Cricket - The King's School in Macclesfield

Cricketjolly one. All players responded positivelyto advice (most of the time!) and inspite of the odd DMH and RGD eruption,the side remained upbeat. The only realdisappointments of the year were ourejection once again from the Dews Cupat the semi-final stage owing to the gamebeing scheduled after term finished, andthe complete lack of B team fixtures inspite of valiant efforts to play some. Nextyear, in both cases, events should turnout otherwise with luck.The following boys represented the Ateam: E V Bones (capt); J Despontin; N PGray; J L Gregory; J R Howell; M J Jay; JM Lane; T A Lloyd; K W Mosedale; O JPickup; M E Rudge; O C W Rushton; R BTaylor; R C Thompson; A B Sharp.DMH/RGDU14 XIP W D L13 10 2 1This year’s under 14 side contained agreat deal of talent and lived up to itspromise in every aspect but one. Unfortunatelythe one loss occurred in the allimportant cup match against a Stockportside which had already been showninferior earlier in the season. It wasextremely disappointing as the team hadthe potential to succeed well into thenational knockout stage. It is to be hopedthat a great deal can be learnt from theexperience, although the boys seemedhardly aware of their teacher’s frustration.In their defence it can be pointedout that any 20 over game is a lottery,determined by events taking up just afew overs and involving only a small partof the team. Expertise in tactics has notyet been gained and many of the requirementsare counter to the coaching principleswhich apply during the rest of theseason. Sensible, well-paced batting witha straight bat are not the order of the day.Neither is attacking bowling and fielding.In conclusion, when a side can win90% of its games when given 35 overs inwhich to operate and its only defeatoccurs in a 20 over thrash, there is muchconsolation and even justifiable contemptfor the cup competition.The season opened towards the backendof a very dry spell and so the wicketswere unusually firm at this time. In thefirst game Macclesfield had what wasgoing to become a rare opportunity tobat first, against King’s Chester. Theopposition were quite strong and 133 allout was a fair score (Hutter 31 topscored). In reply Chester were dismissedfor 91 with Pickup bowling in a verypromising fashion for his 4 wickets.The first cup game was against AllHallows. By now the weather had takena turn for the worse and the rain andwind had arrived. Thankfully it took only13 overs for King’s to reach the target of68 set by the opposition. Russell andKeep both got runs and wickets.The third game was the delayedHopkins Trophy Final which should havetaken place the previous season.Wilmslow High were only able to managea score of 64 for 5 in their 20 overs,and again Keep bowled well (8 bowlerswere used). Hutter and Hart then hadlittle trouble in reaching 67 for 0 in just 9overs. Thus a cup trophy was won thisseason, albeit an under 13 one.Arnold School also presented verylittle resistance as they were bowled outfor 69. Wheetman and Ellis took 3 wicketseach. Westwood was promoted toopener and justified the decision at once.King’s lost 5 wickets on their way towinning and there were signs that carelessnesswas creeping in as they were notbeing stretched sufficiently by the competition.The fifth game was the second roundof the cup. Helsby scored 80 for 8 due tosome poor bowling. Pickup was theexception with a fine performance of 3for 3. Hart, Duffy and Keep then scoredbriskly to achieve the target in 11 overs.On an artificial wicket at Stockport,King’s were bowled out for 125 (Robinson37). However, Stockport made no effortto reach the total and finished 85 for 6(Hart 3 wickets).The following Saturday Newcastle onlymanaged 56 all out. It took Hart only 10overs virtually single-handedly to winthe game for King’s for the loss of onewicket.Nottingham normally present a verystrong challenge and so it was extremelypleasing to declare with the score 177 for0 against them in 35 overs. Hart made abeautiful century containing many powerfuland technically correct shots. Hewas well supported by Hutter who made63 not out. Nottingham, as expected,were capable of getting very close but acouple of fortunate wickets helped King’sto dismiss them for 134 (Russell 5 wickets,Keep 4 wickets).Lancaster were not as competitive asusual and their total of 52 all out waseasily beaten (Westwood 24 not out.Keep, Hart, Robinson 3 wickets each).The tenth game was the cup matchagainst Stockport, our only loss of theseason. King’s total of 79 for 4 in 20 overswas unlikely to be sufficient, and so itproved, despite an