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Cricket
1ST XI REPORT
‘No cricket team in the world depends on one or two players. The team always plays to win.’ Virhat Kohli
The XI, who were admirably and maturely led by Chris Wood in his Lower Sixth year, went from strength to strength over the course of the 2019 summer. With the plethora of talent in this squad it is a luxury for me to be able to facilitate playing an exciting, positive brand of cricket that is entertaining and a pleasure to watch. The aim is to always enjoy the game; play it hard, and play it to win; whilst always trying to stretch and challenge both skills and ourselves in every facet of the game or life. At the beginning of the season, as everyone tried to find their feet, there were initially some shaky performances but with positive focus, understanding and hard work soon ideas and plans started to click and the squad quickly began to enjoy success both as individuals throughout, as well as more importantly, success as a team. We had notably significant wins in the regular season against Sedbergh, Trent College, Ampleforth, and Worksop College, as well as winning the PREW festival with empathic victories over Repton, Warwick and Epsom College - certainly victories to be incredibly proud of and to look to emulate next summer. A few minor slip ups at various points over the season unfortunately didn’t quite give us the glorious unbeaten summer we had aimed for in April; fortress St Peter’s was breached a couple of times and some below par performances away from home, by our standards, was frustrating and unfortunate. However, with defeat always comes opportunity - to reflect and start again with fresh ideas and new goals and a forward thinking mind set - whenever this happened the squad would without fail rally and respond the only way they know - to work hard, come back stronger and win.
Again, our National T20 campaign was a highlight, another exhilarating Friday night win over Worksop in the North East Final at York CC, before moving onto the North of England Final against Sedbergh, unfortunately for the 3rd year in a row St Peter’s came off second best having been in a commanding position just before the half way stage - we will have our day!
My many thanks to all of our umpires this season for their constant support and consistent decision making. To the ground staff, Mark Hillaby and his team who work tirelessly to produce some of the best pitches on the circuit - their work often goes unnoticed but never unappreciated. To Paddy for his energy, enthusiasm and unwavering support of the school cricket programme. To Courtney Hill who has been our Cricket Pro this year - she has been a breath of fresh air and has brought a wealth of knowledge and experience from her time in the Women’s Big Bash, as well as plenty of energy and fighting spirit in her capacity as Leeds Rhinos Women’s Rugby League Captain.
We say farewell to 2 departing members of the XI this summer, Isaac Watson who has been a wonderful member of the XI for two seasons, and Ben Lodge who has been at the forefront of a powerful middle order for the past three and half seasons - both will be missed for their experience, determination and leadership. Thank you for everything you have done as ambassadors for St Peter’s Cricket.
Finally, my sincere thanks to the players, who have yet again been an absolute pleasure to coach. I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing their company throughout the season - the core of this talented side return next summer and they will continue to work and develop, as well as grow both as players and people. I very much look forward with enthusiasm and excitement for what the 2020 summer should have in store; it is going to be a memorable season...
