It has been an extremely busy week of sport at the College with many fixtures taking place both at home and away. In cricket, in addition to the weekday fixtures, there were block fixtures against local neighbours Reading Blue Coat. Additionally, history was made as our girls' 1st XI made history by playing their first ever hard ball match in a knock-out competition, when previous matches had been soft-ball pairs. There were also tennis fixtures and in rowing, one of our own brought back a bronze medal from the U19 European Championships.
Cricket
Girls’ 1st XI vs Wellington College
On Wednesday 17 May, the Shiplake College girls’ 1st XI made history by playing their first hard ball cricket match against Wellington College in the National Girls' U18 100 Ball Cup. Shiplake batted first with G Bradbury bravely opening the batting with some strong hits. Even when faced with tough bowling, the girls hit some good balls, especially G Weedon and E Browne with the latter getting Batter of the Match. Shiplake scored a total of 32 runs.
Shiplake were then fielding, with A Botterill opening the bowling which awarded her with Fielder of the Match. Although the match ended in a loss, the girls’ coaches couldn’t be prouder of the team for taking on a challenge and trying something new after so little practice. The girls are looking forward to the rest of their cricket matches this term and to keep practising and improving their hard ball skills.
Report: P Sanderson, Girl’s Cricket Captain
Coach: Mrs C Lovelock
Boys’ 1st XI vs Reading Blue Coat
On a glorious sunny morning, Shiplake 1st XI entertained our neighbours and nearest rivals, Reading Blue Coat. The ground was a picture as captain T Angell duly won the toss and decided to bowl. An early chance was put down, but E Thomas and T Angell bowled tidily in the opening power play. D Elliott and J Cooper came on 1st change from either end with both picking up a wicket. Catches started to stick and smart fielding from L Swinburne-Johnson and T Angell removed two of RBC’s dangerous middle order. T Barley finished his spell by removing the dangerous opening batter as we entered the closing stages of the innings. Our captain and E Thomas closed out the final overs with the ball which included a smart run out courtesy of D Elliott's excellent throw. A target of 138 had been set.
Following the early loss of opener L Swinburne-Johnson, a superb 37 run partnership between B Stokes and E Thomas gave the innings momentum and purpose. B Stokes was looking in fine form until mistiming a pull shot to a close fielder. In strode W Forster who, with the aid of some wayward bowling, free hits and superb ball striking, got the scoreboard rattling along. 50 runs were added in 5 overs.
With the game all but won, Shiplake did their best to bring RBC back into the game with W Forster, T Angell and J Cooper all falling in quick succession. E Thomas completed his maiden 50 in fine style, but again fell with a dozen runs needed. A steady partnership from L Crerar and J Macleod meant that Shiplake sealed victory with an over to spare.
Coach: Mr J Wheeler
Boys’ U15A
It has been a great week for the U15A team with three wins and many good performances.
It was a close game on Wednesday 17 May against Claires Court, winning by 3 runs. O Perkins scored 26, A Mullens 31 and F Partridge 27. C Nash-Steer picked up 2 wickets.
It was a convincing win against Crosfields the following day on Thursday. Shiplake scored 164-2 in their 20 overs with O Perkins scoring 50 not out, and C Nash-Steer, Z McConkey and A Mullens again batting well. Crosfields were bowled out for 54, with 4 wickets for O Beaney.
On Saturday, Shiplake again notched up over 160 in their 20 overs against Reading Blue Coat. Captain Z McConkey scored 55 not out and H Arnold scored a swashbuckling 42 off just 21 balls. Shiplake restricted Reading Blue Coat to 121-7, with J Hinton taking 2 wickets. There were also two fine catches for O Beaney and one each for F Partridge and A Mullens.
Coach: Mr A Dix
Boys’ U15B vs Crosfields
Unusually, Shiplake’s U15B team had a Thursday fixture as their first home game of the season. Our opponents were Crosfields which included three girls in their team. It was lovely to see them participate fully by bowling some tight overs.
