Sports Report – Cloister Time, Week 4

Tuesday 6th May 2025: Cricket U17A’s v The Rifles (a):

We arrived at St. Cross Cricket Club at 1330 ready for another great day of cricket. The sun was out and the ground looked phenomenal. We unfortunately lost the toss but ended up getting what we wanted: to bat first. We had Jacob (D) and Cameron (I) opening up the batting and after a few boundaries were looking comfortable. After some light drizzle, Cameron unfortunately got out having had a respectable knock of 30. Seb (A) came in next at 3 with plenty of overs to play. With the spinners having come on, the runs were a little under par as the ground was slippery and the bounce was quite varied followed unfortunately by another wicket. Issac came in at 4 just as the new bowler came on: a tall man running off a spinner's run-up, but don't let that fool you. After a loosener which was edged for 4, he went on to bowl 4 overs of swinging and nipping masterclass, beating both edges on countless occasions. After telling the batsmen what his plan was, he went on to bowl away-swing, away-swing, then in-swing catching the batsmen off-guard and bowling him through the gate. As Angus (I), 5, came in, he was given the same treatment of swing and seem-movement, but we pressed on. After some nice shots, another wicket fell, and we were not at where we wanted to be: 70/15/4. As we pushed on, some good partnerships were formed with some nice knocks all round but some grey clouds were nearing with loud thunder. After pushing in as many overs as possible, the heavens opened and the covers were raced on. Play resumed some time later and Ray (D) in the end pushed us to the finish line with some fine 4s and we ended our innings 205 from 32 overs off 9 wickets. After a quick turn-a-round, we aspired to keep the energy up and get through the overs quickly. With George (D) and Noah (B) opening the bowling, we were off to a good start. After some early wickets, we were looking on top, but as the big hitters came on, they managed to secure a strong partnership, repeatedly trying to take us to Cow Corner. In the end our bowlers proved too big a challenge for the batting side and they ended on 148 off 8 for 32 overs. [Seb K, A]

Thursday 15th May 2025

Cricket 1st XI v Marylebone Cricket Club (h):

The fixture against the MCC is always a highlight as it tends to be a highly competitive game and for only the second time this season we lost the toss, MCC elected to bat. George D (D) and Stanley A (K) started well with the ball which resulted in George taking an early wicket, dismissing OW Charlie Whitfield. Soon enough George B (B) brought himself on and as ever bowled well picking up three quick wickets including a sharp return catch. Spin seemed to be the way to go as Tom H (E) settled into a great rhythm from the other end taking two wickets of his own leaving the MCC 63-6. However, from there the MCC put on 80 for the 7th wicket before Archie L (I) and Sam H (D) picked up quick wickets towards the end. Along with handy contributions from the tail they declared on 180-8, which was with hindsight slightly premature.

Jacob G (D) and Will A (B) started well making a good pair of opening bowlers looks average, playing fluently of the front and back foot. We reached tea without having lost a wicket cruising past 50 at a shade under 5 an over. We lost our first wicket soon after tea with Will being slightly dubiously run out, though this setback did not halt us as Jacob and Amaar M (I) pressed on putting on 80 for the second wicket. Eventually Jacob fell for a very well made 91, though with less than 30 to win James K (D) came in and, along with Amaar, bought us up to their total to complete a comprehensive win. Thanks of course to Mr Gover and Mr Good and the MCC for a great day. [Stan A, K]

Athla

The Inter-house athletics competition returned after a weather enforced hiatus and despite a cold day there was plenty of action on show. The different winners are outlined below and congratulations also to Osamede A (G) who equalled the 100m school record for the JP/MP competition.

Overall winners (Pascoe Pot) Toye’s

Senior Boys winners (Greenjackets Trophy) Phil’s

Junior Boys winners (Mark Harris Cup) Toye’s

Girls winners Cook’s

Medley Relay winners (Graham Cup) Phil’s

4 x 100m Mixed Relay winners Phil’s

4 x 100m OTH v Commoners Girls Relay OTH

Senior Victor Ludorum (Ajayi Pot) S Browning (G)

Junior Victor Ludorum (Parkinson Pot) O Aighe (G)

Girls Victrix Ludorum M Whittle (B)

Senior Shot Put winner (Ivanovic Pot) A Cloke Browne (B)

Friday 15th May 2025: Cricket v Embley School & Westgate School

U17A v Embley Boys U18A’s (h): Won by 69 runs. 184 for 4 against 115 for 7.

