Radleian Sports Supplement ST 2016

THE

RADLEIAN SPORTS SUPPLEMENT

S U M M E R 2016

ATHLETICS

Master in Charge: JW Schofield Captain: TW Jewell Coaches: RJ Adams, JPJ Dodd, PM Fernandez, RMC Greed, RA King, N Murphy, LE Nott, LRI Smart, AJA Williams

On Saturday 23rd April the Radley College Athletics Club travelled in great numbers to the first fixture of the season at Harrow. We almost had at least one person in every event in the Inters and Seniors competitions and Henry Insley, the Athletics Club clubman of the year, deserves a special mention for forming a Junior team consisting entirely of himself. He managed to single-handedly beat the whole Teddies Junior team.

Giles Elmhirst and Eliot Makin provided a couple of impressive individual victories in the High Jump and Javelin for the Inters who came 4th out of 7 in the overall team competition. Eliot Makin’s winning throw of 48.52 in fact set a new school record for the inter javelin.

The hero of the day was definitely Seb Berger who put in several brave performances for the team in the 400m, 3000m steeplechase and the hurdles – none of which are events he had ever competed in before.

Our more experienced athletes also performed extremely well and Charlie Pritchard was our overall top

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point scorer for the day competing in numerous track and field events to a very high level. They helped the Senior team to finish third in their competition. Overall everyone worked really hard for the team and did themselves proud.

On the 26th of April Radley College Athletics Club hosted its first home fixture of the season with the Medley relays. We had an eclectic mix of schools ranging from the esteemed Harrow and Eton all the way to Lord Wandsworth College and Rugby College. Radley suffered severely from both injuries and absences following the away fixture at Harrow only three days prior, and that led to many boys having to cover multiple events that may not have been their forte. However, schools such as Harrow, Rugby and Eton proved their adept skills as they battled for the podium places. Harrow were redoubtable in performance and deservedly took four out of six of the 1st places, which was quite the accomplishment, alongside Eton and Rugby claiming one each too.

Although St. Paul’s never posed a

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threat for first place they should be honourably mentioned for having the second most podium seats after Harrow which was an impressive feat. The day itself was chilly to say the least and the weather gave no comfort for the athletes, this should be a testament to the participants and staff whom aided in the entire event and matched the professionalism of the athletes (apart from the tedious behaviour of the starting gun).

On Saturday 7th May, the Radley College athletics team participated in a fixture at Marlborough College.

The other schools attending were Abingdon, Cooper’s Coborn, Kingswood, Magdalen College, Marlborough, Wellington, and Winchester. Despite small amounts of persistent rain throughout the day, the senior squad came fourth in their division. Charlie Pritchard took two wins, for Javelin and 200 meters, and Ollie Moffat did the same for 200 meters and 400 meters. Tom Jewell and Nicholas Erasmus won the 800 meters in the “A” and “B” strings respectively. All of the runners did very well given the

slippery track. For the Intermediates, Henry Carson came first in the 400 meters, and Alex Martin won his race in the 100 meter hurdles. Eliot Makin won his javelin event, with another new school record, and Henry Wiggin excelled at the discus, gaining first place. These efforts placed the Inters fifth in their division, which was a good effort given the standard of competition.

After our traditional fixture at Bromsgrove was cancelled due to poor weather, our next fixture was Radley’s own multi-events match on the 7th of July. This is a fun event where athletes have a choice of two sprint events, two endurance events, two throws, and two jumps, and their performances from each get converted into points. The athlete with the most points is crowned the winner, and the best all round athlete on the day. Some shrewd calculations from some other schools suggested that it was easier to get points in the Long Jump than the High Jump, and the Shot than the Javelin, and some tactical event choosing from Harrow meant that they won each Age Groups team prize, and also won seven of the nine individual medals. The fastest

100m of the day put Charlie Pritchard in contention for an individual medal, but in the end he finished fifth, only a few points behind second. Archie Barrow was the strongest performing Inter on the day, finishing seventh, however he never really threatened the podium. The highlight of the day from a Radley perspective was the Senior A team, consisting of Charlie Pritchard, Freddie Marshall, Alex House, and Arthur O’Kelly, winning bronze medals.

