Rhubarb 2021

ST EDWARD’S

The DDB XI took the field knowing they needed early wickets and a bit of luck to give them a chance of victory. The early wickets arrived, withWillis and George Chaffer each taking a wicket in their opening over (including the prized wicket of the School’s England U-19 keeper- batsman), but the luck deserted them with Rory Hipwell (H, 2013-18) injuring himself within his first over, thus denying the DDB XI of one of their main attacking threats. The DDB XI showed real spirit taking regular wickets to leave the School XI teetering on 68-5 and they seemed to be in with a great chance of victory. However, the School XI’s No. 4 (a member of the Gloucestershire CCC Academy), batted with real maturity and great skill, scoring a fluent and increasingly brutal 88 (off just 63 balls!) to lead the School XI to a five-wicket victory.

MARTYRS

Back Row: George Chaffer, Ruairi Willis, Gus Knott,Tom Powell, Rory Hipwell, Brandon Allen Front Row: Will Bull, Charlie Shipperley,Will Pickford, James Drake-Brockman, Ollie Smith

James Drake-Brockman (G, 1988-93)

CRICKETER CUP

weakened, side from the 1st Round victory over Old Wellingtonians.The evening before the game the team bonded over dinner and a few drinks at the lovely Talbot Hotel in Oundle, reminiscing over great Martyrs Cricketer Cup performances of old, with Hugh Rogers (C, 1969-70), playing in his 41st season for the Martyrs Cricket Club, to the fore! On an overcast day, captain RuairiWillis won the toss and elected to bat first.The Martyrs posted 210-6 from their 50 overs with Will Bull providing the backbone to the Martyrs innings with a fine 65 (off 101 balls), before a swashbuckling 30* (from 20 balls) from Freddie Simon and 17* (from 14 balls) from 2020 Leaver Ben Jacobs ensured the Martyrs posted a competitive score. In reply, Oundle were put under pressure in the early overs withWillis (10-4-25-1) and Rogers (10-3-22-0) keeping things tight. Ultimately, Oundle paced their innings well and crossed the line (in the 47th over) for the loss of only 3 wickets to win by 7 wickets. A valiant effort from the Martyrs, but in truth we were always 30 runs light from really challenging Oundle. An excellent weekend was had by all and all those who played would like to thank Peter Swainson (F, 1995-2000), the SES Society and the Martyrs for organising and subsidising the weekend. Frustratingly, Oundle Rovers went on to reach the Final (ultimately losing to Old Millfieldians by 5 wickets), illustrating once again how the Martyrs Cricket Club really should be pushing to reach the very latter stages of the tournament with the huge array of talent amongst the School’s most recent Leavers.The 1st Round victory over Old Wellingtonians was excellent and proved how good we can be if more of our best players make themselves available for this prestigious tournament. Hopefully 2022 will be our year!

1st Round v OldWellingtonians (Home) The Martyrs were handed a tough 1st round draw against 2019 finalists the OldWellingtonians.Thankfully only one of the Curran brothers, Northamptonshire CCC’s Ben Curran, was playing for the OW’s (Tom and Sam Curran were in separate England ‘bubbles’!), but they still fielded a strong side. On a warm, sunny day the Martyrs won the toss and elected to bat and, following the early loss of Feroz Baig (H, 2009-14), AJWoodland (H, 2011-16) and Cup debutant Pete Ades put on a 130-run partnership to set the foundations for an imposing total. However, with the loss of Ades for a fluent 59 (off 99 balls), quickly followed by the ever-impressiveWoodland for 66 (off 100 balls), the innings stuttered as batters came and went in quick succession. Calvin Dickinson’s (C, 2010-15) 24 off 16 balls and then Freddie Simon’s (F, 2008-13) 32 off 20 balls helped ensure the Martyrs reached a competitive total of 243 All Out. The Martyrs took to the field knowing they needed to start well, and they certainly did with Freddie Simon (4-15) ripping through the OW top-order to leave them struggling at 28-3 in the ninth over.Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals, with Cup debutant Ben Jacobs and George Chaffer picking up a wicket each, before Cup stalwart Francois Vainker (A, 2001-06) (4-28) mopped up the OW tail to bowl out OW’s for 190 and secure a hugely impressive 53-run victory. It was a great day and lovely to be back on Upper 1 and have several familiar OSE faces supporting on the boundary rope. 2nd Round v Oundle Rovers (Away) The Martyrs travelled away to Oundle for the 2nd Round of the Cricketer Cup with a much-changed, and somewhat

RuairiWillis (F, 2008-13)

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