Sports Report – Cloister Time, Week 5
Tuesday 20th May 2025: Golf U16 v Bradfield College * Marlborough College (a):
Winchester's U16A team took on Bradfield and Marlborough in a triangular match, with a mix of solid performances and areas for improvement.
Kevin D (G) didn’t play his best, struggling with putting and tee shots, but still managed a 4&3 win over Marlborough and a half against Bradfield. Nigel C (K) hit his irons well and made a birdie on the 6th, but inconsistent play with the woods saw him finish 2 down to Bradfield and 1 down to Marlborough. Monty H (B) was steady with the driver and irons but found the greens slow, which affected his putting. He halved his match with Marlborough and lost 3 down to Bradfield. Ben Z (B) had a good day with his irons and hybrids. Despite some struggles around the green, he made some important pars, beating Marlborough 1 up and narrowly losing to Bradfield by 1 down. Tiger T (K) struck his irons well and made a birdie on the 5th, but poor putting let him down. He lost 4 down to both opponents. Max H (F) showed a strong short game but had trouble off the tee, resulting in 3&2 losses to both Bradfield and Marlborough. Overall, Bradfield had the edge, but there were some positive results and signs of progress from the Winchester team. Bradfield 4.5 - 0.5 Winchester; Marlborough 3.5 - 2.5 Winchester Kevin D (G)
Wednesday 21st May 2025: National T20 Cup Cricket 1st XI v St Edward’s School, (h):
One of the very few "showery" days we have had so far this season meant a delayed start, which resulting in a slightly reduced format, 18 overs per side. We lost the toss and unsurprisingly were put into bat.
We had a great start with Seb looking very strong on both sides of the wicket and well supported by James. In the Powerplay we were around 10 an over and looked on for a score in excess of 150. However against some tidy bowling we stuttered slightly in pursuit of the big score, Seb made a stylish 50, but was out shortly after. Jack played well for his 17 and we were indebted to Stan who hit a couple of big boundaries towards the end of our innings for us to close on 141-7.
The St Edward's openers played well and were quick onto anything too short or over pitched and just like us in the powerplay were very much up with the run rate required. Thankfully Seb K took a really good catch just inside the boundary ropes which lifted our spirits. From then on our attitude in the field, backed up by some good spin bowling from George, Archie and Tom was superb and as we took regular wickets. The rate required kept going up, which meant St Edwards required 33 off the last 3 overs. Seb and Amar F used their skills well, mixing up with slower balls and cutters which ensured a win by 6 runs and progress to the Semi Final of the Regional competition. [PNG]
Thursday 22nd May 2025
Athletics Inter Boys v Marlborough Nitro (a) & HSAA Pentathlon Champs:
The combined Junior & Inters team arrived at Marlborough College for a good day of Athletics with 10 competitors doing a mixture of events. We started off with Junior Boys Elimination Mile at 2:30, with James H (D) coming narrowly second and Will R (I) coming fourth. We next had the long jump, that included a team of Dylan MK (G), Innis C (B), Isaac W (I) and Jayden (C) having a good jump of 4.84m.
The next event was the 50m sprints, which included good performances from Dylan, Summer, and Jayden. The 4-minute continuous relay came and went with Dylan, Innis C, Summer Y (B), and Sam W (A) but we struggled with the pace required. Javelin went well with Sam W coming close to third. We ended the day with the Medley Relay. It was a brilliant race, and we worked hard to come second with great performances from Jaren L (K) in his 200m. All in all, the day was a success for all our runners and we ended up finishing 2nd overall in the event. [Innis C (B)]
HSAA County CE Championships
Osamede (G) and Emanuel (K) travelled up to Andover for the HSAA Combined Events Championships, a competition neither had ever done before but something their athletic ability indicated they had lots of potential for success.
In the Junior event Emanuel started off with a slightly below par performance in the high jump but overcame that disappointment superbly to win the 80m Hurdles with a new pb and a time which puts him in the top 30 in his age group in the UK! A solid long jump and shot put saw Emanuel rise to 1st place before the final event and in the 800m he was able to stay comfortably ahead of the athlete in 2nd place to take the win by 150 points.
Osamede’s competition was also five events but he started with the Discus and a throw 10m further than anyone else in the field gave him a big lead which he never looked like losing. He further increased his lead with a new pb in the high jump and then faced his first ever 100m Hurdles race! The target was to get through the race without incident and Osamede managed to do just that knowing there is a of technical improvement to make in this event. The fourth discipline of the shot put is Osamede’s strongest and he reinforced his lead with a huge throw and new pb. Going in to the final event Osamede was 500 point clear of his nearest opponent and a solid 2nd place finish in the 1500m meant the title was his. Both boys have earned selection for the Hampshire team to compete at the Southern Inter-Counties Combined Events Championships at the end of June. (MSB)
Cricket
U15B v Embley School U15A (a): L by 9 wickets: 136/5 against 137/1
U14B v Embley School U14A (a): L by 6 wickets: 132 for 9 against 133 for 4
Yearlings A v Hampshire Jets (h):
An 8 wicket win was achieved on the back of fine performances from Noah P (B) and Cameron M (I), against many of their County teammates in this T20 game on Lords. Given the full treatment of coloured kit and live-stream, Pounds removed the top order with a fine opening spell of bowling. Clothier (B) joined in with a wicket whilst he and Mitchinson kept the scoring rate down. Then, as scoring accelerated, Tucker (A) picked up two wickets to help restrict Hampshire Jets to 124-9, with Pounds claiming 4-11 from his 4 overs. Two run outs and an excellent catch from Hugo H (I) encapsulated a good performance in the field too.