The next event for the Radley College Athletics Club was one we hosted, rather than competed in, and on the 9th of July Radley held its annual Prep Schools Athletics match. This event has grown in recent years, and is now a fierce competition between eleven local Prep schools. The Dragon had an intimidatingly large team, however Chandlings won the year 4 competition, and Caldicott won both the Years 5/6, and the Years 7/8 competitions. However, with over 320 young athletes and the best weather of the season a good day was had by all, and the Radley boys who assisted with running the event were a credit to the school.

Our final event of the season was the County Championships. Some wet conditions and clashes of dates meant Radley had a more modest number of entrants than usual, and Sam Richardson was our only County Champion as he won the Junior Javelin. However his throw of 45.23m was good enough to set a new school record, and qualify Sam for the National Championships later on in the season. So the high quality of performances helped make up for the slightly low quantity of performances.

B Collins, g, T Jewell, b, E Makin, f

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CRICKET CLUB 2016 2016 in statistics 233 boys represented the school in 110 matches.

Over 60% of those 110 fixtures were won.

3rd XI won all 6 completed games, M5th XI unbeaten after a thrilling tie with Tonbridge.

Two special weekends: Harrow- all 1st XIs won and the block was won 11-5.

Abingdon where all Radley teams won their matches.

As ever, bare statistics don’t tell the full story of the 2016 season.

The second half of the term was

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remarkable for some fantastic results despite some inclement weather and, as ever, I am indebted to my colleagues for their work through the year and the time that they give up.

30 members of staff coached cricket this year including some fantastic new additions to RCCCSRM enjoyed a very successful season with the 4th XI, AFCN dovetailed well with TCJ looking after JC 2, DJTS and PA working so well with SAH in the lower reaches of the Midgets allowing a great number of boys to enjoy competitive cricket. SAH’s match reports always made for hilarious reading and raised a smile whatever the result on Bigside.

The returning EGP built on success

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Master in Charge: SH Dalrymple

of OHL’s Midgets competition which sees the whole year group play against each other in a feat of logistical expertise. The three tight wins in a week that Midgets 1 achieved in the second half of term must be due in no small part to the regular diet of competitive cricket.

Sadly 2016 will be Tony Jackson’s last season with RCCC. He has contributed a huge amount to Radley Cricket in his time here coaching at various levels through the club and always insisting on the highest standards from the boys he coached. They, in turn, caught his infectious enthusiasm for the intricacies of the game and his competitive spirit. He will be sorely missed next year as a coach, a member of the Common Room team and as a loyal supporter of

the club in the pavilion and we wish him all the best for his move to Barnard Castle.

2016 has been a busy season for the club. It started with winter nets in October, encompassed the traditional Academy programme on Sunday mornings and a preseason trip to Dubai for a training squad of 16.

In the winter Jeremy Lloyds joined ARW in offering expert coaching to the boys who are hugely lucky to have access to so many people with real knowledge and love of the game to give them advice.

In addition to the traditional fixtures on a beautiful, sunny Sunday on the 8th May there was a fantastic triangular tournament between I Zingari, the Radley Rangers and the 1st XI in memory of James Wesson.

James was master in charge of cricket during the golden years of the mid-1990s and the tournament was a fantastic reminder of the history of the club. Whilst James

might not have approved of the T20 format, the enthusiasm of the ORs present and the stories shared that day showed the best side of Radley Cricket.

At the end of any season there are a number of people who deserve special thanks. Firstly, AJK and his team who prepare truly first class practice and playing facilities. They look outstanding but Adam and his staff are not precious about them being used. It is a huge advantage to have cricket lovers looking after the grounds and their dedication and expertise mean we play cricket whenever it is remotely possible and they deserve huge thanks. I am delighted that they have the opportunity to show off the end product to a wider audience at this year’s Bunbury festival.

I would also like to thanks PJD and the Catering department for producing outstanding teas and extending the sort of warm hospitality that typifies what cricket

and Radley cricket in particular should embody.