On Friday the Jun Colts A played their quarter final County cup match vs Westgate school on Meads. Casper Wilson (E) won the toss and elected to bat on what looked to be a fantastic pitch. With all the warm weather this seemed like a very sensible choice. And so it was with Winchester racking up a huge score of 236/3 after 20 overs. Standouts of the day have to go to Hawkins (K) and Wilson (E) for their magnificent batting performances. Hawkins scoring his maiden Winchester College hundred coming off just 60 balls including 14 4's and 1 maximum! It was a delightful innings to watch with lots of eye catching reverse sweeps and brilliant stroke play at the crease. Wilson (E) ended up scoring 70 not out off just 30 balls including five 4's and six 6's, four of which in the same over. He also ended up managing to break a roof of a tile on Fraser Tent!!

Our bowling innings carried much of the same momentum with Pockney (G) picking up the opening wicket after Westgate made a fast start. After this, Westgate started to score more runs freely without Winchester picking up any wickets in the process. Wilson (E) then got the breakthrough to leave Westgate 83-2 after 15 overs. Irvine (B) and Franks (I) then each picked up a wicket late on in the innings but the gap was too big as Westgate concluded their innings on 104/4 give Winchester a win of 132 runs. We await our next opponents to be drawn in the County Cup but look forward to our game on Saturday away vs RGS Guildford. (TJF)

Saturday 17th May 2025

Athletics v Bradfield, Canford, Dauntsey’s, Radley (H)

The athletes were on "home turf" this weekend as we welcomed Bradfield, Canford, Dauntsey's and Radley to Bar End for our annual meet. Warm sunny weather, a favourable breeze and some trigger happy stopwatches meant there were fast times aplenty!

The juniors carried on their fine form from the previous week's meet at Canford and although there weren't a huge amount of 1st places out strength in depth resulted in plenty of 2nds and 3rd to score big points in many events and take the overall win. There were victories for E Oyedele (K) in the 80mH, W Russell (I) in the 1500m, S Wang (A) in both the shot & discus and H Brealey (H) in the javelin. The junior boys 4 x 100m team also broke the school record.

Amongst the Inter Boys a closely fought encounter saw us miss out on the win by just 5 points to Dauntsey's. There was a stunning victory on debut for F Laarmer (C) in the 400m and a 1st place and school record for J Cheng (B) in the javelin. Having recently broken the school record whilst competing at the District trials J Orji (C) took 1st in the triple jump and there was victory in the shot for O Aighe (G).

The senior boys were depleted due to several injuries picked up during Athla and were beaten into 2nd place by Radley. There were excellent victories for A Cloke Brown (B) in the javelin. L Larbie (C) in the shot and T Ogunleye (D) in the triple jump and the 4x100m not only snatched the win by a tenth of a second but also broke the school record. The team was A Cloke Browne (B), Z Yan (G), S Browning (G) and E Xiao (D). A big thank you also goes to E Thomson (X) and E Xiao (G) who stepped in at the last minute from their usual sporting commitments to claim excellent 3rd places in the 1500m and 400m respectively. An additional thank you goes to E Yao (G) whose help with processing the results was hugely appreciated by all. (MSB)

Cricket v RGS Guildford, St Edward’s Oxford and Portsmouth GS

V RGS Guildford

Another wonderful day of weather as Lords hosted a new opponents in the fixture list: RGS Guildford.

In the absence of Seb, George took over the captaincy and won a good toss, electing to bat. We lost Will quite early to a decent ball, but Jack and Amaar built a useful partnership, plus we were indebted to some slightly wayward bowling which resulted in a number of wides. At 47-1,Jack was out, James followed quite quickly and although both Jacob and Amar played well at 108-5 we found ourselves in a similar position to the previous week. Thankfully, we recovered well, with Amaar and Stan. Amaar played particularly well in his first 40 and then played the supporting role, keeping the innings together excellently. Stan became more fluent as his innings progressed and it was a shame when he was caught for 45, following a partnership of 104. George B came in and was very "busy" right from the start and both he and Amaar ran well between the wickets. Unfortunately Amaar then ran himself out 6 short of a well-deserved 100. George made 29 and a useful cameo from Archie meant we finished on 270-9. a good effort from the position we were in.

We opened the bowling with Stan and Amar, who bowled well and importantly kept the initial run rate in check, whilst taking early wickets. The spinners of George, Tom and Archie all bowled good spells and importantly the run rate required by RGS kept increasing. We took wickets at regular intervals apart from a useful stand for their 4th wicket, bowling RGS out for 144 and ensuring a very good win. Stan finished with 2-18 from 6 overs, Amar bowled his 5 for only 11 runs, George B took 2-34, Tom an excellent 3-31, Archie 1-21 and Jacob took the last wicket. This was a good week for Lords following on from our win against the MCC. (PNG)

2nd XI (a): Won

On Saturday the Jun Colts A played a new block fixture opponent as we travelled to RGS Guildford. Casper Wilson (E) won the toss and elected to bat on what looked to be a decent wicket.