After the early loss of Tucker, Sinclair (E) and Mitchinson built a good partnership whilst managing to keep risk taking to a minimum. Sinclair was run out for 35 when pushing for a second run, breaking the 99 run partnership. Shah (X) joined captain Mitchinson and clipped consecutive boundaries to win the game, with the skipper remaining unbeaten on 75 from 62 balls. W by 8 wickets: 125 for 2 against 124 for 9 [JMB]
Tennis v Byanston School & Bishop Wordsworth School
1st VI: L4 – 5
The Girls VI faced off against Bryanston in their first outing of the year. The last-minute pair of Ella (C) and Lily (K) kept the crowd (RJHM) entertained with some idiosyncratic strokes. Lily had lulled the opponents into a false sense of security, beginning the match by checking if they were playing ‘inside the white lines’ before unleashing some fearsome forehands and Ella’s moon balls caused the oppo problems, but lack of practice time meant this was a step too far for the pair and they couldn’t quite seal any of their sets. Meanwhile Erica (A) and Hesper (B) were taking care of business on Court 1 swatting aside all three opponents with Erica’s solid baseline game and Hesper’s volleys proving a potent combination. The match would be decided by how our second pair got on, therefore, and when Cleo (D) and Charlotte (H) lost to their firsts but beat their thirds, we were in for a grandstand finish. A proper set of doubles broke out: all twelve games were held by the servers taking us to a deciding tie-break with the crowd lining the sides of the court. Both girls had played rock-solid tennis all afternoon and their game held up better than the more mercurial Bryanstonians' under pressure: Cleo (D) rolled in one of her textbook forehands deep and the opponent could only find Charlotte (H) waiting at the net to knife the volley away. Victory, glory, sunshine, sandwiches; what a time to be alive. W5-4 [RJHM]
The Under 15s played excellently this afternoon against Bryanston with the A’s winning 9-0 and the B’s winning 8-1. In the A team matches the most impressive results came from Edward and Phoom, including one match in which they claimed they didn't lose a single point! In the B team the indomitable Furley's pair of Barney and Jayden saw off their opposition, dropping just two games in all three matches. Although the scoreline was rather one-sided, the Winchester and Bryanston players had a fun afternoon of tennis.
The Yearlings B's pulled an impressive 9 - 0 win with 6 wins in straight sets. The Yearlings C's also won all their matches in a 6 - 0 win, losing only 5 games in total and the 3rd pair of Thomas and Edwin winning all their matches in straight sets. [Tristan S (A)]
School Sport Magazine National Cup: Yearlings A v Bishop Wordsworth School (a): L4-2
Friday 23rd to Sunday 25th May 2025: Rowing ~ National Schools Regatta
Winchester College Boat Club delivered a competitive performance at the 2025 National Schools Regatta, held at the National Water sports Centre.
Friday saw the J14’s race in 2 crews, the J14 4x+ and J14 8x+, along with a J15 4+. The J14 4x+ had a superb term of rowing and this culminated in a terrific 11th place finish in the time trial. The boys rowed hard in the B final but narrowly missed out on a high finish against stiff competition. However, they finished the competition as the 12th fastest J14 crew in the country - an exceptional effort all round and one of the highest finishes for a Winchester J14 crew in some years. The 8x+ were experiencing a racecourse and stake boats for the first time on a somewhat windy day and earned a place in the C final after finishing 17th in the time trial. They maintained their overall position, taking 5th place in the final and shaving 4 seconds off their time trial time. The J15 4+ had a great week of final preparation training in the lead up to National Schools; this showed as they came 10th in the time trial putting them in the B final. They had a strong start sticking with the other crews, throughout the race 3 crews managed to pull ahead placing the 4+ in 4th position in the B final.
Martha (E) raced in the Championship Girls 1x coming 33rd in the time trial. The J16 8+ headed out for their time trial, the wind was picking up and conditions on the course were becoming a bit choppy. They came 12th in the time trial and secured a place in the B final. They maintained this 12th position in the whole category coming 6th in the final, it was a tough race in tough conditions. WCBC’s final race of National Schools was the Championship 4+, they raced their time trial and achieved 11th place, putting them in the B final. They kept this place coming 5th in the B final, they also had to race in tough conditions but managed the wind and choppy water well.
Sunday’s racing was cancelled due to high winds which was very disappointing for the Championship 4- who did not get to race. Overall WCBC showed competitiveness throughout boat classes and age groups, to have the majority of our crews achieve B final is testament to their hard work and training. (SLG)
When it comes to leadership a player has only two options: be one of your teams leaders, or support those teammates who do lead your team. Chris Hadfield, Astronaut and former Commander of the International Space Station
M.S. Burley
Director of Sport
3rd June 2025
X: @WinCollSports