Under 14sA
quite remarkable season!
Unbeaten yes, but
characterised by a whole
series of nailbiting finishes.
Ed Blowers and John Hall
took three wickets each as
Sherborne reached 195. Sam Underdown (61)
and Gabriel Counsell (32) then batted superbly
as we reached our target with one wicket to
spare.
It was another gripping encounter against
Millfield as we restricted them to 199, John
Hall taking 4 for 19. We made an indifferent
start with the bat, but a century partnership
between Hall and Henry Breeze put us back in
the driving seat, while Gabriel Counsell played
the best of captain's knocks under enormous
pressure, to see us home by two wickets in the
final over!
Queen's reached 190, but we soon found
ourselves four wickets down. True to form,
skipper Gabriel Counsell again rescued things,
before Harry Thomas scored a match-winning
75, thanks to a useful combination of elegance
and brute force. In yet another heroic run
chase, we beat Blundell's - by one wicket!
Chasing a competitive 230, a sublime century
by Bertie Preston brought us close, but wickets
were falling regularly. It was left to Ed Blowers
to hit the bowler back over his head for four, to
win the game and finish a remarkable
comeback.
It was a more comfortable afternoon against
Clifton, winning easily by five wickets with
plenty of overs to spare. But against Taunton
School we were back to winning the hard way
- despite a poor start, we eventually reached a
decent 155, Gabriel Counsell and Harry
Thomas both making 30s. Bertie Preston then
took four wickets, and we managed to keep our
heads as their tail wagged at the end. Still
unbeaten!
But we were to save our best till last at
Monmouth! Staring down the barrel at 10 for
5, and with our unbeaten season on the line,
we recovered remarkably, thanks to heroic
defiance by Sam Underdown (22) and George
Retter (18), supported by Ed Denton, Harvey
Walsh and Jamie Turvill. John Hall and Sam
Underdown both picked up three wickets as
Monmouth chased 104, and superb fielding
ensured our unbeaten season, as we won by
three runs in the final over! A truly epic
season!
T
he Bs kept things tight early
on at Sherborne, but some
loose bowling later on let
them off the hook. We were
unable to form enough lasting
partnerships when batting,
and lost comfortably. A weakened side did well
to restrict Queen's to 208, but we never really
got into the run chase.
And although we batted well against Blundell's,
with skipper George Pritchard making 50, their
openers were too strong, and scored the runs
with relative ease. Clifton it would be fair to
say were a stronger side than us!
But against Taunton School, we scored a
massive 268 in 30 overs, thanks to the most
outstanding innings of 157 not out by Georgina
Adcock. Faced with this daunting task,
Taunton School made a good fist of it, but lost
wickets steadily to lose by 44 runs.
On something of a roll, we put in a good team
batting performance against Monmouth, Jamie
Shapland hitting 58 not out off 40 balls, which
steered us to 147. Two early wickets stalled
Monmouth's run chase, and they eventually
finished on 132, allowing us to end our season
with victory by 15 runs.
Aluredian
91
Bertie Preston hits a
six during his matchwinning
century
against Blundell's