Mr Gareth Sharp
ST PETER’S, YORK - 1ST XI STATS. 2019
Played 22 Won 17 Lost 5 Abandoned 2 Win ratio 77.2%
BATTING AVERAGES
M Roberts - 48.1 (HS 150*) M Lodge - 46.1 (HS 76*) B Lodge - 35.4 (HS 120) C Wood - 27.8 (HS 78*) I Giannini - 27.1 (HS 89*) H Gration - 26.6 (HS 53) E Westmoreland - 18.2 (HS 34*) O Tomalin - 17.0 (HS 28*) J Wood - 13.3 (HS 36) F Southgate - 12.4 (HS 40*) I Watson - 10.3 (HS 10) E Watson - 9.0 (HS 38*) J Bramley - 5.3 (HS 10) T Burgess - 4.5 (HS 6)
BOWLING AVERAGES
O Tomlain 27 wickets @ 15.25 - Best 5-14 F Southgate 22 wickets @ 16.18 - Best 2-20 J Bramley 21 wickets @ 23.4 - Best 3-30 C Wood 25 wickets @ 19.8 - Best 3-15 M Roberts 24 wickets @ 13.5 - Best 4-22 I Giannini 15 wickets @ 25.7 - Best 2-19 E Watson 15 wickets @ 8.06 - Best 5-15 H Gration 6 wickets @ 21.1 - Best 2-25 I Watson 5 wickets @ 28.4 - Best 2-14 W Middleton 6 wickets @ 11.3 - Best 2-3 J Wood 1 wicket @ 93 - Best 1-17
The following boys represented the 1st XI - denotes *caps, +colours, #half colours: C Wood*+, B Lodge*+, M Roberts+, E Watson+, M Lodge+, I Giannini+, J Bramley+, F Southgate+, O Tomalin+, H Gration+, I Watson#, N Gill, T Burgess, J Wood, E Westmoreland, W Middleton, J Baker, C Bramley
2ND XI
I think this very neatly sums up the way Joe Bates captained the 2nd XI this season. Games were lost to the weather, there were missmatches, sides were changed at the last minute and things off the field affected things on the field and yet throughout he maintained the spirit of the game and the enjoyment of playing this wonderful sport.
With weather set fair at the start of the season we kicked off with a fine win over York University 2nd XI in a T20 warm up game in which the “master blaster” Nick Gibb smashed a fine 70. With Will Middleton opening the bowling at one end and Ed Morrison at the other this was a good opening attack, and with the spin of George Pears and Charlie Bramley to come we were in a strong position. Tom Matthews, Joshy Bennison, Will Guyer, Issac Kennedy provided real strength in the bowling department with Joe Bates and Will Morrison backing these up. With Tom Lindley and on occasion Tim Burgess keeping WKT we had a well-balanced bowling attack.
Our fielding, as evidenced by Joe Bates’ outstanding catch in the gully and run out against Ampleforth, was strong and the addition
of Joe Baker, Ed Westmoreland, and Ed Ramsden as batting allrounders made us a formidable side at full-strength. Our three wkt loss to Sedburgh was a close and tense affair with Ed Ramsden’s 32 and Will Guyer`s 27* giving us a defendable 142. Charlie Bramley’s wonderful 4-25 nearly won us the game and but for a dropped catch would have given him a 5 for and us the match. Another close defeat to Yorkshire Cricket College by three wkts saw Josh Wood hit 79 in a score of 158 which they reached with two overs left. Sadly exams, the weather, cancellations, and lack of communication about other school commitments meant that the rest of the season was a struggle to get the best sides out.
Fortunately, the inaugural T20 competition at Durham and the tour match vs Melbourne JC in the final week of term restored our season with some great cricket at Durham and a fine win at home vs the tourists. At Durham we took on NZ opposition Tauranga Boys College who were a strong side who went on to win the competition. They batted first and despite some fine bowling from Will Middleton and George Pears they survived a couple of difficult chances to score a formidable 189. Charlie Bramley will claim, with some justification that he had their centurion LBW and stumped before he reached his ton. We went for the score but couldn’t keep to the required rate. Will Morrison, Joe Bates, Tom Lindley and Isaac Kennedy all got starts but perished in the run chase. They were a super side to play against who completely got the spirit of the competition.
Next came RGS Newcastle and all the things learnt in the morning bore fruit in the afternoon game. Joe Bates scoring 74 and Will Morrison 65* with a cameo from George Pears with 18 of 6 balls producing a score of 199-2. We bowled very well with Will Middleton and George Pears bottling their openers up. Charlie Bramley then produced a spell of 4 overs 6 for 22 to rip the middle out of their batting. On the Tuesday we had the remaining T20 matches at Durham and Melbourne JC. Joe Bates captained at home and Will Morrison away at Durham. A splendid batting performance against the hosts with Harvey Ake top scoring with
28* saw us set Durham a target of 125. A great opening spell from Ben Tomalin and Joshy Benison then saw the remaining wickets shared by Will Morrison, Isaac Kennedy and George Black. We had finished second in our group and went on to play NSB in the 3rd 4th playoff. Joshy Bennison (44) and Isaac Kennedy (39) pushed us along to give them a target of 123. Initially they were 47-0 off 4 overs until a super stumping by Danny Pye off Ben Tomalin started the collapse that eventually saw NSB squeeze home by three wickets with three balls to spare. Will Morrison`s captaincy in his last game for St Peter’s was superb and exemplified his enormous contribution to sport at school over the last five years.
