Sports Report – Cloister Time, Week 6

Tuesday 3rd June 2025: County Schools’ Cricket Cup U15A’s v King Edward VI (a):

On Tuesday we visited KES Southampton for a highly anticipated county cup semi final! On a very damp day KES Southampton won the toss and surprisingly won the toss and elected to bat first.

Pockney (G) started off very strong taking 3 wickets in his first 2 overs reducing KES to 10-3. At 19/3 after 5.3 overs the boys came off for a large shower which resulted in the game being reduced to 15 overs. However, the rain delay did not work in our favour after a flurry of runs from the opposition number 1 who scored 49 and number 5 with a useful 15. This took the score to 68-4 until Mitchinson (I) made the breakthrough. Three late wickets from Pritchard (X) helped us reduce the visitors to 107/8 off their 15 overs. A very gettable chase!! A few dropped catches didn't help our cause either....

Mitchinson (I) and Hawkins (K) opened up on what proved to be a spicier wicket in the 2nd innings. Hawkins making an impressive 31 to steady the innings whilst wickets fell around him. With the score at 63-3 the chase was looking promising but when Pockney (G) got out for a well made 21 and Hawkins followed quickly after, we needed 20 runs from 17 balls but ultimately fell short as KES won by 7 runs. (TJF)

Thursday 5th June 2025

Sailing Triangular v Bryanston & Milton Abbey (h)

With a team of seven, we travelled to Spinnaker Sailing Club on Thursday for a set of team races against Milton Abbey and Bryanston. With force five gusts forecast, and some very windy weather prior to arrival, it portended to be trying conditions; however, the winds abated enough for some serious team racing to occur.

After a quick briefing, all teams took to the water. What followed was a masterclass in team racing from Winchester, as we went on to beat both teams: Milton Abbey 2-0, and Bryanston 2-1. The highlight of the afternoon came from Thomas F (E), who managed to perfectly perform a slowing handover on the final beat, which clinched a win from the jaws of defeat. While we had been practising this precise manoeuvre for the two months prior during training sessions, to perform it in a race with the pressure on is a notable feat. This event also proved to be a good learning experience for Sasha H (A) and James H (A), as it was their first match. There is no better way to learning team racing than doing the races themselves.

Overall, it was an entertaining afternoon, with valuable racing experience gained for the up-and-coming junior sailors. Thank you to Dr Barron for taking us, to Milton Abbey and Bryanston for making the trip, to James and the team at Spinnaker Club for their continued support in hosting and course-setting, Mr Billington for umpiring, and our coach Stuart Hudson, who has so perfectly moulded our squad into what it is now. (Alex P, G)

Friday 6th June 2025

Cricket 1st XI v Marlborough College T20 National Cup (a):

We won the toss and elected to field first. Unfortunately Seb's first over went for 12 with 3 boundaries, one an excellent shot down the ground, the other 2 slightly fortuitously over 3rd man. Stan then bowled an excellent second over taking a good wicket. The Marlborough second wicket pair put on a stand of 84 off just over 10 overs and although we did not really find our lengths as a bowling unit, but they also played well. However George made the breakthrough that we needed and with both Tom Howard and Amar F picking up good wickets, Marlborough found themselves at 124-7 with just over 3 overs to go. They finished on a competitive 149-9, but a score in excess of 160 had looked very much on at one stage in their innings. Credit must go to both Tom and Amar who bowled their 4 overs, Tom finishing with 2-22 and Amar 3-28.

We needed a good start which we achieved with both James and Seb playing good shots and finding the gaps well. It was a little surprising when James was bowled as he had looked confident, but a stand of 40 from 5 put us in a good position. However we lost our way somewhat and also lost regular wickets and at 69-5 from 11 overs, we needed a partnership. Seb was still at the crease and with Amar F, they stayed remarkably cool and began building what proved to be a brilliant partnership. Amar initially rotating the strike and Seb displaying shots all around the wicket, including a six that went over the far side nets; they put on 80 in just over 7 overs. Seb was out for 95 off 50 balls with the scores level, but with 9 balls left. We then managed to play 4 dot balls and lost a wicket, but thankfully Amar hit the second ball of the last over for 4 and finished on 32* including a six to the biggest boundary! This was a very good example of taking the game deep, knowing that 1 good over especially in a T20 can very much put you back in the game. We won by 3 wickets with 4 balls left, an excellent game played in a great spirit. We play Wellington on Friday in the Regional Final. (PNG)

Saturday 7th June 2025

Cricket v St Edward’s Oxford.

