Chronicle Summer 2024

64 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Freya Heath, Emily Latham, Liberty Simmonds and Aimee Diab

Benji Orr-Ewing led from the front, scoring 112* against Lord Williams’s in the first round of the County Cup. The Coaches’ Award was given to Bertie Rapp, whilst Players’ Player went to Ben Cooke. The U14A boys won 11 competitive fixtures across the term, including matches against Bradfield, Oundle and Stowe. The highlight of the year, without a doubt, was their victory at Wormsley vs Abingdon in the County Cup final with a Harry Bewes hat trick and Archie Logue with a valuable 48. Evan Cowley led with the bat all year, being rewarded with his 1st XI debut vs the MCC, scoring 100 against Winchester. Pasca Mutekwa, the only other century maker in the team, scored 110 at Cheltenham College. Wickets this year were shared round between Captain Thomas Bratby, Raffy Gibbons, Harry Bewes, Angus Danby and Nico Hartley. Across the rest of the Junior Boys’ Club the U15C won three games, and the U15Bs and U14Bs won two games each. Field House were successful in House cricket, beating Kendall in the final. Thank you to all the staff and coaches involved with cricket over the last year. The programme is still brilliantly led by our Cricket Professional, Dave Simpkins. Let’s hope we can continue our momentum into the 2025 season – we are looking forward to heading to Sri Lanka for our first ever co-educational tour in February.

the National T20 Cup following a coin toss after rain interfered with the start of the fixture, the girls bounced back against Oxford High School with a comprehensive 10-wicket win in the first round of the National 100 Ball competition. They then celebrated a further comfortable victory against Bradfield and two closely contested wins against Haileybury and St Helen and St Katharine. Unfortunately, the girls fell short in the quarter-final against Rugby but they should feel immensely proud of all they have achieved this season. Bella Frieda, the team’s Players’ Player topped the wicket charts, ably supported by Jemima Foster, Rosie Van der Gutch, Jemima Fulton and Ella Rooney. Batting honours have been shared more evenly, with important contributions from Suri Shah, Hettie Banks and Poppy Harris, the Coaches’ Player of the Year. Beyond excellent on-field achievement, it has been fantastic to get 20 Shell girls playing regular cricket and to be able to field a girls’ Junior B team who played in several competitive fixtures and won against Rugby and Cranford. The U15A boys had a fiercely competitive season with excellent performances against MCS and Bradfield and a cup run which saw them through to the County final vs Abingdon. We saw nail-biting games with close results against Radley, Rugby, Cheltenham, Abingdon and Marlborough.

included victories against Farnborough Sixth Form, Abingdon, Marlborough, Winchester and Canford to play against Millfield in the quarter-final. Other highlights of the season included a comprehensive victory against Winchester by 175 runs and Cheltenham by 43 runs. A fifth-place finish in the John Harvey Cup certainly leaves room for improvement next year. The squad enjoyed the inclusion of newcomers Tino Mutekwa and Alex Corbett who played well throughout the year. Alex Corbett’s 100 away against New Hall in the U17 Cup was a joy. Captain Lysander Tarrant scored his maiden 100 for the 1st XI against South Oxford Amateurs during Cricket Week. Indeed, it was a Cricket Week to remember for the whole team, with other successes against the MCC, Oxfordshire U18s and Westminster School, Adelaide. Congratulations to Lysander, Buster Relton, Dylan Driscoll and Ollie Spink who all received full colours. Our 2nd, 3rd and 4th XIs and the U16A and U16B teams continued to compete against strong schools with mixed results across the season. Highlights were the 2nd XI beating Bradfield by 7 wickets and the U16A beating Winchester by 13 runs. The junior girls have also been a shining light this summer, as demonstrated by reaching the National 100 Ball quarter-final during a superb cup run. Having suffered a devastating loss to Redmaids’ High School in