Malik and also Will Whitehead then started making inroads and Will had their best player caught at long on by Seb Morgan. The introduction of Dom Hall in the 20th over after Callum had completed his allotted overs yielded more wickets and Seaford collapsed to 96-7 and eventually bowled out for 116, Dom Hall picking up 4 wickets. Our fielding in the main was good, but our overall attitude and togetherness especially when it was tough early on was excellent.

The wicket was deteriorating, but Wilf and Zain decided that being positive was the way forward, both playing some good shots with excellent running and we quickly had 50 on the board. However, Zain maybe slightly unluckily was given LBW, Wilf received a ball that barely bounced, Seb was bowled by an excellent delivery and we were slightly reeling at 82-5, still needing 35 to win. Chris Batten and George Gardiner then batted very sensibly taking all runs on offer. Chris was out for an important 20 and Will Matthews and George ensured we won by 4 wickets with over 6 overs left and progress through to the next round of this National Competition. (PNG)

Tuesday 10th May

Athletics: Eastleigh & Winchester District Schools Athletics Trials (U14 & U16)

A number of our JP and MP boys competed at the District Trials to try and achieve entry standards which would qualify for the Hampshire School championships taking place in June. There were 1st place finishes for Rory McGregor in the junior boys’ long jump and Laolu Agunbiade in the Intermediate boys’ high Jump and Rory has been selected to represent the District. There were top three finishes for the following and these boys are on stand-by as first reserves for the county championships:

Anthony Cloke-Brown 2nd IB 200m

Jad Garlick 3rd IB Shot Putt

Jeffrey Chan 3rd IB TJ

Andre Ugalde-Tchinov 3rd IB 400m

Congratulations also to VBk Gus Bowden who has been selected to compete at the County Champs in both the intermediate boys (U17) 100mH and high jump. (MSB)

Cricket: Development XI v I Zingariv (h)

We selected a side with boys from each year group representing the team so this was very much a development opportunity for several boys.

We decided to field first and at lunch when IZ were 82-4 from 25 overs, this looked a good decision. There was some good tight bowling especially from Ed O'Doherty, Zach Roberts, Stan Askew and Paul Edwards and an excellent run out initiated by James Kennedy. After lunch, Sam MacArthur (Wykemhist) played very well for his 60 and really showed the boys the value of good placement, good running and playing the situation, which enabled IZ to post 199 from their 45 overs. At one stage this looked likely to be a bigger score but Ed 4-20 and Zach 3-28, ensured we restricted the eventual score.

We started our run chase well. Henry Nichols (20) and Jack Bristowe shaped well, but we then lost regular wickets to some good bowling. However a spirited partnership between Ed O'Doherty, who scored 39 and Stan Askew who made a very encouraging 22 (one particularly good shot through mid-wicket off his hips) ensured we made more of a game of it than had looked likely. With Paul Edwards also scoring 13 not out, we were bowled out for 142.

These games are very much about "learning" and then hopefully using the experiences gained into future games, so a very worthwhile exercise all round. (PNG)

Jun Colts A v Bishop Wordsworth U15 A (a) won by 37 runs

Thursday 12th May

Cricket v Bradfield College

This 1st XI encounter was a really good game of cricket, played with great intensity by both sides and at a decent level.

We won the toss and elected to bat; some people thinking that maybe a bowl first could have been a good option as the wicket was slightly green with a little moisture after rain the day before. The first 10 overs were pretty tough, but we managed to bat through this with only the loss of Henry Nicholls caught at slip. Wilf and Zain put on a good partnership but unfortunately, we lost Wilf to a good ball a few overs before lunch, having made an excellent 54. At lunch we were 100-2 off 30 overs

Zain was out just after lunch, but Seb and Chris Batten then had a useful partnership and we gradually picked the run rate up. Seb in particular playing some sumptuous shots through the off side. Dom Hall, 15 off 9, George Gardiner 18 off 13 and Alex Claisse 10 off 9, provided very useful contributions and impetus as we posted 225-7 off our allotted 50 overs. We all felt this was a good score, but not necessarily a winning score on the wicket.

The first 10 overs of Bradfield's reply was excellent cricket as they took the game to us. Seb and Alex responding with some excellent deliveries and one in particular from Seb to remove Bradfield's best player, bowled through the gate hitting the top of Middle and off was one to savour! We continued to take wickets and at 82-5 off 22 the game looked ours for winning. However, some excellent batting, coupled with our worst period where we bowled too many 4 balls meant that at 183-5 with 12 overs left we were up against it. Paddy then took a key wicket and we "squeezed" the new batter so much that he faced 9 balls without scoring meaning the game was back in the balance and he was run out with a direct hit from Wilf. Dom Hall then bowled their number 6 with an absolute beauty of a slower ball and it was very much game on again. We manged to take the next 2 wickets, the last another direct throw again from Wilf and Bradfield were 202 all out. Dom Hall finished with 4-25, Paddy 3-49 and Seb 1-26. A great game, but also one we should take plenty of leaning from too. (PNG)

2nd XI (a) won by 51 runs

3rd XI (h)

The 3rd XI started in the field for the 25 over game. We started excellently taking 2 early wickets to leave Bradfield 5-2 then restricted them to 40-4 and looked to get them out below 100 but some good batting got them to 118-9. Aneesh Kulkarni taking 3 wickets and Gus Brooke 2 but I was really pleased with the bowling and fielding from the boys.