At home Joe Bates captained the side to a well fought win over our Aussie friends with Joe`s figures of 3-5 off 3 overs and George Pears 2-5 off 5 overs being the pick. Fine knocks by Toby Search (22), Tom Lindley (22) and George Pears (33*) saw us home.
I would like to thank Luke for his huge efforts this season, Joe and Will for all their support as captains and all the lads for their commitment.
U15 CRICKET REPORT
“To me, cricket is a simple game. Keep it simple and just go out and play.” SHANE WARNE
The cricket season started as the sevens season finished with very wet ground and cancelled matches. All our pre-season games went well as did our matches with Sedbergh and Worksop. We started off with a development game vs N Yorkshire in the second week of May on the same day the 1st and 2nd XI had fixtures and the U15 B team took on and beat Bootham by 31 runs. N Yorkshire batted first
on our newly re-laid square on the Wightman scoring 153-9 in their 35. We batted and started well with Joshy Bennison, Frazer Fennel and Ben Irvine all getting in only to get out when well set. With the 9th wicket going down at 128 and still needing 26 Toby Search and Tom Hollinrake got their heads down and saw us home to a fine win by 1 wicket.
The national T20 came next with a super win over King James Knaresborough, all started with a superb first ball dismissal of their talented captain, with Joshy Bennison taking a fantastic slip catch off Flynn Southgate. We chased down 89 without the loss of a wicket with Tom Matthews and George Sturdy sharing the spoils. Durham came next with Elliot Watson, Flynn Southgate and Harvey Gration representing the 1st XI and Joshy Bennison the 2nd XI (70*), we did well to post a score 158-8, with good contributions from George Pears (22), Tom Matthews (21), Tom Hollinrake (38*) and Corby Doeg (26*). We bowled well and 3 wickets from Jack Davis and Tom Matthews alongside excellent bowling from Charlie Bramley and Tom Hollinrake alongside two runs outs saw us home by 32 runs.
The T20 came next giving us a chance of redemption over Lady Lumley`s who beat us last year! Excellent batting from Elliot Watson 67 and Flynn Southgate 49 allowed us to post a score of 157. Jack Davis was the pick of the bowling with 4 for 20 off his 4 overs closely followed by Charlie Bramley with 2 for 11 of his four- allowing us to win by exactly 100 runs.
It was off to GSAL just before half term and on a not very easy pitch we did well to post 109 with Joshy Bennison (17), Tom Matthews (15) and Charlie Bramley (24) showing real application and good running between the wickets. We then bowled and fielded well to dismiss GSAL with James Brent fishing the innings with a hat trick. Next came a very good win over Harrogate GS in the T20 competition where we posted 128 and then bowled particularly well to keep them to 104 with the spin of Elliot Watson, Charlie Bramley and Harvey Gration being the difference.
Straight after half term came the next T20 against Driffield College where we batted very well scoring 171 with Harvey Gration 56*,
Tom Matthews 34, Ben Irvine 31 and Joe Baker 31. The turning point of the game came with Flynn Southgate running out their very fine opener (Cain Robb) for 50- eventually we ran out winners by 50 runs. WHG came next and on a superb wicket with pace and bounce they posted 158 for 4 in 35 overs. We started slowly in order to see off their fine opening bowlers with much credit to Charlie Bramley and Joshy Bennison. George Pears (18) and Joe Lawrence (28) then accelerated well and the game was finished off in spectacular style by Joe Baker (23*) and Max Hollinrake who scored 45* off 27 deliveries. Next came Hymers with David Ford (28), Jimmy Dawson (28) and Max Hollinrake (36*) posting 147 for 9. We bowled 7 bowlers in the Hymers innings showing the tremendous strength in depth of this side with Corby Doeg, David Ford, James Brent, Azim Harun, Josh Gath, Alex Try Banton and Joe Lawrence bowling Hymers out for 79. We then took on Pocklington and posted 121 in 25 overs with Pocklington reaching 82 in their 25- this exemplified how poor the Wightman wicket was I am afraid.
