Orchard Storm to Cricket Glory

Orchard overcame Skipwith on Thursday to claim the senior inter-house cricket title.

After the preliminary rounds were contested a few weeks ago, the two large day houses came through unscathed and entered the final in confident mood. With an ominous weather forecast, the fixture was originally in doubt but a bright afternoon materialised for the 12-over match.

Orchard Housemaster Mr Richard Curtis was in attendance to watch his boys open the batting. Limited overs cricket is always frenetic but a degree of caution can often be rewarding. The early signs were not good as Orchard captain Harry Wallace was bowled out in the just the second over. This could have triggered a collapse but Reiss Simpson steadied the ship and played sensibly with controlled aggression to accelerate the total.

Reiss was assisted by Milo Taylor, who also batted brilliantly on his way to an unbeaten 37. The duo ran extremely well between the wickets and threatened to take the match beyond Skipwith’s reach. In the final over, Reiss brought up his half-century and raised his bat to his ecstatic teammates as Orchard posted 90-1.

With a required run rate of 8.5 per over, there was no time to hang around for the Skipwith batsmen. Cheered on by new Housemaster Mr Alex Duncan, they started brightly and scored 10 runs from the first over. Markland Tidswell top scored with 20 runs but tight bowling and regular wickets restricted their flow. Despite a spirited 18 not out by Year 10 pupil Miles Bridgman, Skipwith’s scoring faded and they fell 22 runs short.

Harry Wallace ended with 3 wickets as was delighted to lift the trophy and secure the House points.

Many College cricket fixtures fell victim to the weather this week, but the U13As did enjoy a thrilling tie with the Oratory School. Remarkably, both sides finished on 95-6. The U13Bs batted first in their match and posted a competitive total of 91-5. In reply, the Oratory batsmen were bowled out for 64 allowing Shiplake to celebrate a 27 run win. Meanwhile, a large U13 tennis squad travelled to Leighton Park for a hugely enjoyable afternoon of tennis. The evenly-matched fixture ended 4-4.