My final thank you is to Andy Wagner who has worked tirelessly again to offer expert coaching to the boys. His dedication shows no signs of dimming as he enters his 33rd year working in the club. His early morning sessions and the use of study periods and lunchtimes with the U15s are examples of his willingness to help all those who want to develop their cricket. The success the club enjoys is due in no small part to the time that Andy spends ensuring that, not only the first team, but also the next generation of cricketers are as well prepared as they can be for the contest. Although looking forward to a break over the summer I know he will already be thinking about how to tweak the programme for 2017!

SH Dalrymple

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CRICKET 1ST XI P15 W5 D1 L6 A3 After a winter of early morning sessions, afternoon nets and the Sunday academy programme a squad of 15 boys assembled at Heathrow to travel to Dubai to take part in the ARCH trophy. It was fantastic to get in 4 games of competitive cricket and the results were promising. 3 wins and a single loss to a very strong Zayed Academy side who went on to win the competition set the boys up for the season proper.

The delights of the Wild Wadi water park seemed a long way off as the season got underway against

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Charterhouse in April but the benefits of the trip were obvious in a 7 wicket win. Archie Boscawen hinted at what was to come with a composed 88 not out to start the term perfectly. Archie finished the season as the leading run scorer with 373 runs at an average of 34. He has worked incredibly hard at his cricket through his 5 years at the school and his highlight will undoubtedly be his century against Abingdon.

It was the first century by a Radley Bigside player for four years and a testament to his skill and dedication.

His opening partner for most of the year was Val Brooke who scored 258 runs at an average of 20. He started

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Coaches: SH Dalrymple and AR Wagner Captain: JBJ Cunningham

the year with a bang with 86 at better than a run a ball in a thrilling run chase against Eton. We ended an agonising 3 runs short chasing down 253 and this innings showed that Val has the tools to succeed at this level.

He found the going tough at times against skilful fast bowlers with the new ball but made other valuable contributions and I am sure that he will be determined to build on this year’s showing as he moves into the sixth form.

Jamie Cunningham also enjoyed success against Eton taking 4-42 extracting real spin from the pitch.

Bowling spin aggressively is a very

tricky art and Jamie struggled to control the ball at stages this year but he continued to lead the side well and should take real pride in the achievements of a relatively young and inexperienced group of players.

He is a fantastic athlete in the field and a destructive batsman on his day and he is another who will shape games of cricket in the future.

In the same game Ollie MartynHemphill produced a moment of real class as he dismissed Eton’s centurion with a fantastic leg side stumping and he repeated this through the year as his keeping was consistently very good especially when stood up to the stumps. It was a case of what might have been with the bat for Ollie this year as he made a number of starts but found it difficult to convert 20s and 30s into match shaping scores. It was great to see him show the mental strength needed to dig the side out of a hole in the final game of the year with an unbeaten 61 and he is another who will look to 2017 as an opportunity to fulfil his undoubted ability.

Completing the top order Rory Betley scored 300 runs at an average of 25. He might have hoped for more on the back of a prolific tour to Dubai but it is worth looking at three innings in particular that show his value to the team. He scored 60 not out against Marlborough and 60 against Bradfield in really difficult circumstances and his 62 against Harrow was the deciding contribution in a famous win. He is a very talented player, capable of contributions with bat ball and taking the gloves following an injury at Harrow. He will continue to develop both technically and tactically over the coming years and is one to follow.

Jonty Robinson’s role in the side evolved over the course of the term as he relinquished the new ball and rose up the batting order. His two most notable contributions were against Winchester where his 59 ensured a competitive first innings total and then his spell of 2-31 against Harrow where he took the ball at a crucial point of their

chase and bowled with accuracy and penetration. At his best he could be a real all-rounder and he will hope to produce these moments on a more consistent basis in the final year of a long career. Sam Hoddinott had a season disrupted by injury but scored 173 runs in his 7 innings averaging almost 30 and he is another who should feature prominently next year after a season working in the nets and the gym.