The innings opened up with Husband (H) and Cresswell (E) who looked steady early on rotating the strike nicely. Husband was then bowled leaving the score 13-1 after 6.5 overs. This gave a chance to Henry (F) to bat up the order after struggling with some injuries for parts of the season. He and Creswell continued to build nicely until he was also bowled (28-2). In form Hawkins (K) arrived at the crease and looked to build the tempo quickly as he and Cresswell also rotated nicely with some expansive shots down the ground. Right after they created their 50 run partnership Hawkins was caught by a very sharp catch on the boundary making a well made 35! Captain Wilson arrived at the crease and unfortunately didn't stay long as he was dismissed caught and bowled in the 19th over (97-4 team score). Pockney (G) was also removed first ball and Patterson (A) later from very good off-spin deliveries. With the score at 105-6 the game was swinging into RGS's hands. When Irvine (B) arrived at the crease his destructive hitting (21 off 11 balls) regained some momentum for Winchester as we boosted our score up quickly to 147-7! Late contributions from Pritchard (X) along with Cresswell helped take our total to 170 all out. Creswell batting most of the innings for a well made 39.

RGS made a positive start by reaching 73-1 at the halfway stage. It wasn't until Husband (H) was introduced into the attack where he produced a blistering spell of 5 wickets for 34 runs off his 6 overs to turn the tide leaving RGS 84-6. A nice welcome back to bowling indeed!!! Unfortunately we did not have our greatest day in the field as we probably let through 20-30 runs on the boundary in mis-fields alone. A brilliant lower order resistance from RGS enabled them to take a 2 wicket win off the final over leaving the Winchester boys wondering how we lost that game. Overall it was a fantastic game played in great spirits and congratulations go to RGS Guildford! (TJF)

Jun Colts B (a): Lost by 10 wickets. 65 for 9 against 68 for 0.

The Jun Colts Cs had a difficult outing against RGS. Finding the entrance to the ground, many miles away from where the other fixtures were happening, was an initial challenge and we then lost the toss and were put in to field on an extremely dry wicket. The two RGS openers, after a few quiet overs, broke loose and took their team to a commanding score of 191 in 20 overs for the loss of only one wicket, taken by Freeman (F). Faced with an asking rate of nearly 10 an over from the very start, our top-order batters struggled. Hague (H) played the anchor while players at the other end tried to accelerate, but that led only to the regular loss of wickets. Steffen (H) and Scott Moncrieff (F )did the best they could to keep the strike rotating, but it was to no avail. We were bowled out for 36 at the end of the 15th over. A difficult outing with a couple of silver linings: Scott Moncrieff did well to prevent byes behind the stumps with us rarely needing to call on the services of our long stop. Lees (E) was able to extract a fair amount of bounce and movement on a dry wicket and ended with extremely economical figures of 4-0-17-0 in a high-scoring innings. (NGK)

Another beautiful sunny afternoon welcomed a new opposition to Meads, with Royal Grammer School Guildford U14A’s experiencing the setting for the first time – and finding out the local rules for the ‘rather large blades of grass’ (the trees!) within the boundary.

Cameron (I) did the unexpected and won the toss, choosing to bat on the surface that the JCA’s hit 236 on the night before in a T20. We, however, did not find the going so easy. 32/0 from the first seven seemed a solid base, but Freddy (E) was caught on 17, ending what would be our most successful partnership. Hugo (I) followed shortly afterwards and by the 15th over we had only added 33 more for the loss of five wickets. Cameron offered some resistance, edging out Freddy to top score with 18, and a valiant effort from Adi (A) and the last wicket stand with Will (I) left us on 104ao with two balls left from the allocated thirty overs. RGS were tight in the field and were confident in their own bowling and field placements, but even combining that with a low bouncing Meads wicket it was still well below par.

This was clearly a disappointment, and the boys headed to tea knowing that their second half performance would need to be very strong to give us a chance to win. On the whole, it was. Tight bowling from Ben (A) and Adi with the new ball built pressure that Will and Noah (B) capitalised on, with three and one wicket(s) respectively. Cameron took over from Will at the Bethesda end, and with the band setting up for the JP Social in the evening spin continued to find success with three more wickets added to his tally. An excellent run out from Freddy and a good attempt from Sam (X) supported decent bowling from Harry (B) and Barney (I) in picking up a wicket a piece too. Won by 27 runs. 104 ao against 77 ao.

