Boys and Girls 1st XI Cricket Teams in Fine Form in Latest Fixtures

Both Boys and Girls 1^st XI cricket teams have demonstrated exceptional skill and determination over the past week, as they played against some of the strongest teams in the country.

Boys 1^st XI vs. MCC

On Wednesday the Boys 1^st XI played their annual declaration match against Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The MCC batted first and looked to put on a big score in glorious sunshine. However, in what was probably the bowling performance of the season, the MCC found things hard going and went to lunch at 73-3. Ben E (1-11) was again on form but was well backed up by Haydn D (1-10) and Barnaby B (1-6), whose combined figures of 3 for 21 off 15 overs were exceptional.

After the interval, the MCC batters looked to put bat to ball and OV (and MCC captain) Liam Gwynne looked in good touch, for his quickfire 35. A big score looked on the cards at that point but the 1^st XI kept worked hard to the pressure on by taking regular wickets and bowled the MCC out for a chaseable 188, thanks to 2 wickets a-piece from Felix F and Sufiyaan R.

As you would expect, the MCC bowled very tightly with the new ball and two quick wickets put the 1^st XI on the back foot straight away and soon found themselves found themselves at 29-2. Captain Ollie Y was then joined at the crease by Henry H. Could he repeat his heroics from the previous week? It looked to be going that way as very quickly Henry showed what a fine player he was and made batting look easy for the first time that day. Even though wickets continued to fall around him, Henry didn’t look phased and reached his half century off just 53 balls and more importantly swung the game back in the 1^st XI’s favour.

Needing just 62 runs from the last 15 overs, the game defining moment then came as Henry holed out in the deep and had to go for a fine 68. A lower order partnership from Felix F and Ben E took the match close but unfortunately, the boys couldn’t recover and eventually fell short by 28 runs.

The boys travel to cross-town rivals RGS, Worcester next Wednesday 25^th June.

Girls 1^st XI vs. Berkhamsted

Last Friday the Girl’s 1^st XI continued their fine form with 19 run victory in the last 16 of the National T20 Cup.

The Girl’s batted first in good conditions but when leading run scorer Bryony G fell early for a duck and then three more wickets fell in quick succession, the girl’s found themselves reeling at 39-4. However, a fine partnership between Phoebe B and Eva T (16) settled the nerves and took the score up to 105-5 with Phoebe showing her class, making a superb 65 and got the team up to 116 from their 20 overs.

Berkhamsted had some fine batters and the Girl’s knew they would have to bowl well to defend the below par total and that’s exactly what they did. Sophie S-G was the pick of the bowlers across her three spells, taking 3 for just 8 runs from her four overs, with Bryony G and Phoebe B also taking 2 wickets each.

The Girl’s now host reigning champions Ipswich School in the quarter finals of the National Cup, in what should be a fantastic match!