The bowling attack was led by Kit Morland who batted at 7 and developed into the side’s leading spinner. He worked incredibly hard in the winter to ensure he could do a job with the ball and became the side’s most reliable and threatening bowler. He took 4-25 against Bradfield and never looked back as he managed to combine control and a wicket taking threat. It was great to see him finish the term well with the bat too as he scored 75 against Stowe and fully deserved his colours. The opening attack was young and inexperienced but adapted quickly to the demands of first team cricket. Jack Folkestone has an extra yard of pace and bowls genuine wicket taking deliveries. He took 5-43 against the South Oxford Amateurs in an important win and took important wickets in other games too. With some work on his action over the winter and a little more control he could be a fearsome prospect next year.

hope is that there will be more and more competition for places that will be a very positive development for the side. These two epitomised the approach required fighting for their place but also very gracious when left out of the side and both contributed well to the 2nd XI this year.

2016 will go down as a step forward for the 1st XI but I sincerely hope that it is the first step of many. It has been great to see this group of players compete against, and beat, some of the best sides we play but they also endured a few difficult Saturdays. With 8 regular first team players returning next year, I hope that they show the determination to improve in all aspects of the game to make sure that the 2017 is more successful.

SH Dalrymple

Tom Eden operates at a lesser pace but is deceptive and more consistent.

He offered more control at the start of the innings and, again, produced some match defining spells, 3-25 against Harrow being his highlight.

Tom also offers a threat with the bat in the lower middle order and should be pushing to bat higher up next year. Ollie Farr joined the team midway through the year and took some crucial wickets against Winchester and Harrow to secure important victories, he offers something a little different with his slower balls and was a great team man. Will Payne and Charlie Williams also played this year and both displayed a real passion for the team. Over coming years the THE RADLEIAN SPORTS SUPPLEMENT

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CRICKET 2ND XI

Coaches: CE Scott-Malden and CA San Jose Captain: LA Stalder P8 W4 L2 A2 Both Mr San Jose and I agreed that this has been the most enjoyable group of 6.1s and 6.2s to make up the 2nd XI that we’ve had the pleasure of coaching. A great team. A great captain.

Many great performances.

Undoubtedly this squad were more than the sum of their parts, but what parts they were...

Captain ‘Cool Hand’ Luke Stalder Rufus ‘The Destroyer’ Wallis (When Prince Philip said “A gun is no more dangerous than a cricket bat in the hands of a madman” he obviously had Rufus’ Abingdon innings in mind...)

Charlie ‘Cultured’ Williams Jamie ‘Easy Rider’ Farr James ‘Slasher’ Lee Harry ‘I’ve now hit a six on BigSide’ Bartlett Will ‘Mind the Windows’ Payne Alex ‘Reverse Sweep, Frog in a Blender’ Bruce Tom ‘Finally I’m getting the wickets I deserve’ Oliver Ed ‘You bring the Fanta, I’ll bring the Banta’ Agnew Matt ‘I started out as a batsman, now I bat at 10’ Leech Harry ‘Calypso Mullally’ Varney Sam ‘Traditional no.11’ Turner Tom ‘Wildthing’ Wildblood Highlights: Eton: Agnew 2-8, Stalder 69 off 110, Varney 35 off 27 at no 10 Wellington: Farr 66 off 55, Bruce 32 off 21 Bradfield: Bruce 3-12, Stalder 51 no Winchester: Varney 5-16, Bruce 2-14, Wallis 57 Abingdon: Wallis 171 off 87 (including 18 sixes), Lee 62 off 39 - Bruce 34no off 11 including the switch hit for 6 on the last ball!

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Harrow: Stalder 5-35, Farr 70, Bartlett 40 no Tonbridge: Stalder 49no, Oliver 2-17 Teddies: Stalder 3-20, Oliver 2-19 Notable Batting Stats: Wallis: 320 runs @47.7 Stalder: 238 runs @47.6 Farr 171 runs @ 34.2 Notable Batting Stats: Oliver: 15wkts @12.9 Bruce: 8wkts @18.8 Stalder: 8wkts @19.7 We look forward to welcoming many of you back next year - and to those who are not returning, we hope you still find time to keep playing some cricket at university and beyond.

CE Scott-Malden and CA San Jose

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CRICKET 3RD XI P6 W6 D0 L0 After bad weather at the start of term, the season started against Eton. Unfortunately, we were playing them on their own turf so we knew we had an extremely tough challenge ahead of us if we were going to leave victorious. We went into bat first and got off to quite a

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slow start but importantly, we still had all wickets intact come the 10th over. A quick flurry of wickets left us at 31-3, but thankfully we still had James Lee at the crease (49 not out at the end) and Will Womersley joined the fray to hit 43 off not many balls to get us to a defendable total of 151 off our 35 overs. Eton then went into bat

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Coaches: KA Mosedale and HD Hammond Captain: A Hargreaves

and quickly found themselves 25-3 putting us in the driving seat.

