On Wednesday 9th July the boys’ cricket team travelled to Cambridge to compete in the National London East Finals. This event was held at Clare College Sports ground in Cambridge. An early 8am start gave us a good run over to Cambridge where the boys were set to compete. With Norfolk and Sussex in their group the first game was against Norfolk. The boys lost the toss and had to bat first. A slow start due to some good bowling saw the first pair get 15 runs, the second pair only added another 8. The third pair got 15 runs but lost a wicket. A couple of sixes from Leighton ably assisted by Oliver took the total for the innings to 254.
The William Ransom bowling was strong once again with only 4 off Ben, Jamie gave 7 but took a wicket, Edward and Charlie came up against some strong batsmen, Oliver took a wicket but by the end of the seventh bowler we were 1 run behind. Leighton took a wicket but then gave away 4. Luckily his bowling was good and only 2 singles were conceded to give William Ransom a win by just 7 runs!
We knew that Sussex was going to be a strong team and they did not disappoint their spectators. Fielding first and taking an early wicket was great and 262 looked a score that the boys may be able to beat. However, they had not bargained on the exceptional bowling and fielding ability of their opponents and the wickets started to fall with every hit to the boundary being straight into a fielder’s hands. Tyler, Edward and Oliver were the only players who avoided losing a wicket and the final score we all cringe to remember was 181 for 11 wickets!
All three teams had lost a game by the end of the group stage but William Ransom came third in the group as they had scored the fewest runs.
Lunch reenergised the boys and a game against Middlesex the third place team in group C was a great opportunity to give Rory our youngest player a chance to show off his skills. The boys fielded first and taking 6 wickets only let Middlesex score 226 runs. In return, despite a slow start and some fine bowling from Middlesex the boys managed a score of 248 with the loss of only 1 wicket. S win to end the season and home just after school finished so a fantastic end to a very successful season.
Once again our thanks to the parents who provided lifts and stayed to support. It could have been a lot warmer and less windy for the supporters but hot drinks were available and everyone was proud of the way the boys had played. We all wish Charlie and Leighton the very best of luck as they take their sporting skills on to HBS and for the remainder of the team, let’s look forward to 2015!