One of the signs of a successful school sports tour must surely be the volume and enthusiasm of the singing on the bus as you make your way from venue to venue. On the 2018 Cricket tour to Antigua, there was a lot, and I mean a lot, of singing. The tourists left with great memories on and off the field, friendships strengthened and cricket skills sharpened through competition against highly talented opposition.
The tour began with a match against Antigua Grammar School, which was attended by Sir Vivian Richards, arguably the greatest batsman in the history of the game. The Shiplake XI were given no time to acclimatise by the opposition and before we knew it we were bowled out for 67 in just 22 overs. The Grammar school bowling was accurate and consistent but in truth many of the Shiplake batsmen fell due to tentative shot making and poor running between the wickets. It took the Antiguan batsmen just 9.2 overs to reach their target even with some good bowling from Callum Creighton who took 2 wickets for 6. Particularly impressive with the bat for the opposition was Asha Murray.
A day of training and relaxation on the beach came before our next match against Evergreen. One name will live long in the memory of the tourists, that of Tahiem ‘Soldier’ Tongue. Evergreen lost the toss and were put in to bat. Their young opening Zaieem Scott was solid in defence and attack but the innings really got going when ‘Soldier’ came to the crease. In the 6th over of the game Lewis Bishop was bowling and ‘Soldier’ hit 4, 4 and then 6 in three consecutive balls before gloving a quick bouncer to the wicket keeper to fall for 26. This was a key wicket in the game and gave Shiplake a real chance of restricting their opponents to a chaseable total. James Roxburgh-Smith and Callum Theodorou bowled particularly well in the middle section of the innings, taking regular wickets before Captain Joe Tucker brought the innings to a close with a hat-trick to give him figures of 4-5. 118 was required for victory on a small ground at the Jolly Harbour resort ground as the opening batsmen Gorringe and Howard strode to the crease. The opening bowlers, ‘Soldier’ and Caesar, were very sharp and quickly removed Gorringe, Tucker and Stone to make the score 16-3. Josh Howard and Callum Creighton put up some resistance but Shiplake were unable to form the one partnership that would push them towards victory. Regular wickets fell and Shiplake were finally bowled out for 92, 25 runs short of victory.
The next game was also at Jolly Harbour and saw Shiplake up against the East Zone of Antigua. Joe Tucker again won the toss and but the Antiguans into bat. It was clear that Shiplake were getting into their stride and playing more confident and aggressive cricket from the start. Wickets from Creighton, Bishop and 3 from Roxburgh-Smith left the East Zone reeling at 40-6. Shiplake should really have killed off their opponents at this point but couldn’t capture the wicket of Bellot or Gallay who pushed the score forward. Towards the end of the innings Tom Ibbitson took 3 wickets and the Antiguans closed on 109 from their 20 overs. Shiplake again got off to a poor start losing both openers with just 2 runs on the board, but consolidated with a good partnership between Ben Atkin and Joe Tucker. Tucker fell to a brilliant catch at mid-wicket when he was just finding his rhythm which brought the score to 36-3. Callum Creighton played with positive intent from ball one, and quickly moved the score onwards with a series of well struck drives and pulls to the boundary. With the score on 96 with 2.3 overs remaining the game was in the balance and Creighton was narrowly run out. The game went down to the final over and with one ball remaining Shiplake required 2 runs for victory. Victory looked assured when Freddie Bowcock drove powerfully down the ground but unfortunately the ball struck Darius Braun in the helmet at the non-striker’s end, knocking him to the ground. Luckily, Darius was not badly injured and recovered to spend a relaxing evening with his teammates admiring the wonderful views of English harbour at sunset from Shirley Heights.
A wonderful day trip to swim with stingrays and beach time preceded the biggest match of the tour at the Sir Vivian Richards international stadium. Our opposition on this occasion were the best players from the two school teams that would play the final of the Antiguan schools cup later that week and the side included a number of Antiguan U19 internationals. To our delight, we found out on arrival that we would be playing a day-night match with the second innings under floodlights. Joe Tucker put the opposition into bat and it was obvious from the beginning that we were facing high class opposition. Uri Smith and Kadeem Henry both reached chanceless half centuries in quick time and took the score to 114 in just 15.2 overs. James Roxburgh-Smith and Callum Theodorou did an excellent job of restraining the opposition with disciplined bowling before Callum Creighton returned to the attack to take a couple of late wickets. The Antiguans closed on 197 from 30 overs. Shiplake undoubtedly produced their most mature and positive batting performance in the fourth game of the tour with solid contributions from Joe Tucker (26) and a superb 48 from Lewis Bishop. Bishop played some powerful and beautifully balanced cover drives in his innings. In their 30 overs Shiplake reached a very respectable 146, their highest total of the tour.
The final game of the tour saw the Shiplake XI take on coaches, family and friends in a 20 over match at the Jolly Harbour resort. The highlight of this game was undoubtedly the fact that Messrs. Bishop, Creighton and Bowcock all took the wicket of their son, giving them bragging rights for years to come. On the last full day we toured the island on a catamaran and thoroughly enjoyed the snorkeling and sunbathing before having a team dinner and awards ceremony.
This truly was a wonderful experience for all the tourists and thanks must go to family and friends who supported us and Mr. Howorth for organising the tour.
Report provided by Mr Paul McCraw