The next game was Pocklington again three days later- not ideal and we played our worst game of the season to be knocked out of the National T20. They were more focused, and played better than us deserving to win a game that we should have won. The lads know why they lost and will, I hope, learn much from an experience which was very, very disappointing. Bradford came next batting first and scoring 110 in their 20 overs. Once Joe Baker got set it was over in a flash with Joe scoring 72*in 28 balls.
We now reached the festival which was held at St Peter’s. In our first match vs Norwich School we posted a fine 232 off our 40 overs with Ben Irvine 101, Tom Matthews 41, Toby Search 34 and Tudor Maude 28* all batting well. We started well and a super spell from Charlie Bramley, which brought 4 wickets and a stunning catch from Tudor Maude was all to no avail, with two dropped catches giving lives to their two middle order batsmen who then went on to win the game by 5 wickets with an over to spare. In the Tuesday game we played Cheltenham College scoring 286-8 in our 45 overs with Elliot Watson 125*, George Pears 55 and Joe Baker 32 really batting very well indeed. Cheltenham started well and their opener looked set to score the third hundred of the week, until he played his first false shot and was dismissed for 81. Tremendous bowling and fielding with Watson 4-30, Bennison 3-33 and Jack Davis 0-8 off 4 overs saw us over the line. The final game of a superb season saw us take on Trent College in a T20 where they batted first scoring 112. Again, tremendous bowling from Tom and Max Hollinrake who took 4 wickets between them and George Pears who managed 3 more, alongside some super fielding which saw Alex Try-Banton snaffle two great catches at important moments in the game. We lost 4 quick wickets before an elegant Elliot Watson 32* and a brutal Joe Baker 53* saw us home.
I would like to thank Jack Burke and Andy Parr for all their efforts with the squad. With a big and very talented squad it was not easy to give all the lads enough game time and it was tremendous to see so many playing club cricket to supplement the school cricket. This squad provided players for the 1st XI right through to the U14B when they were playing A teams. I would like to thank all the lads who played the game properly and especially the various captains who did so well all season.
“My approach to cricket has been reasonably simple: it was about giving everything to the team, it was about playing with dignity and it was about upholding the spirit of the game. I hope I have done some of that. I have failed at times, but I have never stopped trying. It is why I leave with sadness but also with pride.” RAHUL DRAVID
U14 CRICKET REPORT
This was an excellent season for the U14A Cricket team. In a rain effected season they remained unbeaten and went through to play some excellent cricket.
The first game was actually the closest of the season against Ampleforth. Both sides bowled well with Ampleforth looking to chase a respectable total. Some great bowling form the School saw us take the victory by 8 runs.
Durham away is never easy and on their small ground it was always going to be hard to bat. A 5 wicket win nevertheless proved the strength of the lower order.
Sedbergh tend to be one of our hardest fixtures, however, not on this occasion. A convincing 8 wicket win showed the quality of this team and the depth of batting and bowling. Hymers were next and they were not strong enough to mount a serious challenge, resulting in a 141-run victory.
It is always good to have a new fixture, with different opposition and Trent College were just that. They came with a good reputation for cricket, but a 6 wicket win for the school was impressive.
The final game of the season was against Bradford, with all three elements of the game coming together well an 82-run victory was just reward.
Well done to all the boys involved and to Mr Scott Nicholls for his dedication to coaching the team.
Squad: T. Baker, A. Wood, E. Smith, D. Pye, F. Isles, C. Gardner, J. Ellis, D. Johar, S. Norza, T. Yates, M. Phillips
