101 / 118
Colts B XI
While our results suggest a
rather disappointing season,
there was much to be proud of
this year, not least the nail-
biting finale to the season at
Cheam, where we set them a
seemingly decent 98 to chase.
They made light work of our bowling at first
and appeared well set to surpass our score
with overs and wickets to spare. However,
they knew little of the fielding prowess of
Gabriel Thomas
, almost nothing of the
lethal bowling of
Oscar Ngong
, and still less
of the safe hands of
Finley Smith
. The three
of them combined to put the brakes on
Cheam’s progress, and to stop them in their
tracks – all out on 98. The tied match was as
good as a victory for our boys, testament to
the team spirit and grit which characterised
the team’s progress over the term.
The season got off to an inauspicious
start. Our opener against Caldicott would
have been all over well before tea had we
batted first. Over-enthusiastic running
between the wickets, with little by way of
seven overs to go – he found a super-
charged gear to accelerate to a terrific,
match-winning 61*. Three victories in a
row had given the boys self-belief and a
growing awareness of their ability, both
clear to see in our return fixture against
Caldicott.
Oscar Henshaw
opened the
batting and made a valuable 30, laying
the foundation for Crawford to score an
excellent 41. In posting 130 we thought
we had given ourselves an opportunity
to put a very good side under pressure;
unfortunately a rain storm in the tea break
of near-biblical proportions prevented any
further play.
The 2nd Short Leave upset our gathering
momentum. At the Dragon we started
quite well with the ball, with Junior Colt
DJ Banda
making a positive debut, but
our concentration lapsed in the final ten
overs of their innings. Our last four batting
performances had shown we could be
competitive but, alas, we never recovered
from being 7-3 off the first five overs. A
superb 41 from
Lowndes-Lumb
showed
that, with a better start, we might have
challenged the opposition’s total but we
left it too late to put their bowlers and
fielders under any kind of pressure.
48 hours later some of the boys had
the opportunity to reclaim momentum
by competing in the Oxfordshire group of
the England Schools’ Cricket Association’s
8-a-side competition. Good wins in the
first two games saw us play MCS in the
final. They had beaten us comfortably in
11-a-side earlier in the season but our
all-round improvement was very apparent.
Batting second, and with five overs
remaining, we were well ahead of the rate
when a thunderstorm again interrupted
proceedings.With the pitch unplayable we
retreated to the sports hall for a sudden-
death bowl-off. Each player from each
team bowled one delivery at the stumps;
the first team to hit when the other team
missed would be county champions and
progress to the regional finals of this
national competition. In a Hollywood-style
ending it came down to the last delivery of
the day to be bowled by our wicket-keeper
Sebastian Corso
. He uprooted middle
stump and Summer Fields had won!
Back to 11-a-side for the Cheam
fixture, we simply didn’t score enough
runs. A reasonable start petered out to
a disappointing total. Knowing that we
needed an A* performance in the field to
put pressure on the opposition, the boys
almost delivered. Laing captained very
well and his 1-6 off five overs, combined
with Howland’s 0-9 off five and Lowndes-
Lumb’s 2-22, put the opposition under
great pressure. However, a mid-innings rain
shower dampened the bowlers’ run-ups
and we struggled somewhat to keep our
line and length when play resumed. Cheam
got back on to the run-rate and, despite an
excellent effort in the field, we narrowly
lost by three wickets in the penultimate
over.
The season finished with the regional
finals of the ESCA U11 8-a-side
tournament in the lovely setting of Lord
Wandsworth’s College.We beat LVS
Ascot and Long Close School and found
ourselves, as last year, in a winner-takes-
all final match against Twyford (national
champions in 2014 and 2015). Our good
bowling performance could not quite be
matched by our batting and Twyford were
victorious (and later went on to finish third
at the national finals). To be competitive
at this level showed just how far our boys
had come in the course of the season. JERA
and I were very proud of the progress they
made and all the boys should be pleased
with their accomplishments.
DRW
Colts A XI
Opposition
Result
Runs
Details
For Against
Caldicott
Lost
75-9 180-7
HowlandA 3-31, Lowndes-Lumb 28
Magdalen College School
Lost
91
140-9
HowlandA 26, Stanhope 3-15
Moulsford
Lost
99
208-7
Lambrook
Cancelled
Elstree
Won 137-5 136
McNair 68, Stanhope 5-38
Ludgrove
Won 124-5 123-5
HowlandA 45*, Lowndes Lumb 40*
Cothill
Won 129-6 125-9
HowlandA 61*
Marlborough 6-a-side
Cancelled
Caldicott
130-8
MatchAbandoned
Dragon
Lost
99
130-6
Lowndes Lumb 41 & 3-22
Ashfold
Cancelled
Cheam
Lost
85
88-7
Colts B XI
Opposition
Result
Runs
Details
For Against
Caldicott
Lost
160-6
36
Magdalen College School
Won 68-4
67
Moulsford
Lost
55
56-3
Lambrook
Cancelled
Elstree
Lost
134-6 215-4
Dooley 60, Edwards 30*
Ludgrove
Lost
42
135
Cothill
Lost
137 140-5
Caldicott
Lost
25
140-4
Dragon
Won 103-9 101
Burnaby-Atkins 40
Ashfold
Cancelled
Cheam
Tied
88
88
“therewasmuch
tobeproudof
thisyear”
S u m m e r F i e l d s
2 0 1 5 – 2 0 1 6
97