The Shiplake team was again led by A Chauda and K Marsh. Crosfields won the toss and chose to bowl. E Chalfont and S Pickering gave Shiplake a promising start with S Pickering going on to retire after a quickfire 40 not out (retired). Once they departed however, Shiplake struggled to keep the scoreboard ticking over, eventually finishing on 108 for 6.
T Stadler and R Waine opened the bowling for Shiplake but struggled to make an impact. C Kirkwood was introduced and managed to bowl one of the dangerous Crosfield openers. He then took a smart catch and bowled to give Shiplake some hope. S Pickering cemented his Player of the Match performance by bowling the other opener, but it was in vain. Too many wayward Shiplake deliveries meant that Crosfields were able to reach their target with 8 balls to spare. Two main things to work on for next time will be rotating the strike when batting and reducing the number of extras when bowling.
Coach: Mr A Davis
U15B vs Reading Blue Coat School
Shiplake’s U15Bs were back in action less than two days after facing Crosfields. This time, a strong Reading Blue Coat School side were our opponents. A change in leadership meant that the Shiplake team was led by S Pickering for the first time. RBC won the toss and elected to bowl. After an early wicket, F Russell and S Pickering gave Shiplake a promising start. Unfortunately, S Pickering was unable to repeat his previous heroics and was bowled. F Russell held one end steadfastly but found it difficult scoring off some tight RBC bowling. As in the previous match, Shiplake struggled to keep the scoreboard ticking over. A concerted effort to raise the run rate towards the end meant that Shiplake eventually finished on 96 for 9 off their 20 overs.
F Russell and R Waine opened the bowling for Shiplake with R Waine getting an early breakthrough, just as the RBC openers were starting to score more freely. Shiplake were fielding well as a team with plenty of encouragement and disciplined backing up the thrower. There was even some well-meant sledging of the RBC batsmen from our new wicketkeeper, L Moore. Despite this, the strong RBC batting line-up continued to score well above the asking rate. E Chalfont managed to induce a false shot to have RBC best batsman caught, but the damage had already been done. RBC eclipsed Shiplake’s score after 11 overs, finishing on 98 for 2.
Despite the loss, it was great to see so many boys (J Toker, D Seraille, O Griffin, T Stalder) getting the chance to represent their school, many for the first time.
Coach: Mr A Davis
U14A vs Reading Blue Coat
It was fantastic to play on a firm, dry pitch with the ball coming through nicely - at last! Shiplake won the toss and put Reading Blue Coat into bat. Frustratingly, they then made a quick start scoring runs freely. Shiplake managed to gain some control over the scoring - in particular, S Gibson, with his leg-spin proving hard to score against, took 2 wickets. However, 160 from 20 overs was a challenging target.
Shiplake started well scoring freely, however RBC had their own leg-spinner who took 3 quick wickets and changed the game in their favour. From this point we were chasing the game and needing to score quickly. This led to further wickets and Shiplake were bowled out for 69 runs.
Coach: Mr D Bradley
U14B vs Reading Blue Coat
After a productive week of training, the U14Bs travelled across the bridge to Reading Blue Coat for a brilliant morning of cricket. Shiplake won the toss and decided to bat first, meaning A Hooker and F Fisher had an opportunity to set the pace for the innings. Both batted well, completing 18 and 15 runs respectively before being bowled out. This paved the way for Z Wood to make his first appearance for the U14Bs and score an impressive 17 runs in 20 balls, giving the rest of the group confidence. The innings progressed and with some good bowling from Blue Coat, Shiplake managed to knock up 76 runs in total.
The 2nd innings began and within 18 balls, F Fisher bowled a great ball leading to an A Hooker catch, which gave Shiplake a boost as RBC started well with the bat in hand. Following on from that, the same duo was at it again; this time A Hooker bowled, and F Fisher made a great catch. Despite this, RBC were batting really well and accumulating a positive number of runs. Despite another three wickets from M Wong, Z Young and Z Wood, RBC unfortunately caught Shiplake's run total in the 14th over.
Despite the loss, there were many positives to take away and some brilliant individual moments from a number of players that will give the team confidence as we head into our next block fixture against The Oratory School.