encouraging start byour bowlers. Some lusty blows to thevacant boundary areas saw King’s hopesevaporate.Half-centuries by Hutter andWestwood and a cameo from Duffy (28not out) helped King’s to a total of 182 for4 against St Ambrose. Wheetman got 3wickets as a 90 run win was accomplished.The only other draw was made atLytham. King’s declared on 187 for 4from 38 overs. On a flat wicket just 3 ofLytham’s wickets could be prized out asthey reached 123 at the close.In what would prove to be the lastgame due to bad weather, the seasonfinished on a farcical note againstEllesmere College who had their onlygenuine players missing. King’s declaredon 253 for 1 with batsmen retiring afterscoring 50. Ellesmere were 36 all out.My philosophy is to keep as manyplayers involved in as prominent a roleas possible. This can be observed fromthe fact that throughout the season theonly person who did not bowl was thewicket-keeper and the batting contributionswere limited only by the low scoresset by the opposing teams. This seasonthe whole team were capable with bothbat and ball.A short summary of the players follows:Robert Hart is the foremost player, avery talented batsman with a sound arrayof shots. His bowling can be fast andaccurate although his action still requiresattention.Richard Westwood is a very promisingnatural talent with the bat. He needsto relearn totally his back foot play buthis front foot shots and general batmovement are a joy to watch.Jonathan Keep had problems of consistencywith his bowling but could bedangerous on his day. His batting is athreat to every opposition but even thisis exceeded by his superb fielding skills.He took over the mantle as captaintowards the end of the season and certainlyleads by example.James Hutter is a competent openingbatsman with a good repertoire of strokesat his disposal as well as a good opener’stemperament.John Russell is a very promising allrounderand stronger opposition wouldhave given him more opportunity. Thesame can be said of Ben Robinson,Richard Ellis and Guy Pickup who are allvery capable with bat and ball and had agood season, although limited by thelow targets provided by the other teams.Guy captained the side well but decidedhe did not enjoy it and so relinquishedthe position towards the end of theseason.Harry Wheetman bowled well andJames Childs and David Poulter alsomade valuable contributions.In conclusion, I must congratulate theboys on the enthusiastic and well-man-40

nered way in which they conductedthemselves and wish them continuedsuccess and enjoyment in future years.The B team this year was as wellsupported and represented as any fromprevious years. They were extremelyenthusiastic and always gave their best.CJMU13 XIP W D L CancelledA Team 10 6 2 2 5B Team 2 1 0 1 3As under 12s in 1996 the group hadrather mixed results with few victoriesand it was thought they would start thenew campaign with little confidence. Itwas also doubted that the new format forhome matches (75 overs, with the sidebatting first not allowed to bat beyondover 40) would help. A reasonable bowlingteam, their main strategy last summerwas to bowl first and at worst contain theopposition so that they would bat a longtime leaving insufficient time to exploit areputedly frail King’s batting line up.However, reputations are made to bebroken.....April 19 saw the season start at theDerby Fields with King’s Chester thevisitors. After 8 overs the scoreboardshowed 14 for 3, all 3 having madeducks. With Davenport in supportingrole, Isherwood launched a violent onslaughton the bowling, hammering 79.Later on Petty contributed 14 and Davenportfell for 48, but 3 more ducks led toa final total of 159 all out in 36 overs. Inreply, Chester had no answer toIsherwood 8-3-4-3 and Ward 6-0-14-4,and were dismissed for 78.The following week’s game againstWilliam Hulme Grammar School succumbedto the weather and Arnold werethe next visitors in early May. The Arnoldbatting was totally destroyed in doublequick time by Isherwood 4 for 8, Arnfield3 for 5, and Ward 2 for 3. Davenport andQuas-Cohen knocked off the 32 requiredfor victory in 28 balls and the match wascompleted well before tea.The first away game of the season wasat Bolton. The wet conditions limited thegame to 30 overs each; Bolton battingfirst only managed 73 for 8 (Davenport 4for 29, Isherwood 6-3-4-3) and King’scoasted to a 4 wicket win with Isherwood36 not out.Stockport Grammar School visited theDerby Fields in mid-May and became thefirst team to put up a good performanceagainst us. In their 40 overs they recorded147 for 7 and after a slow start toour innings seemed safe. EnterIsherwood. A