We started the reply well but lost Captain Luke Kleingeld for 11 and slowly lost wickets to finish 29 runs short on 89 all out. This was a pleasing performance against a really good Bradfield side, we kept in the game and on another day could have won it. Well done boys. (JRD)

The 4th XI started the match against Bradfield strongly. The hosts bowled very well, but Winchester batted sensibly and stylishly to a very respectable 146, helped in no small part by a fine 60 from Pressland. Bradfield struggled initially with the bat as the Winchester bowlers put them under pressure. They rode their luck and gave several chances but somehow managed to keep their wickets intact. Once they got going, however, they hit the ball hard and passed Winchester's score with overs in hand. The final score felt misleading; on another day the catches would have gone to Winchester's hands and the result might have been quite different. As it was, Bradfield deserved their victory on the day. (LNT)

Tennis v Wellington College

The 1st VI marched onwards with a 9-0 whitewash of Wellington College. All three pairs played some excellent tennis but it was our nominal 3rd pair of Vth Book’s Xingchen Cao and captain Ollie Gibbon who produced the most comprehensive scorelines. This weekend brings the biggest challenge to our unbeaten streak yet as we travel to Eton.

Wellington simply could not compete with Winchester's 2nd VI. Winchester took the tie with a resounding 9-0 victory. Graham and Apostolides comfortably beat their pairings 6-2, 6-0 and 6-3. Apostolides' drop shots played a great role in this. The second pair of Cliff and Buccelatti had the closest matches of the pairs, coming away with three wins, 6-4, 7-5, 7-6 (7-0). The third pair made up of Moghadam and the debutant Howman were excellent all afternoon, coming away with three wins, 6-2 6-2 6-3. Overall an impressive afternoon for the 2nd VI. (RJHM)

Winchester U15 A and B hit form for the season in their match against Wellington. The A team had a clean sweep on the results board with all three pairs running out rampant winners in all their matches. The B team had a similarly strong display with new pairing Dominic Jackson and Tim Oluwabusola finding a dynamism in their play that caught their Wellington counterparts off-guard. Some outstanding points were played all round and sportsmanship was the order of the day with all matches played in the right spirit. (JCP)

After a slow start the U14s had some very close sets. Particular highlights include Issa's unreturnable volleys, strong tactical thinking on Phol's part clenching a narrow victory against the opposition's top pair and the unstoppable combination of Matthew and Frank winning 3 sets for the Ds. (AMH)

Saturday 14th May: Cricket v Marlborough College (a) John Harvey Cup,

Having won the toss, Captain Fisher made the obvious choice to bat first. In the gloriously sunny conditions, LFJ and Nicholls began with good purpose until the former was adjudged LBW. Malik strode in and soon set about the challenge with a confidence and fluidity that we had yet to see this summer. The pair batted through until lunch (30 overs), punishing anything short and running well between the wickets to keep the strike rotating. Both reached their half centuries before the break and kept the changing room confident of reaching a large total.

Marlborough played their trump card at this point, as most of our top order seemed to enjoy lunch too much. Decision making was, seemingly, impaired after the break as Nicholls and Malik were both removed swiftly, as were most of the middle order. It was only Gardiner’s late cameo that propelled us to 217-8 and gave us some momentum going into the second innings.

In response, Claisse and Morgan began well. Morgan sustained good pressure whilst his partner picked up the first two wickets. The introduction of Whillock kept the pressure on and he added a brace to his tally, pinning Marlborough to 55-4 in the 15th over. Skipper Fisher produced a beauty to take the 5th wicket before Malik, thirsty for more headlines, joined in with the 6th and 7th wickets either side of Tea. He added his third after a brief partnership before Fisher and Whillock, the latter via a stunning “Stokes-escue” catch in the deep by Batten, wrapped up the tail and the win by 58 runs. (JMB)

Sunday 15th May

Congratulations to VIBk2 pupil Will Matthews who represented Hampshire Rugby U17s against Sussex on Sunday playing at outside centre.

All fixtures details can be found on: https://sportsfixtures.winchestercollege.org/

Sporting quote for the week:

“Successful and unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities. They vary in their desires to reach their potential.” (John C Maxwell, U.S. Author)

M.S. Burley

Director of Sport

17th May 2022

Twitter: @WinCollSports