Boys cricket tour

Thursday 16 May

Salisbury was the first stop for the colts boys on their three day, four match cricket tour to play the Cathedral School. First, though, we had an hour’s tour around the 800 year old cathedral, a fascinating insight. After the tour, we left through the Bishop’s door which thousands of choristers have passed through and into the grounds of the Cathedral School. We enjoyed a super lunch but the heavens opened just as play was due to start! The rain lightened, briefly, and on we went. In difficult batting conditions we dismissed the hosts for 65 runs and Barnaby H held fort throughout our reply as we reached 66-3 to win the match. We drove the short distance to spend the night at the Premier Inn whilst Mr Farrer found a laundrette for our rather muddy cricket whites!

Friday 17 May

After a good night’s sleep we drove through the peaceful country lanes on the Hampshire / Dorset border and arrived at the beautiful grounds of Forres Sandle Manor. We chose to bat first and Felix B, Andrey A and Felix C ensured we posted a commanding total. It was a score FSM couldn’t match but we struggled to take many wickets as they replied to our 152-2 with 92-3 as we won by 60 runs. After the traditional Fish and Chips lunch it was another half hour into the Cranborne Chase and, again, the stunning grounds of Sandroyd. With a well prepared cricket pitch at our disposal, we batted first and this time Felix B was joined by Wilf F and they, along with George M and Andrey A led us to 133-3 after our 20 overs. Sandroyd’s number 7 scored 41 to ensure they posted 79 all out as we were victors by 54 runs. With our final match on the Saturday morning closer to home, we headed eastwards to the Holiday Inn in Farnborough after Sandroyd had given us supper.

Saturday 18 May

Danes Hill were our final opponents, a large day prep school of over 800 pupils! They chose to bat first but Seth E took two overs. They continued to score quickly, however, and finished 110 all out with Tommy G taking the last two wickets very cheaply to ensure they scored no more (Randall and Cahill being the two – grandson of a famous cricketer and son of a famous footballer, who was watching). We lost a couple of wickets early but Nico E, Wilf F and Felix C batted with great maturity to slowly but surely increase our run rate. We finished 112/3, winning with 15 balls to spare! After a packed lunch at Danes Hill, our tour continued at the home of Sussex County Cricket Club in Hove where Sussex were playing Yorkshire. We enjoyed watching and playing cricket and collecting autographs – and meeting England cricketing legend Joe Root! We returned to school tired after three action packed, successful and fulfilling days on Saturday evening!