Chronicle April 2016

14 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Cricket in Barbados By Jonny Nelmes After countless hours in the winter nets, fundraising dinners, fundraising runs, and a day of travelling, the St Edward’s tour party finally felt the bounce of the Caribbean runway, and an excitable mass of blue, yellow and red spilled out onto a refreshingly warm tarmac.

Even against such stern opposition, the boys more than held their own on the field, and learnt plenty in the process. On pitches that often favoured slow bowling, the performances of the three-pronged spin attack of James Woodcock, Harrison Ward and James Curtis (the latter two still in the Fifth Form) consistently gave St Edward’s a level of control in the field that augurs well for the 2016 season and beyond. Brandon Allen’s 97*, and AJ Woodland’s 41* and 4/47, were highlights of the win over Wanderers, and Ben Charlesworth’s 62* helped carry the boys to victory over Lodge School – Ben would later impress on tour with the ball, taking 3 wickets against Combermere. Also worthy of note were Will Deasy’s maiden 1st XI half-century – 63 against St Leonard’s – and a series of venomous spells with the ball from (Fifth Former!) Rory Hipwell, described by one opposition coach as the quickest English schoolboy bowler he had seen tour Barbados.

As statistically one of the strongest 1st XIs in the country over the last five years, and with a squad boasting several county academy players, St Edward’s came to Barbados looking for a serious test of their credentials ahead of the summer, and were not to be disappointed. An exacting schedule of six games in eight days included fixtures against Barbados U19s – a serious outfit – and Combermere, reputed to be the finest cricketing school in the Caribbean, and amongst their opposition were recently- returned members of the victorious West Indies U19 World Cup side.

Throughout the tour the boys had the privilege of playing and training at some iconic venues – from the Franklyn Stephenson Academy, home of the West

Brandon Allen in action