With the weather holding over the course of the last week, today's Sports Report brings with it block cricket fixtures including matches against University College School. Meanwhile, in football, our boys' 1st XI regional semi-final fixture went down to the wire in a penalty shootout and our senior tennis players got their season underway. Our rowers commenced their regatta season, and we also bring you up to speed with equestrianism news!
Cricket
Girls' 1st XI vs Reddam House
On Wednesday 26 April, Shiplake played their first cricket match of the season against Reddam House. Shiplake fielded first and showed excellent bowling and fielding skills, especially great wicket keeping from I Wood, and bowling from F Lenthall. Due to superb catches and great fielding, Reddam only managed to score 200 runs.
Shiplake then batted, hitting some amazing balls. Congratulations to O Parkin who was awarded Player of the Match for her amazing batting, hitting multiple boundaries. This allowed Shiplake to comfortably win the match 249 runs to 200. A special mention must also go to H Boddy who was voted Players’ Player for achieving a wicket on her first bowl of the season; and A Botterill, who received Coach’s Player for her fantastic bowling and confident batting and fielding. Overall, it was a great start to the season.
Report: P Sanderson, Girls' Cricket Captain
Coach: Mrs C Lovelock
Boys' 1st XI vs University College School
Result: Defeat by 91 runs.
Coach: Mr J Wheeler
Boys' 1st XI vs RGS, High Wycombe
Result: Defeat by 35 runs.
Coach: Mr J Wheeler
Boys' 2nd XI vs Sir William Borlase's Grammar School
In the 2nd XI season opener, Shiplake won the toss and opted to bowl first. J Cooper stepped up first and bowled brilliantly, hitting 2 wickets early on. Captains O Lewis and B Macleod showed maturity with the rotation of bowlers and throughout the first innings, Shiplake managed to take 4 wickets. SWBGS batted well and were able to introduce 2 big hitters taking their total runs to 159/4.
In the 2nd innings, J Read and L Swinburne-Johnson stepped up to the crease to open the batting for Shiplake but were unfortunately bowled out quickly due to some accurate and fast balls. J Cooper and O Lewis later found themselves as partners and became a dangerous pairing, quickly racking up runs with J Cooper scoring 72 runs from 51, and O Lewis scoring 19 from 13. Throughout the 2nd innings, the excitement continued and for a time, it looked inevitable that Shiplake would surpass the runs of SWBGS but it was not meant to be, eventually losing by 9 runs.
A thrilling season opener with plenty of positives to take away; well done on a great opening performance with a special mention going to J Cooper whose batting and bowling showed class.
Coaches: Mr S Read & Mr K Heaney
Boys' U15A vs Claires Court School
Claires Court won the toss and elected to bowl on the artificial wicket. Captain Z McConkey and C Nash-Steer looked comfortable early on, scoring 26 in good time until the first wicket. O Perkins scored 19 and A Mullens 22, but regular wickets fell throughout the innings. More concentration and longer partnerships would have ensured a better total than 106 for 8, but a respectable enough total to defend.
C Nash-Steer (1 for 12 off 4 overs) and O Perkins bowled well early on, restricting Claires Court’s run rate. Their captain came in and scored a stylish and quick 23 and another scored a patient 50 to see them to victory in 18 overs. Shiplake know to take all chances possible in the field next time.
B Demery and J Scotchbrook each picked up a wicket. Not a bad performance at all, with of course things to work on but with some very positive signs!
Coach: Mr A Dix
Boys' U15B vs University College School
Result: Defeat by 19 runs
Coach: Mr A Davis
Boys' U14A vs Cokethorpe School
Having been put into bat initially by Cokethorpe, Shiplake began at a sclerotic pace with extras scoring the most of our runs. Crucially however, we didn’t lose a wicket, and this allowed the batters to loosen the shackles as the bowling quality diminished. The innings was built around I Doherty’s stately 25, but some lusty thwacking from J Hills allowed us to post a modest but defendable total of 85.
The bowlers worked hard and gained early reward, reducing Cokethorpe to 20 for 3. However, some dropped catches didn’t help the cause and Cokethorpe hit the boundary with regularity. It seemed that Shiplake would succumb until an outstanding spell from R O’Boyle (2 for 6) redressed the balance. Wickets continued to fall as Cokethorpe chipped away at the total but in the end, the Cokethorpe batters crawled over the line with one ball and three wickets to spare.
Coach: Mr D Bradley
Boys' U14A vs University College School
We were delighted to win the toss and crucially, we were able to bowl first and put our opposition under pressure. All of those who bowled were able to follow the plan of keeping it short of a length and straight. Great discipline and skill set from all made batting extremely hard and wickets tumbled, mainly from catches in the covers. 41 all out gave the opposition little hope of a victory.
A good start with the bat was crucial however, on a tricky wicket, a few early dismissals and UCS would have been in the game. H Terrington, I Doherty and S Lingard scored well but sensibly to take Shiplake to 32 for 2 after 14 overs. Despite a mini collapse, we were well ahead of the runs required and we saw out the game, winning by 4 wickets.
Coach: Mr D Bradley
Boys' U14B vs University College School
On Saturday 29 April, Shiplake’s U14Bs travelled to UCS for the second game of their season. The boys arrived in good spirits and ready to improve on their previous fixture against Cokethorpe. Shiplake opened the batting with Z Young and T Ridout who started strongly, but the batter of the day was L White who came in third and remained in for the entire innings. A special mention to A Chauda who came in and stepped up for the U14Bs as numbers were low; he managed to accumulate a good number of runs in the small number of overs he faced towards the end of the innings. Shiplake finished the innings with 99 for 6.
