A busy week of cricket fixtures means a long sports report to indulge in today. Please see below for match reports for fixtures that took place on Wednesday 4 and Saturday 7 May. It was a mixed bag of results; phenomenal wins for some teams and unfortunate losses for others made for interesting watching. However, the glorious summer weather was enough to keep bad feelings at bay, and the teams are looking forward to future fixtures to regain bragging rights!
Cricket
2nd XI v Claire’s Court School
The Shiplake 2nd XI took on rivals Claire’s Court, taking full advantage of the spring weather and batting their way to a solid win. The top scorers for the match were George Gundry (60) and Captain of the team Dom Allen (50). Dom Deakin and Andrew Fearn also performed admirably during the fixture, with some expert bowling that consolidated the win. Coach Mr Ross Johnston commented that ‘it was a strong performance given our previous two defeats: the boys have worked hard in training to perfect their batting, and focusing on keeping the ball on the ground and striking with a straight bat. All bowlers have tightened up their techniques, conceding fewer extras. It was a pleasure to umpire and I hope that the boys can now build upon this moving forward into the season. As ever we are backed by our strong parent following, and we hope that we gave them something good to watch!’
U15A XI v Claires Court School
‘This was a very positive afternoon of cricket for the Shiplake U15 A XI. We won the toss and elected to bowl. Oliver Dorrell opened the bowling for the first time and produced a very tight four overs to finish with figures of 1-10. He was fantastically supported by James Roxburgh Smith who continued his good form to finish with 2-12. At the half way point of their innings, Claires Court had accumulated just 36 runs and our fielders were making sure that singles were hard to come by. Some excellent ground fielding from Max Haynes and two good catches from Robbie Cartwright at midoff were just two small examples of this. Callum Theodorou and Ben Atkin continued to bowl tightly and then Harry Ingram bowled finely at the end of the innings, finishing with 1-16 as a result of some beautiful swing bowling. We were set a target of 75 to win and felt confident that we could reach our total with some good running between the wickets. However, our innings got off to the worst possible start with Josh Howard getting a leading edge and Lucas Brooks being bowled early on. At 2-2 we were reeling but Jack Rees, originally selected in a pinch hitting role had to steady the innings and despite getting a low score took the sting out of the opposition opening bowler. Well done Jack. This mean that Callum Theodorou and Tomas Gorringe could face a slightly older ball and some less potent bowlers. So they set to work, rotating the strike and putting away the bad ball. Soon the pressure eased and the total was easily chased for the loss of three wickets, meaning that Shiplake won by seven wickets. Callum Theodorou finished on 26 and he was brilliantly supported by Gorringe who finished on 28 off 31 balls. Much progress was made by the team who now look forward to the challenge of Oratory on Saturday.’
Sports report provided by Director of Sport Mr James Gaunt.
U15A XI v Oratory School
‘What a wonderful team effort this was and by far our most complete performance of the season to date. On losing the toss we were put in to bat, against our will but albeit with a relative degree of confidence that we could set a challenging target on what was a postage stamp of a pitch. Clearly defending the boundaries would be key and Oratory failed to do this from the start - both Josh Howard (69), who batted with simple brilliance and Lucas Brooks (50) found gaps in the inner ring and marched their way to an opening stand of 115. From there the scene was set. However, several fairly quick wickets and the loss especially of Gorringe, Theodorou and Atkin for relatively little left us somewhat rocking and threatening not to reach the total we once looked set to post. However the brutal hitting of Robble Cartwright (28 off 14 balls) reinstalled confidence and meant that Oratory would need to reach 196 off their 30 overs if they wanted to take victory. Oliver Dorrell and James Roxburgh Smith soon made this total look extremely daunting with a wonderful opening 12 overs. Dorrell bowled beautifully down the slope finishing with 16-1 off his 6 overs. James Roxburgh Smith dismissed their danger batsman and took two wickets for 24 runs off his 6 overs. Atkins and Captain Theodorou then came on with the role of getting through their overs quickly to ensure that the pressure built steadily. This they did well but it was the introduction of Max Haynes to the bowling attack that was most probably the highlight of the day. Max bowled three overs, took 4 wickets (all bowled) and conceded just 15 runs. The last wicket fell with a dropped catch/run out and Shiplake College won by a very impressive 89 runs. We now have some momentum and will look to capitalise on this when we meet local rivals Pangborne at the end of this week.
