Sport

U9A/B

Colts A

With so much of our hope this summer being placed not on the England cricket team but the Colts A, it has been a mixed season regarding results. The boys have enjoyed the transition to hardball and seeing them every break time practising in the nets has been pleasing. Jack Patten has been a revelation behind the stumps this season, having been thrown the gloves at the start of the season with little experience, he has taken several catches and stumpings. Whilst the boys have experienced, at times, comical innings with a lack of communication being at the forefront of our mistakes, they have managed to put in some strong performances against predominantly U11 A teams. This has been a challenging experience for them, considering most of the team are U10’s- this certainly is promising for next summer! There wereonvincing victories against Great Ballard and Shoreham College, with a standout team performance in a narrow loss to Seaford College: Harry Redgrove scoring 48 not out, Jackson Morey with a quick fire 30 and Finley Boughton with a powerful 20. Colts B

Over the season the boys faced some difficult opponents. This never stopped them from giving the opposition teams a challenge. Against Handcross Park the boys batted first, setting a total of 121 runs - impressive for their first non-paired game. An impressive run of bowling from Oscar Bassett who took 2 wickets, and Lucas taking one, made batting hard for Handcross. Add to this, some great wicket keeping from Daniel Sherwell; James Ratcliffe taking an incredible catch and a great throw which ran a player out; and some superb boundary stopping fielding from Rafferty New. This was the best game of cricket the group played, and it came down to the last over, where Handcross Park unfortunately, hit a boundary to win. Despite this, the boys demonstrated just how much they had improved over the season.

The boys had a tremendous season with a mix of Year 3 and 4. As the season progressed, the boys’ confidence grew with every performance. A strength of the whole team was the consistency in their bowling. The boys worked hard on their bowling action, bowling with a straight arm and hitting a good line and length, something not all schools we played against could claim! The team faced some challenging matches, albeit at times facing a baseball pitch, picking up wins against Great Ballard, Lancing at Hove and Pennthorpe. Special mention to Edward Greatorex who captained the side and led from the front. Key performances from: Stanley Winter bowling at the death with precision and control; Roddy Cleghorn for his powerful strokes and Cameron Rae for developing into the most economical bowler.

Jack Stevenson (or should I say Ben Stokes), demonstrated his match winning play with several wickets taken and booming 6s. The future is bright!

Adam Bardouleau