With the wet weather throughout the week the groundstaff did a great job of managing to produce a dry strip for the visit of St Edward’s Oxford. Unfortunately the weather forecast was not particularly good, so we agreed a 40 over game, which we manged to start slightly earlier than the agreed time.

St Edwards slightly surprisingly elected to bat and despite a couple of rain interruptions completed their 40 overs, finishing 180 all out. Once again Tom H bowled well taking 1-34 from his 8 overs and Amar picked up late wickets to take 4-33 from his 6 overs, but the pick of our bowlers was George B, who picked up excellent figures of 2-14 from his 8 overs. Unfortunately, the rain then intervened which meant that we were unable to bat and chase down the victory due to the match being abandoned.

The heavy rain which was true to the forecast meant all the other home matches were cancelled by late morning. The forecast in Oxford looked a little more promising so the way teams jumped on the bus praying for the sun to stay out! The only senior game to be finished was the 2nd XI but they unfortunately went own by 3 runs at St Edward’s Oxford.

The Yearlings A were able to complete a smash and grab mission to Oxford on Saturday, securing the win in the John Harvey Trophy by 7 wickets before the heavens opened. Harry C (B) (27) and Cam M (I) (28*) saw the team over the line inside 11 overs, Harry scoring freely through the leg side before being snaffled down the leg side by a sharp catch by the chatty Teddies' keeper. Cam survived one scare, via a top edge, but otherwise struck the ball well down the ground and through cover. Having lost the toss in this shortened game, Noah P (B) and Aditya A (A) ensured Teddies were under pressure straight away. Hugo H (I) took the first of 3 sharp catches off Pounds, adding two more off Marsh (I) and Drought too. Freddy S (E) teamed up with Mitchinson for a run out from the deep before ending the Teddies innings with a direct hit off a free-hit.

Won by 7 wickets. 63 for 3 against 61 ao. [JMB]

Despite the wet conditions, the Yearlings B game was still on. We lost the toss and got put onto bat on a wicket that looked greener than the outfield. Opening was Hugo G (E), who made a well worked 36 off 34 balls, giving us a nice start to the 20 over game. Coming in at three was Chris F (I), who proceeded to stay in for the rest of the game and made 48 not out off 41. Wilf L (G) also hit some much-needed boundaries, hitting a quick 19 off 15. Ed B (I) then came in, hit what could possibly be the shot of the day, crunching one through the covers, but then unfortunately got out on his next ball nicking one off to the keeper. Winchester finished 168/5 off 20 overs.

Henry F (E) then started strong with the ball, picking up 1 wicket for 8 runs during his opening overs. From the other end, we had Ed B, who was bowling rapid, as usual. This speed resulted in us getting another wicket and adding more pressure to the opponents. But then, James MW stepped up and picked up 2 wicket maidens, getting figures of 1 - 2 of his 3 overs. A nice couple overs from Barnaby D (B) definitely added some pressure to the opposing side, as he bowled a maiden and also got a wicket. To finish the game, the ball got handed to Arthur Radcliffe who got 4 wickets in his final over! These were 2 catches, from James and Chris, a fast stumping from James E (K), and a run out. It is also worth mentioning that Hugo G caught a great catch at slip , resulting in Wilf getting a wicket as well. St Edwards were all out 57. Won by 111 runs. 168 for 5 against 57 ao. (PAH)

All the tennis matches v Sherborne and the athletics match at Charterhouse were unfortunately cancelled due to the weather.

Sporting quote for the week:

“Complacency is the forerunner of mediocrity. You can never work too hard on attitude, effort and technique.” D. Meyer, US College Basketball Coach

M.S. Burley

Director of Sport

10th June 2025

X: @WinCollSports