Coach: Mr J Burgess
Lower School vs Henley Cricket Club
We had perfect conditions for a match against Henley Cricket Club in what proved to be a very close match with HCC just edging what was a fantastic contest. Shiplake will need to keep working on consistent bowling as once again, the extras columns steadily grew but this will reduce with more experience.
Wickets came from O Houldsworth, J Swankie, T Steward and B Oliver. What was more pleasing, however, was the batting with a much more patient approach and wickets being taken due to good balls rather than poor shot choice. By some distance, the pick of our batters was B Oliver who retired not out on 27.
Coach: Mr R Edwards
Lower School 1st XI vs Crosfields School
Last week, the lower school 1st XI played Crosfields in a nail-biting fixture that finished in a tie after 20 overs. Shiplake lost their first wicket early after scoring 5 runs but then J Martin and L Waldegrave put on a partnership of over 75 runs to take control of the game; 45 from L Waldegrave and 33 from J Martin. The middle order and tail end did their best to add to the total in the few balls left and the Lower School 1st XI were in control with a 1st innings score of 104.
The second innings began, and the Lower School 1st XI immediately started picking off Crosfield’s batters with some excellent bowling and some even better fielding. C Cooper's diving attempt saved the opposition umpire from a nasty injury and J Filippetto's instinctive catch was the highlight of the day. A lapse in energy levels at around the 15th over saw Shiplake's bowling get a little sloppy and the heat of the day began to take its toll. Suddenly, the final over was upon us and Crosfields required 10 to draw and 11 to win from 6 balls. A very tough ask, but their batters decided to swing for the fences with only 2 wickets remaining. That put the pressure on the bowlers who began to give away a couple of misplaced extras and suddenly it was 2 to draw from the last ball and 3 to win. A wild swing from the batter saw the ball land in the only leg side space available and they were off and running. 1 run went and they turned for the second with the incoming throw from deep in the field missing the stumps by a hair's width and the game was tied.
An amazing game to be a part of and exposure to pressure that can only be experienced in a fixture. All 10 of Shiplake's fielders bowled at least 1 over meaning it was a true team performance to be proud of.
Coach: Mr R Edwards
Rowing – GB U19 European Championships
Following on from the Munich Junior Regatta in which we had three of our senior rowers competing (J Weir, N Floyd, and F Middleton), we were delighted to hear that J Weir had been selected to race for Great Britain at the U19 European Championships.
This took place at the Lac du Causse in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France, on 20-21 May and we were delighted to hear that in the Junior Women’s Double Scull, J Weir and her partner, E Fullman (Wycliffe Junior RC), came third, bringing home a fantastic bronze medal. This is a superb achievement and now all eyes are on National Schools' Regatta later this week, as well as on Henley Women's Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta next month!
Tennis
Boys’ 1st VI vs Bradfield College
It finally feels as though summer is upon us, especially with the sound of tennis balls being hit and the gentle clapping from spectators as this Saturday, Shiplake came up against Bradfield College. Known for its tennis, the senior boys were aware that their competitors were going to put up a good fight.
Unfortunately, Shiplake lost 3-6 overall. After two rounds, B Varady and L Poundall were the pair to beat having won both previous sets. However, Bradfield's first doubles pair managed to win the last set 6-1, a score that did not reflect how tight some of the games were within it. This defeat was made up with B Staddon and H Doyle managing to get a win in the end. Although the score may not have gone Shiplake's way, the sun and scenery still made the day an enjoyable one.
Coach: Miss S Lane
Lower School vs Leighton Park
With a new looking squad from the last fixture, due to a cricket fixture running at the same time, our Lower School tennis team took on an established Leighton Park team in our third tennis fixture of the season. It was a real uphill challenge from the outset with all three pairs playing their first games as a double. However, they did not let that affect them and they all worked tirelessly through all the games and had some great rallies. After all our hard work, we unfortunately lost 8-1 but a special mention must go to Year 7's O Gilbart-Smith and T Steward for scoring our only win of the day against a Year 8 team.
Coach: Mr A Gingell