Shiplake College 195 - 8 (Howard 69, Brooks 50, Cartwright 24). Reading Oratory 106 all out (Haynes 4-15). Shiplake College won by 89 runs.’
Director of Sport Mr James Gaunt
U15B XI v Claires Court
‘The U15bs have had a great start to the season and with back to back victories, were buoyant going into the game. After losing the toss, the boys went out to field and made light work of the Claires Court’s top order, at one reducing them to 60 – 7. To give us more of a challenge with the bat, the bowlers were rotated and several members of the team impressed; Josh Lloyd taking 3 wickets, Ethan Magala Oruna finding good line and length and wickets for both Sam Ellis and Josh Shortland, who also took an outstanding catch. That being said, the team will definitely want to improve on the number of runs given away through wides and no balls and Claires Court finished with a total of 106 from 20 overs. A challenging chase but the team were confident that they had the quality with the bat and looked forward to the getting stuck in after a short break for tea.
The chase started well with Josh Lloyd firing two fours from the first two balls. However, this was short lived and both our openers were out by the third over, with Matty Fitzgerald and Matthew Davies coming in. The pair impressed with their intensity, running singles whenever possible and scored run totals of 18 and 15 respectively but will be disappointed to have been bowled out by slower balls. The team then went through a tough patch, losing wickets cheaply until Ben Fletcher and Thomas Howlett did brilliantly as the final pair, reducing the required runs from 46 to 19 to win before Claires Court took the final wicket. The team was disappointed with the loss but also know that with some batting training they will put up a much better fight in the future and look forward to getting back to winning ways against Oratory on Saturday.’
Mr Tom Walter
U15B XI v Oratory School
'The team arrived at Oratory off the back of a Claires Court game where we'd slipped to a loss from a dominant position early on. It was clear, however, that this was a team that had learnt its lesson. Shiplake won the toss and elected to bowl first. This decision was validated quickly with the Oratory slipping to 8 - 4 off three overs thanks to a dominant spell from Josh Lloyd. Fielding continued to be a strength for the team with some snappy boundary stops and very few lost runs. Further pressure from Sam Ellis and Ben Fletcher kept Oratory struggling for runs and two excellent overs from Elliot Garner (2-10) removed two further wickets. It looked like it would all be over quickly until a strong seventh wicket partnership restored the home team to 65 for 6. However, the return of Lloyd ended the resistance, ably supported by Fletcher (2-11) and William Brunning (1-4). Lloyd finished the innings with a commanding 5-11 off 4 overs. Chasing 89 to win, Shiplake overcame an early wicket of current top scorer Rees to reach the total in just over 10 overs, despite some capable bowling. Lloyd and Ellis played mature innings, taking full advantage of a short boundary and finished on 53* and 21* respectively. While the whole team gave a clinical performance to take a well-deserved victory, the obvious Man of the Match was all-rounder Josh Lloyd. Well done all!
Oratory: 88 all out off 21 overs. Shiplake U15B: 92-1 off 10.1 overs. Shiplake win by 9 wickets.’
Mr Tom Walter
U14A XI v Claires Court
‘Last Wednesday we played Claires Court. Toby Gorringe leading the runs with 43, shortly followed by Thierry Althorp and Callum Creighton with thirties. Shiplake ended with a very respectful 147 for 8. In reply, Claires Court started positively until they were halted with Cam Jones and Ali Baxter both taking wickets. Shiplake won the game by 14 runs.’
Captain Callum Creighton
U14A XI v Oratory School
‘On Saturday we faced local rivals Oratory. Shiplake started very positively with Callum Creighton making 60 and Toby Gorringe scoring a brilliant 100 not out. Shiplake finished the 30 overs on 234 for 5. Oratory started slowly losing a couple of early wickets but managed to rebuild a platform in the middle overs. Great bowling from Josh Lewis kept the run rate down until Callum finished the game off with figures of 6-13. Shiplake winning by 68 runs.’