swashbuckling 74 took usinto a very challenging position, butunfortunately he lost his wicket at acrucial time. Despite Wilson and Sear’sefforts, we had to settle for a draw on 145for 5, just 2 short of the Stockport total.A fixture mix-up saw our final gamebefore Spring Bank Holiday against NewcastleU12 team. A huge unbeaten standof 154 between Davenport (81 not out)and Isherwood (84 not out) took us to201 for 2 declared in 32 overs. Newcastleresisted well for some time but eventuallyclosed for 42, Arnfield 3 for 10 andWard 3 for 5 being the main wickettakers.Our first round Hopkins Trophy matchhad been conceded by our opponentsand in the second round, Great SankeyHigh School were our opponents. In 20overs we rattled up 151 for 2 (Isherwood66, Davenport 66 not out), and thendismissed the visitors for just 66, Wardtaking 5 for 20.Nottingham High School U13 teamwas known to be very strong indeed andin early June they inflicted our first defeaton us. Good accurate bowling in windyconditions caused us problems throughoutand we managed only 74, losing by8 wickets.Much more disappointing was theloss to Weaverham in Round 3 of theHopkins Trophy. Put in to bat, we startedslowly and missed too many singles.Later acceleration resulted in 99 for 2 in20 overs, Arnfield 28 and Sear 26 not outbeing top scorers. In the Weaverhamreply, our ground fielding was dreadfuland 3 crucial catches were dropped.When the last ball arrived the scoreswere tied, but the Weaverham number 5connected well and hit a boundary.The B Team finally managed a fixtureon June 11, a tense affair against RyleysB. Ryleys managed 75 all out in 19.4overs, we reached 77 for 7 in 19.3 to winby 3 wickets.The Lancaster match in mid-June wasin some ways similar to the earlierStockport game. The visitors, thanksmainly to a talented opener, battedthrough their 40 overs to reach 123 for 9.Williamson recorded a hat-trick in his 4for 26 and Isherwood took 3 for 19.Davenport made 52 in our reply, but adisastrous final 2 overs saw an almostcertain victory denied us and we onlydrew at 121 for 8.Rain decimated the rest of the seasonallowing only simultaneous games againstKing Edward’s School, Lytham. In the Agame, Lytham did well to recover from11 for 5 to reach 79 (Isherwood 5 for 20)but Arnfield 27 not out and Isherwood 39not out saw us safely home to an 8 wicketvictory.In the B game, Lytham declared on144 for 9 despite McVeigh’s 3 for 21 andCricketthat proved beyond our capabilities, 85being our final total.The captain, Tom Isherwood, had amagnificent all round season. With thebat he scored 437 runs at an average of87.40, and with the ball his 23 wicketscost only 5.48 each. Tom Davenportsupported well with the bat scoring 285at 47.50; others showed promise but gotrelatively few opportunities. TomWilliamson, despite injuries at both endsof the season, John Arnfield, Nick Riceand Ian Sear all supported well with theirseam up bowling. Oliver Ward’s leg spinand googlies was wonderful variety andearned him 18 wickets at 8.33 each.Great progress has been made withboth bat and ball by this team this yearand now fielding needs attention. Withthe exception of Tom Cumberbirch, thefielders look too static and unathletic andthe catching is rather erratic. With improvementin these areas, this age groupcan face the future with confidence.Congratulations to Tom Isherwoodon his selection for the Cheshire U13teamThe following represented the school:T Isherwood (capt), T Davenport (vicecapt), P Kennedy (wk), A Quas-Cohen, JPetty, I Sear, J Arnfield, O Ward, AWilson, N Rice, T Cumberbirch, AArmstead, N Griffiths.In addition, the following played BTeam cricket: A Geake, C Millward, AMalik, A McVeigh, J Ainsworth, JHardman, C Skidmore, C Davenport, TOza, R Isherwood, M Whatmough.GL/RGU12 XIP W D T L9 4 1 1 3My lasting memory of the 1997 seasonwill be of the rain: the cricketer’s numberone enemy haunted the U12 side throughoutthe season. Overall, four matcheswere lost, along with numerous practicesand house fixtures. This meant that it wasdifficult for the team to generate anymomentum, or for individual players towork on weaknesses that were exposedin games.The season started with a thrillingmatch at Arnold that ended in a tie.Arnold batted first and were 149 all out.In reply King’s reached 149 for 9, butwere unable to scramble home in thefinal over. At least this game dispelledthe myth to these young players thatcricket is a sedate game with little excitement!The team then started an impressiverun with two victories against Stockportand All Hallows and an encouragingdraw against Newcastle. Perhaps the41