SPORT FOCUS

RAF Northolt's making all the raquet!

Five of No 1 AIDU’s personnel represented RAF Northolt in an inter-station Badminton tournament on the 26th and 27th of September 2022.

Former RAF Badminton player, Sgt Neil Webb, fuelled by Kit Kats, lead the team consisting of Cpl Rich Hopes, AS 1s Elisa Gray, Tom Burgees and Elliot Winter in the two-day tournament at RAF Halton. Over the course of these two days, the team progressed massively with their Badminton skills. Match categories included men’s doubles, men’s singles, women’s doubles, women’s singles and mixed doubles. Team Northolt played against RAF Lossiemouth, RAF Odiham and RAF Boulmer, winning just over 50% of games but just missing out on the semi-finals. All teams played were of a decent standard, with some games being a close score/win. The two days away at RAF Halton enabled inter-station relations to be strengthened, where people of all ranks and trades could socialise and build morale when playing a match with each other. Although Team Northolt did not get through to the semi-finals, the team will attend the next tournament with the team stronger, more skilful and determined to succeed!

&Wealdstone FC RAF Northolt

“Over the last few years Wealdstone FC and RAF Northolt have built a few links within the local community.

Members of staff are involved with the club at various age group levels. Cpl Dave Vine is part of the coaching staff for the academy and has worked his way up through various age groups. Sqn Ldr Jamie Wright is a coach of the U14 (Blue) team, who have had a successful start to the new season.

As well as this Sgt Brett Aherne of No1 AIDU has taken on the role of first team kit man and is a popular member of the management staff.

Wealdstone have shown support to RAF Northolt over the last few years, firstly by donating season tickets to a charity auction held on the military station, to raise money for the family of one of our former station football players. To support of Sgt Bobby McCaigue the tickets donated by Wealdstone proved to be one of the most popular items for auction. Further to this the club have also supported the military on a wider scale by making discounted tickets available for the home game against Boreham Wood for Armed Forces Day.

As two prominent parts of the Hillingdon community, hopefully the relationship between Wealdstone and RAF Northolt continues for years to come.”

EXERCISE LA MANGA

RAF Northolt cricket club overseas visit

Travel Day

It was a crisp, cold morning when Team Northolt departed for Luton airport, anticipating a (hopefully) comfortable Ryanair flight, and looking forward to a warm, sunny arrival in Murcia, Spain.

Following an uneventful journey, the team arrived at La Manga Club, received keys to their apartments and then promptly headed to the restaurant for team bonding, refreshments and dinner. Sprits were high and everyone was looking forward to a great few days of cricket.

Training day

Up bright and early the following morning, the team vacated their accommodation for a day of intense training. The session started with a thorough warm up, prior to general fielding practice, followed by a period in the nets to hone batting and bowling skills. With two nets available, batters were able to rotate between spin and pace bowling, and by the end of the day the team felt confident and ready for the tournament ahead. In the evening, a welcoming event, hosted by the organisers, Serious Cricket, allowed the teams to socialise whilst having the rules of the tournament explained. The format was to be a 100-ball innings using at least 8 bowlers, with 6-ball overs and a final over of 10 balls. The same batting order was required to be maintained each day, which required a challenging selection strategy. Each match win would be rewarded with 3 points.

MATCH 1 Versus Royal Hampshire Hospital (RHH)

The morning started overcast with a strong, blustery wind. Northolt lost the toss and RHH elected to bowl. Barella and Loughran opened the batting, with Barella anchoring the innings and scoring freely, until eventually being bowled for 29. Murray made a quick contribution, before Butcher arrived at the crease with hopes for a high score. Unfortunately, he returned one ball later, having been bowled for a Golden Duck, receiving an unplayable delivery (allegedly!). Edwardson proved his worth, working hard with Butler between the wickets, and Team Northolt completed their innings by setting RHH a challenging total of 135. Northolt made an impressive start in the Tournament with some tidy bowling and very athletic fielding, although, unfortunately, Murray had to leave the field with an injury following a difficult attempted catch. One of RHH’s opening batters made an impressive and rapid 40 not out, but some tricky bowling, with sharp wicket keeping from Barella, led to a couple of run outs and stumpings, which seemed to demoralise RHH. Particularly accurate bowling from King and Pratley soon put RHH behind the run rate and they failed to chase down Northolt, falling short by 18 runs.