The start of the second innings saw some good bowling from Z Young, A Chauda, J Satterly and T Ridout who displayed consistent bowling. Despite this, UCS’s number one batter had a very strong performance and, in the 17th, over, UCS surpassed the runs Shiplake managed in the first innings.
Despite the loss, the improvements from the previous fixture were evident and we look forward to spending another week training in preparation for our next fixture against Lord Wandsworth on Wednesday 10 May.
Coach: Mr J Burgess
Football
Boy's 1st XI vs Cokethorpe
A sloppy start to the game resulted in Cokethorpe utilising and going 1-0 up. However, Shiplake kicked into gear and started hammering Cokethorpe across the pitch. We managed to open up the solid Cokethorpe defence on multiple occasions hitting the woodwork and narrowly drawing level.
In the dying minutes, with only seconds on the clock, Shiplake managed to draw a penalty! With the final kick of the game, J Biggin slotted his penalty into the top right corner to make it 1-1. The game went to extra time for 10 minutes where again, Shiplake were the dominant force. However, we were destined to penalties where unfortunately, Cokethorpe proved triumphant with a 4-2 win.
This draws the 1st XI's season to a close. It was an incredible season full of ups and downs but one thing is for certain, every single person representing the 1st XI has made the school proud!
Coach: Mr B Claridge
Equestrianism
Year 9 pupil Jack Dag competed in his first One Day Event, Schools Equestrian Games (SEG) at Goring Heath on Monday 1 May. He competed in the dressage, the show jumping, and then in the cross-country.
While the cross country did not go as he would’ve liked, Jack was delighted with the first two elements - the dressage and show jumping.
His brother, Year 12 pupil Max, was also involved during the event having volunteered for the day. These competitions rely on people giving up their time to help them run which include pole picking in the show jumping.
Rowing
Wallingford Regatta
On Sunday 30 April the regatta season kicked off with Wallingford Regatta at Dorney Lake.
The J15 VIII raced well in their heat and qualified for the A final, finishing 6th. The J16 VIII raced hard in their heat but unfortunately did not qualify for the final. The J16 coxed four also raced hard in their heat, beating a crew from Westminster, but unfortunately didn't qualify for the final.
The 2nd VIII raced in the 1st VIII category. They had two fantastic races beating many schools' first eights. They finished 10th overall and were the 2nd fastest 2nd VIII behind Radley's 2nd VIII.
The 1st VIII competed in the Senior Men's Open VIIIs event. After a great race in their heat, they were the only school VIII to qualify for the final, ahead of 1st VIIIs from St Paul's, Radley and St Edward's. In the final, our boys competed against crews from Leander Club, London Rowing Club and Thames Rowing Club, putting together a great race to finish 5th overall.
Half the 1st VIII raced Senior Men's Coxed Fours in the afternoon. In the most exciting race of the day they took the win over London Rowing club in the closest race of the day by 0.01 second. Well done to F Fox, S Critchley, C Wallis, F Worthington, and cox C Keena.
The girls' coxed four raced twice and finished 12th overall. The girls' double scull raced very well and finished 2nd in the final, beating a crew from Sir William Perkins that had previously beaten them in the heats.
The girls' quad competed in Senior Women's Quads and qualified for the final. Like the boys' VIII, they also raced against strong senior clubs such as Leander Club. They equalled the boys by finishing 5th in the final, putting together an exceptional race.
National Sculling Regatta
On Monday 1 May, the girls and Year 9 octuple raced at the National Sculling Regatta at Dorney Lake.
The Year 9 boys raced hard and qualified for the B final. Unfortunately, disaster struck when the crew caught a crab and snapped two oars resulting in a 6th place finish.
The girls' double qualified for the A final and finished in 5th place and later, the girls' quad qualified for the A final. They raced incredibly well to take the bronze medal behind Wycliffe College and Henley Rowing Club. Massive congratulations to J Weir, E Downing, E Over and A Merritt. This is the first regatta season national medal for Shiplake in 2023 - let's hope it continues at National Schools' Regatta!
Coach: Mr D Currie
Tennis
Boys' 1st VI vs The Oratory
| Shiplake 1 | Shiplake 2 | Shiplake 3 | |
| Oratory 1 | W 7-5(5) | L 1-6 | L 4-6 |
| Oratory 2 | W 6-2 | W 6-3 | W 6-0 |
| Oratory 3 | W 6-3 | W 7-5 | W 6-2 |
In perfect conditions, Shiplake started incredibly strongly and showed the Oratory players that we meant business. Shiplake 1 (L Poundall and B Varaday) and Shiplake 2 (H Wallace and H Doyle) won their games in round 1 while Shiplake 3 (S Mealing and N Sennhauser) were so close to beat the Oratory 1st pair, losing their match 6-4.
Round 2 was a similar affair, with Shiplake winning two matches out of three. Before Round 3, the Oratory knew they needed to win all their matches in that final round to get a result. Unfortunately for them, Shiplake had other plans and played their best tennis against the opposition: three wins out of three to make it a final result of 7-2 in matches. The match between Shiplake 1 and Oratory 1, which delighted the crowd with its excellent quality, really went down to the wire with a very tense tie-break deciding the outcome. Our boys were 4-2 down in the tie-break, then scored 4 points in a row to take the lead 6-4 and get two match points. The first match point did not go their way, but the second did. A great victory against two very good Oratory players.
All matches were played in excellent spirit and camaraderie, and to a high standard for school tennis. Well done Shiplake!
Report: R Guillaud