This was not the best performance from the Yearling A’s, but it says to their potential that even on an ‘off day’ they could grind out a victory. We spoke afterwards about what we could learn from a good team effort from the opposition and how the stats will not tell the story of the day. Hopefully a good rest for those not representing County or District tomorrow will set the team up for success in their first County Cup game on Tuesday and a challenging T20 vs Hampshire State Jets on Thursday. [JMB]

The Yearlings B won the toss and chose to bat due to the astro wicket and favourable conditions, openers were George S (I) at 1 and Hugo G (E) at 2. While George lost his wicket early to a great catch, Hugo fought on and scored a steady 34, forming (like usual) the backbone of the batting team. After the loss of James M-W (E), in came Chris F (I) who scored a needed 36 not out, while putting up a brilliant partnership with Hugo. Wilf L came in with only a few overs left in the innings and hit a quickfire, undefeated 22. Winchester finished the innings after 25 overs on 131 - 3.

Winchester opened the bowling with Henry F (E) and James M-W (E), who kept the opposition low and James managed to get and early wicket, a run out rebounding of off James' arm onto the stumps. First change was Arthur R (H) who slowed the attack and got a well deserved wicket. At the other end Edward B (I) kept the batsmen on their toes with fast bouncers and yorkers. Lucas W (H) took the ball and caused havoc taking two wickets in quick succession with magic away swing. After Arthur's magnificent spell George S (I) came on and took a wicket in his first over with the batsman playing the ball on, and in the second took two consecutive wickets (both brilliant catches from James M-W and Barnaby D (B) ) but failing to get the Hat-trick. After realising that RGS were only 30 runs from victory Chris took the ball and slowed the attack, unfortunately not getting a wicket. In the last over of the match RGS needed only a few, luckily for Winchester, James M-W took the final wicket with a Mitchel Starc-worthy in swinging yorker to win the game.

Won by 19 runs. 131 for 3 against 112 ao. (PAH)

RGS Guildford won the toss and chose to bat first on a decent wicket under warm conditions. The Yearlings Cs started well with Caspar K (C) striking twice in his opening spell to remove both openers. Louie S (G) then made key breakthroughs in the middle overs, finishing with 3 wickets, while Dawson Q (K) and Ranbir K (H) chipped in with one apiece. Despite a quickfire 34 from their middle order, we managed to keep RGS to 158-7 from their 25 overs.

In reply, Louie S anchored the innings with a fluent 40, and once Pranav G (A) came to the crease, the runs began to flow freely. He scored a quick 33, hitting regular boundaries and keeping the scoreboard ticking. However, communication between batters wasn’t at its best, leading to a few unfortunate runouts that put us under pressure. Bear H (G) played positively for his 35, and together with Ranbir K, built a vital 38-run partnership as the innings reached a tense finale. Then came a dramatic over in which a RGS bowler took 3 wickets, putting himself on a hat-trick and bringing our number 11 to the crease. He blocked out the hat-trick ball, leaving us needing 9 runs from the final over. With all the pressure on Ranbir K, he finished the game, hitting three boundaries with one ball to spare. As the winning runs were struck, the whole team ran onto the pitch to celebrate a brilliant finish. Won by 1 wicket. 162 for 9 against 158 for 4. [PJM]

V St Edward’s, Oxford

After winning the toss and electing to bat, St Edward's Sen Colts A got off to a flier with 21 runs coming off the first two overs, mainly through a vacant point area. The field was changed and the bowlers tightened up a little and before long Currie (H) had snagged both their openers via LBW and a good catch behind from Redfern (A). Winchester went on to take 6 wickets and looked dangerous, but their problem was maintaining consistent pressure: only Shah (E) and Sinclair (E) managed to keep the run rate from their bowling below 5 per over as St Edwards's reached 189 - probably 30 more than they should have.

The St Edward's bowlers were accurate and tied down the Winchester openers who batted sensibly, but fell on single figures. Wang (I) and Redfern came in almost together, and the picture changed: scoring 39 and 32 respectively at a good rate, the atmosphere transformed as the chase was definitely on. Sadly it wasn't to be though, and despite positive resistance from Sinclair and Edwards, the team had fallen too far behind the run-rate and wickets inevitably fell. Once more, this was a Winchester performance that promised a lot; it is such a shame that this is the last game of the season. These players' commitment and positive attitude should be praised alongside their undoubted potential, and we hope to see them adding their talents to the senior teams in the coming weeks. Lost by 59 runs. 130 ao against 189 for 6. [LNT]

Asked to bowl first by Teddie's, a scratch SCB side struggled rather with extras but did take occasional wickets. East (C) (2-13) found his radar and generated impressive swing to take two wickets in as many balls before a rapid 5th wicket partnership took our opponents to an imposing total.