Result: Northolt WIN

MATCH 2 Versus EZAT

By now, the morning's wind had eased, and after winning the toss, Team Northolt started the match batting in the mid-day sun. Edwardson and Butler opened, with Edwardson batting impressively and rapidly scoring his maximum 35 runs. Butler was quickly dismissed caught behind, but Pratley maintained the momentum with another excellent 35. Opie joined in with 11 not out, and Team Northolt completed their innings with what they hoped was a competitive score of 124. Although Northolt started strongly in the field, EZAT quickly took advantage of some rather slack spin bowling, although a notably good catch was taken by Keen on the leg side boundary. King produced some very accurate fast bowling, which temporarily stemmed the run rate, but in a very tense final couple of overs, EZAT managed to reach the winning target with 7 balls remaining.

Result: Northolt LOSS

MATCH 3 Versus Chelmsford Titans

In strong morning sunshine and with high temperatures forecast, Team Northolt took to the field, determined to make up for their defeat the previous day. They started positively with very tight fielding and managed to keep the opposition run rate under control. Opie bowled impressively with his signature ‘grenade style’, deceptive deliveries, claiming an early wicket and a second with his next ball. Unfortunately, he let himself down on the hattrick ball by bowling a wide. Possibly sensing an early victory, the fielding relaxed perceptively during the second half of the innings, resulting in several dropped boundary catches and an embarrassing number of wides and no-balls. With an achievable target of 104 to win in their sights, Opie and Barrella opened the batting, and although they defended well, the duo struggled to secure quick singles and get the runs flowing. With the arrival of Loughran at

Rowing Joint Services Regatta

The Rowing Joint Services Regatta was held on 22 Sep 22 with all three Services racing over a 1km course at Peterborough City Rowing Club. Events included all boat sizes from singles to eights and encompassed Novice, Senior and Masters’ crews, with the pinnacle of the racing schedule being the four Inter-Services (IS) events.

The RAF took a clean sweep in the IS races, and also came away with the most wins across the day. RAF Northolt was represented by AS1 Maddie Dowdeswell and Cpl Rachel Carpenter. Maddie was competing in her first ever races taking on the Novice Single and then also taking a seat in the Senior Women’s Eight. Rachel was returning to Rowing post-maternity after a year away from the Sport, competing in the Quad and Eight helped the Senior Women’s Squad to a very successful day with six wins from six events. If anyone is interested in getting involved with RAF Rowing, please contact Cpl Rachel Carpenter for further details about Learnto-Row courses, Training and Competition for both Water and Indoor Rowing

the crease, the scoring rate accelerated, and he rapidly achieve his 35 runs with a couple of sixes. In the event, Team Northolt comfortably reached their winning target in the 12th over.

Result: Northolt WIN

MATCH 4 Versus Petersfield Panthers

Starting the fourth match, Team Northolt was beginning to feel the pressure. With 6 points under their belt, a further win would put them in joint first place and in the final match playoff.

Petersfield opened with some strong batting, but fielding was very slick, and Northolt capitalised on Barella’s sharp wicket keeping with 3 run outs and a stumping. Bransbury took an impressive 3 wickets in 2 overs with the assistance of excellent catches from Keen, Butler and Richardson. Butcher removed the final batter, and Petersfield were dismissed for the modest total of 107. Team Northolt felt quietly confident that Petersfield’s total was in their grasp. Northolt’s innings started tentatively, and it quickly became obvious that batting was not going to be easy. The bowling was extremely accurate, fast and aggressive, and with wickets falling regularly, it was soon apparent that Petersfield’s attack was capable of resisting any attempt by the batters to settle and force the pace. Ultimately, Northolt succumbed to Petersfield’s superior performance in the field and fell short of their total by 33 runs. This very well organised four-day visit to La Manga Club in Spain allowed Team Northolt to participate in some excellent competitive cricket. The team were especially grateful to have the opportunity of practising in the nets prior to the matches commencing, as net facilities have not been available at RAF Northolt for several years. Team Northolt acquitted themselves well competing in matches against teams of similar ability. They were unlucky not to reach the final play-off in the tournament, eventually becoming 3rd out of the five teams participating. More importantly, everyone bonded well, benefited from the experience, and returned home having enjoyed some very exciting cricket. Special thanks must go to Serious Cricket, our superb hosts at La Manga, and for the generous contribution from both the RAF Central Fund and RAF Northolt Physical Education Flight, without

STATISTICS

Main Wicket Takers

Murray 4 (and recipient of Serious Cricket’s “Bowler of the Tournament” award). Pratley 3 Opie 3 Bransbury 3

Main Run Scorers

Pratley 68 Barella 55 Edwardson 50

which this most enjoyable end of season tour would not have been possible.