Success for Wellington's Cricketers

The end of the Summer Term saw a double dose of success for Wellington's cricketers as the 1^st XI won their annual Festival for the first time and the Yearlings won the Lord's Taverners U-14 Berkshire Schools County Cup.

Amid soaring temperatures at Brighton, the 1^st XI played their best cricket of the season defeating Brighton, Sedbergh and Oakham to collect the BOWS Trophy. On day 1, having been inserted by the home side, our team of 5 sixth formers, 4 Colts, a Junior Colt and a Yearling, amassed 270 in 50 overs. Bizarrely, no batsman passed 50, but this merely highlighted the strength of the team performance. On a hard, abrasive outfield, our fielders and bowlers showed great discipline and heart to overcome a strong Brighton team and we emerged victors by a comfortable margin of 27 runs. The following day saw our performance of the season against an experienced, tough and confident Sedbergh team. Our top order were put under considerable pressure from the opposition, however, we fought our way to a commanding total of 245. Will Leith (S), a Colt, scored his maiden College 100 batting with great determination and concentration not to mention skill and class. He was well supported by one his peers, Angus Boobbyer (Pn) who continued to show great consistency in the middle order. To see a pair of Colts share a stand of over 100 against such a competitive team was a real highlight of the season. Despite a resilient fight from the opposition, our bowling proved to be too strong as Sedbergh fell 27 runs short. Seam bowlers Alec Barkett (Hl) and Boobbyer were well supported by the classy left arm spin of Tom Wood (Hg). To complete the clean sweep and to win the festival, we had to beat a young, talented team from Oakham. For the third day in a succession, we batted first and put the pressure on the opposition by amassing a commanding total of 270. Again no batter past 50, but the champagne moment of the innings was the partnership of the Barkett twins who in their last game for Wellington, put on over 50 in little more than 6 overs with shots of great power to all parts of the ground. Again, the consistency of our bowling and fielding proved too strong for the opposition, who fell well short of the target. Captain Mickey Barkett (Hl) was presented with the BOWS Trophy: an outstanding end to an impressive season for the young 1^st XI.

Having completed a clean sweep in our regular block fixtures, Connor Nurse (A), and his team of Yearlings set their sights on the Lord's Taverners U-14 County Cup. After comfortable early round victories, our Yearlings 1^st XI had to overcome a strong Eton side in the semi finals, played in glorious sunshine on New Ground, before defeating Bradfield by 50 runs in the final at Eton. The strength in depth of this talented team was evident throughout the summer with many different individuals producing match winning performances at various times in the season. Special mention must go to Nurse for his fine captaincy and outstanding batting (he scored 634 runs in the season) and to JJ Dewes (Hl), whose skilful left arm spin brought him and his team 19 well deserved wickets. This team will progress into the Lord's Taverners National finals in 2010 and we will follow their form with a great deal of excitement and anticipation. The Yearlings 1^st XI and 2^nd XI won all of their fixtures in 2009 but despite these fantastic statistics, it was the refreshing and attacking manner in which these teams played, always within the Spirit of the Game, that was their greatest achievement.

G. D. Franklin

Master i/c Cricket