Sen: Colts 'B' batted positively with captain Medcroft (F) (18) playing an anchor role. The classical off-side play of #4 Barclay (K) (7) was a revelation and there were some lovely boundaries struck down the order. Though SCB clearly emerged in second place "Coach" Douglas is most grateful to those brave participants who played for the first time in years (or in one case "ever") to make this beautiful May afternoon possible. St. Edwards Oxford (178-5, 20 overs, East 2-13) beat Sen: Colts 'B' (89 all out, Medcroft (F) 18) by 89 runs [JJLD]

V Portsmouth Grammar School

Ilan Y (D) produced a sensational captain's batting performance for the ages, hitting 70* to power the Yearling Ds to an extraordinary eight-wicket victory against PGS U14Bs. Yandle's individual score is, by some distance, the highest for a Yearling D player in recent memory. His partnership of 112 with Max NT (I) (14*) is also a team record. Ilan had earlier taken 2 wickets for 18 runs off 4 overs (including a wicket maiden), clean bowling both PGS openers in the first innings. In five years of coaching the Yearling Ds, I have not witnessed a more impressive individual display of leadership and tenacity, nor a more mature all-round team performance. The run chase was simply a joy to watch. Well done to all involved. [JL]

Tennis v Eton College

1st VI (h): Lost 2 – 7.

2nd VI (h): Won 7 – 2.

3rd VI (h): Won 7 – 2.

On Saturday, the U14’s travelled to Eton to take on what they knew would be a tough team of tennis players. The A’s had a strong start, with Gaston (B) and Xander (B) dominating the court and winning both matches 6-0. They managed to maintain this power in their last match against Eton’s first pair, winning 6-1. Yan (X) and Ben (B) also had some good matches, where they won 6-4 and 5-7. Unfortunately, they lost their last match 6-1 but there was still some great tennis played. Winchester’s 3rd pair consisted of Henry (B) and Charlie (I). They had some frustrating points which meant they lost all of their matches. However, their first match was particularly unlucky. The score ended up as 6-3, but most games went to deuce and infuriatingly the opposition managed to win the crucial points. Their next matches were both lost 6-2 and 6-3, with some good games in both but this time, the opposition was slightly stronger than them. This did not matter for the team though as the A’s won overall with a final score of 5-4. [JA]

The B’s also played some good tennis, with Sam (A) and Matthew (I) as their first pair. Their first two matches were particularly unlucky, they lost them both 7-5 and 6-4. They didn’t let this take them down though, and they went on to win their last match against the first pair 6-0. Jonty (K) and Tristan (A) had two nail-biting matches both going to 6-6 and then a tiebreak. Annoyingly they lost both tiebreaks but it was seriously close. They did however win against Eton’s second pair 6-3. Pun (C) and Edwin (X)) played very well, winning against the 1st pair and 3rd pair, 6-3 and 6-2. Annoyingly, they had an unlucky 6-0 loss when they took on the second pair. This meant that overall, the B’s lost 4-5 but it was very close and could of gone either way. [JA]

The C’s had a great day with a particularly good performance from the 2nd pair which consisted of Leo (A) and Alex (C). They won two of their three matches, 6-0 and 6-3. The other pairs also played well with a good balance of wins and losses. They went on to win against Eton, 5-4. [JA]

The D’s had a frustrating day, overall they won two matches, with both of them going to tiebreaks. Felix (G) and Thomas (F) won their tiebreak and so did Orlando (G) and Tiger (K). Unfortunately they lost the other matches but there were still some great points played. This meant that Eton won 7-2. [JA]

Sunday 18th May 2025: Croquet ~ National Schools (a):

These finals were a combination of doubles and singles association croquet, with 36 pupils from 5 schools present. August as captain put in an excellent performance, winning all four of his singles games. Due to the format of the tournament, one other player had played and won more singles games, having failed to play in the doubles first. All players won at least one game and the young squad gained a lot of experience on the world class courts of Surbiton while enjoying their day in the sun. It was a promising first tournament for Kieran in middle part as well as an encouraging introduction to tournament play for Hesper, Anton and Hugo in VIth book 2. The two Olivers in fifth book look set to lead the team with skill and tactical nous for some time to come. [DIF]

Sporting quote for the week:

“Never try to be better than somebody else. It’s far more important to never cease trying to be the best you can be.” Former UCLA Basketball Coach, John Wooden

M.S. Burley

Director of Sport

20th May 2025

X: @WinCollSports