Sports Report 22 June 2021

22 June 2021

We have had lots of sporting activity over the last few weeks of term. It has been really lovely to have fixtures in rounders, cricket and tennis. We also had some fantastic wins at Marlow Regatta on Dorney Lake over the weekend. We are hoping that as restrictions lift over the summer, we will be able to introduce lots more fixtures from September for our Autumn and Winter sports.

Rowing

Marlow Regatta

The Marlow Regatta was the last race of the academic year:

The Boys' 1st VIII finished as the 6th fastest school 8 in the Tier 2 Senior Men's event
The Boys' 2nd VIII finished as the 2nd fastest 2nd 8 (to Eton after beating them in the preliminary time trial)
The Girls' 2nd Quad finished 12th in the Elite Open Women's Event
The J16 VIII dominated their time trial and then went on to win their event, battling against a strong crew from Shrewsbury
The Girls' 1st Quad dominated their event winning Junior Girls Quads

Good luck to both of the girls' crews in preparation for Women's Henley Regatta.

Cricket

First XI v Marylebone Cricket Club

Shiplake's 1st XI match against the MCC is undoubtedly the highlight of our season and the match we aim towards from the moment we start our pre-season training in October each year. There was continuous rain and grey skies in the days leading up to the game and it seemed likely that our hopes of ending our season on a high would be dashed, but thankfully the skies cleared on the morning of the match and the grounds team were able to carry out their preparations to provide another excellent wicket.

J Angell and MCC captain B Wigley started the match with the traditional ceremonial toss and the MCC, as always, were invited to bat. H Batchelor opened the bowling and was the pick of the Shiplake bowling attack on the day, all were very impressed with his consistent full length deliveries and he was eventually rewarded with a wicket. There were also wickets for J Rogers and L O'Donoughue. The highlight of the MCC innings was a century by B Ladd-Gibbon who has been coaching the boys throughout the summer. He showed his full range of strokes and combining nimble footwork with effortless power. Shiplake bowlers stuck to their task well but were guilty of bowling too many short balls. The MCC declared on 233/3 shortly before 16.00.

J Angell and O Stalder opened the batting and enjoyed their best partnership of the season, taking the score to 108/1 before Stalder fell LBW to Pestana, agonisingly one short of his half century. J Angell fell shortly after and Shiplake were firmly on the back foot. H Kunzig batted well at number five, scoring an enteratining 26 from 28 balls but when he departed, the lower order decided it was time to grind out a draw. For the second time this season T Angell was the impenetrable wall at the end of the innings that guided the 1st XI towards an honourable draw. The pick of the MCC bowlers was F Watson-Smyth from Henley CC who bowled 13 overs 2/18.

Report by Mr Paul McCraw, Head of Cricket

Girls v Leighton Park

It was a fantastic match against Leighton Park from the cricket girls on Wednesday afternoon. With Shiplake fielding first and G Garner, E Harris, G McKie-King and S Stevens catching players out, we were off to a good start. As well as this C Bradbury bowled someone out. Everyone was positioned well and moved in response to the batting ability. Going off this, E Harris did some great running after the batters hitting some long balls. For batting, Shiplake overall hit their balls much further, however their fielders were strong and were able to get the ball back to the stumps to limit our runs. The batting pairs were S Stevens and E Lambert, M Adams and G Garner, S Murray and G McKie-King and, C Bradbury and E Harris. There was strong batting from everyone and some fantastic runs. Even though it was a very hot day, Shiplake all supported and encouraged one another. The final score was 302-278.

At the end of the match Leighton Park picked E Harris as the player of the match for fielding and the player of the match for batting was G Garner.

Well played everyone and we look forward to next year already!

Report by Eva Harris and Georgina Garner (Co-Captains for the match)

Rounders

Year 12 Tournament

On Thursday afternoon, the Year 12s went out in the rain to play a rounders tournament in mixed teams of boys and girls. There were some very competitive and supportive matches throughout the five teams with some batting highlights from S Bourke, H Kunzig, C Stewart and M Connelly. Throughout the fielding positions there were also some fantastic plays, including dive catches from H Batchelor and J Lynskey. S Frost, A Triggs, J Matton, G Elliot, B Fundell and H Poustie were also credited for their brilliant throwing and catching throughout the afternoon. A Taylor-McDowall was also seen to make the most dramatic falls and slides! E Pendlebury, M Adams and G Garner were standout bowlers during the games.

E Newington, C Bennett and J Matton were consistent 'players of the match' throughout the afternoon. While G Garner, S Frost, L Taphouse, T Houghton, J Lynskey, S Mutnikas, B Wallace, J Angell, M Short, C Bradbury, O Stalder and I Hepburn were also given 'players of the match' in their respective games too.

Tam and Miss Pye did some amazing umpiring while challenged by enthusiastic players and Z Phillips and M Roullier also did a great job of helping with the scoring. Additionally, a huge thank you to Miss Mordue for organising the event so well!

The final scores were so close with Team 3 achieving 11 rounders, Team 5 = 12 rounders, Team 4 = 14 rounders, Team 1 = 15 rounders and the winning Team 2 achieving an impressive 17 rounders! Overall the afternoon was a lot of fun despite the weather, and hopefully we will be able to do the event again soon.

Report by Georgina Garner and Maddie Adams, Year 12