St Edward's Chronicle October 2016

28 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Cricket By Simon Roche, Master i/c Cricket 2016 was another impressive season for the St Edward’s 1st XI. In a rain-affected summer the team won 15 matches in total, making them the fourth most successful XI in our history. This was achieved with a team which included four Fifth Formers and a Fourth Former; a precocious season for a young side. We won the John Harvey Cup (a league competition against Radley, Marlborough, Cheltenham, Bradfield and Winchester) for the fourth year in succession, and we beat Harrow by nine wickets away from home. It was also the first year that the School played in the University Parks, where we were lucky enough to play a 20/20 game versus Oxford MCCU. It is worth dwelling on the Abingdon fixture: in 2015 we lost to Abingdon in a very tight game so we were keen to make amends this year. We won the toss and elected to bat and thereafter records fell. AJ Woodland ( Davenies ), the Captain, scored 204 not out, which was the first double hundred in the School’s history; his partner was Ben Charlesworth ( Our Lady’s Abingdon ), a Fourth Former, who made 110 (his second century of the season). Their opening partnership consisted of 310, which is a record for the School. Abingdon were bowled out for 72 resulting in a comprehensive win by 251 runs. Likewise this year’s fixture with Radley was one to savour. On the eve of ‘cricket week’ (the last week of the Summer Term) we knew that we would have to beat Cheltenham and then Radley in order to retain the John Harvey Cup. First, we beat Cheltenham by 96 runs, thanks to an assured 74 from AJ Woodland, 4 wickets from Jamie Curtis (Cherwell) and 3 wickets from Ben Charlesworth. This meant we had to beat Radley – a draw or the match being abandoned to rain would not give us enough points to win and there was lots of rain forecast. Radley won the toss and elected to bat. Jamie Curtis was soon in amongst the wickets and finished with a game-changing 5 for 20: Radley were bowled out for 111. The clouds were looming, and although St Edward’s got off to a flyer (67 off the first 6 overs) it began to rain heavily. We were

stalwart of the cricket club and a very good captain in his last year. Andy Wyles (Dulwich Prep London) , the vice-captain, also left in

forced to put the big climate cover down (a groundsheet that covers the whole square) and the entire team then set to clearing the ground water. It made quite a picture:

the summer and he too played for four years finishing his 1st XI career with 47 wickets and over 500 runs to his name. The Upper Sixth legacy looks pretty secure in the juniors’ hands: Jamie Curtis’s masterful leg breaks earned him 46 wickets this season, Harrison Ward (John Mason) earned the best figures of the season with 6 for 38, whilst Ben Charlesworth

Stop Press: AJ Woodland was recently named as the Wisden top schoolboy run scorer in the country last season; Jamie Curtis was named 2nd highest wicket taker

groundsman, players, coaches and even the batsmen in their pads were all clearing ground water during the deluge hoping that the clouds would break. They did, and full credit to the umpires and Radley for agreeing to go straight on. The rain abated for 30 minutes, and it took St Edward’s 29 minutes

to knock off the runs and win the John Harvey (thereafter it rained so heavily that play would not have resumed). It was a real team effort with just enough luck thrown in. AJ Woodland, who left in July, played for four years in the 1st XI. He broke the School’s batting record this year for the most runs in a season with 1207, which took his career runs to 2734 and which we can couple to his career wickets of 76. AJ was a

scored 744 runs in total. Many of the boys played county cricket this summer and Ben Charlesworth was picked to represent the South and West at Bunbury. So there is certainly strength in depth and a real desire to come back even stronger next year. My thanks to Mr Howitt and Dave Simpkins for their coaching and expertise; and to Bob Bowerman and his team for their superb care of Upper 1 and the grounds.

Tom Powell (St Andrew’s, Pangbourne)