Captain Callum Creighton
U14B XI v Claires Court School
Thank you to Mr Marcus Milburn for providing the following report:
‘Shiplake headed to Maidenhead to take on Claires Court, on an afternoon perfect for cricket. Claires Court batted first and were able to take advantage of a few loose deliveries from Shiplake bowlers to reach a total of 88-4 after their allotted 20 overs. Shiplake then took the field to post their reply. After a shaky first few overs that saw the team lose two quick wickets for only two runs, an excellent partnership between Will Kayll and Archie Buchanan took the 14Bs to the brink of victory. After a deceptively slow ball took the wicket of Kayll, it was up to Max Smith to help take the team over the line with some thundering boundaries and finish with a total of 89-3. Man of the match was Archie Buchanan with a top score of 40 not out and a catch taken in the first innings.’
U14B XI v Oratory School
‘Another beautiful afternoon for cricket saw the U14B team take on Oratory, looking for a second win in a row. Squad rotation and some injuries saw a few make their first appearance for the team. Oratory won the toss and elected to bat. They started consistently and were able to score runs at a reasonable rate. Thankfully, Shiplake were also able to take wickets at a similar rate with Jack Underwood taking three himself. An unusual thing happened when a delivery by Josh Walne actually passed between two stumps without dislodging the bails; a most bizarre occurrence! The last over of the innings proved to be the most dramatic, with Oratory getting past the 100 runs mark and Sean Farrell taking the ninth wicket and Dom Deakin, with a spectacular throw for a run out, taking the tenth. Oratory finished their innings with 102 all out.
Shiplake took the field to bat full of confidence and started strongly. A couple of wickets did fall early but that did not deter the team. Archie Buchanan and Brandon Lupson put on a solid partnership which saw the scoreboard head towards the magic total. All seemed to be going well until both fell in relatively quick succession. Shiplake only needed ten or so runs but the wickets were starting to run out. Fortunately, the final partnership of Dom and Jack saw off the last few runs needed to secure a three wicket victory and the second win of the season for the U14Bs. Bowling man of the match was Jack Underwood and batting man of the match was Archie Buchanan. Special thanks to Brandon Lupson and Josh Walne for stepping in to help at the last minute.’
Mr Marcus Milburn
U13A XI vs Claire’s Court
‘Claires Court won the toss and elected to bat. Our opening four bowlers kept the scoreboard nice and low, and the Claires Court opening batsmen became frustrated, leading to some dangerous shots and the first two wickets being taken quickly. First a run out and then Ben Willis knocked out the middle stump. With Shiplake on top, the boys were confident of recording their second victory of the season. However, the rival number three batsman steadied the ship and went on to score an unbeaten 58 with some impressive shots. He was dropped on 12, 22 and 32 though, and the commonly uttered phrase ‘catches win matches’ came to mind. Our coach Mr Alex Duncan was hopeful this would not be the reason for defeat, but the nerves started to show as more catches went to ground. Claires Court finished on 125 off the 20 overs. After a quick tea of squash, sandwiches and cake and with the sun peeking through the clouds, the Shiplake team came out to bat full of confidence having scored 168 in the previous victory. Max Way and Seth Looney looked very comfortable at the crease but the run rate was fairly slow. Max departed after scoring 11 runs and Jai Angell came to the crease, determined to pick up the pace. A mixture of tight bowling and good shots flying straight to well-placed fielders saw the match evenly poised. With 19 required from the last 4 overs, Shiplake should have won…but to quote Head of Cricket Mr Jonnie Howorth, who watched the match unfold in the illustrious company of top performance coach Chris Ellison and the Headmaster, we ‘snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.’ We live and learn and reflected on the game in training on Friday. We will certainly be more prepared to chase the runs next time out. It was still a very enjoyable match and well done to Claires Court.’
With thanks to Mr Alex Duncan, Luke Theodorou and Zac Kennedy for the report.
