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