However, one of their batsman hit an unbeaten 62 to leave the Eton needing four to win from the last ball. Thankfully, we were able to hold on to come out victorious from this very close match and really set the benchmark for the rest of the season.

Our next match was against what was thought to be an easier opposition of Wellington. We went into bat first with confidence high but wickets quickly began to tumble and after 15 overs we found ourselves 36-6. Thankfully we still had Charlie Milner to come who hit a blistering 54 off 39 balls to take us to a total of 115. We then went into bowl and with some good bowling from both Adam Hargreaves and Archie Marsh, who both picked up 3 wickets, we were able to bring home a 42 run victory despite a frustrating last wicket partnership of 40.

A week later we travelled to Bradfield, where once again we felt we arrived as favourites. Bradfield batted first and put on 115 runs thanks to some economical bowling all round with Benji Waller being the pick of the bowlers with 3 wickets. We then went into bat and started positively but after a couple of wickets we were beginning to get slightly nervous.

Benji Waller went into bat and put all those doubts to one side scoring an unbeaten 43 off 20 balls to claim the match for Radley and no doubt the man of the match award for himself.

Our first home match of the season was against Winchester. We went into bat first and after an early wicket fell we managed to put on a very good score 185 from our 35 overs thanks to good performances from Alex McGee and Benji Waller, who scored 40 and 51 respectively. Winchester then went into bat but unfortunately were no match for our pace attack who all shared the wickets and bowled very economically to bowl them out for 45 in just 15 overs.

Going into our match away at Harrow we were still unbeaten but we knew if we wanted to keep that momentum going we would have to play extremely well to overcome a strong Harrow team. We went into bat first and scored slowly to begin with. However, just as against Eton, we kept wickets in hand. A good opening partnership of 49 put us in good stead to put on defendable total.

After a couple of quick wickets Benji Waller and Geordie Gordon Lennox found themselves at the crease and, thanks to the number of wickets in hand, were able to score freely. They both scored unbeaten half centuries to leave Radley with a good total of 157 off 30 overs including a couple of sixes and a four off the last over from Gordon-Lennox. Harrow then went into bat and got off to a good start. However, once again, some very economical bowling all round, particularly from Adam Hargreaves and Ed Agnew (two and three wickets respectively), Harrow were restricted to 116 resulting in a well deserved 41 run victory to Radley.

game of the season – home against Tonbridge, who are always a very strong opposition. Due to exams we had a slightly weakened team due to a lack of 6.2s but we still thought we were strong enough nonetheless.

Tonbridge went into bat first and got a respectful score of 142, despite being affected by a couple of rain breaks. However, their innings never really got going thanks to some good bowling meaning wickets fell at regular intervals with Adam Hargreaves and Tom Bracey being the pick of the bowlers, both picking up 3 wickets. We then went into bat and started well scoring 21 off 5 overs before coming off due to rain. After the rain break a couple of wickets fell leaving the score at 38-2. However, a good partnership of 35 between Alex McGee and Geordie Gordon Lennox left the score 73-2 after 17 overs.

However, a couple of wickets then fell in quick succession, which left us needing 60 from 66 balls. Geordie Gordon Lennox’s unbeaten 50 and some good hitting from both Will Womersley and George Gent meant that in the end Radley won by 5 wickets with 5 overs to spare.

Overall, we had an extremely successful unbeaten season with everyone throughout the team contributing to either one victory or another. We all had a lot of fun putting on a team performance each week and thankfully our hard work throughout the season paid off.

Geordie Gordon-Lennox, h Taking the 3rd XI this season has been a real pleasure and it was lovely to be able to present the Jon Nash trophy to Adam Hargreaves both for his sterling work leading the bowling attack and as a shrewd and thoughtful captain. Unbeaten seasons on such a strong circuit don’t come around very often and coaching and umpiring all the boys who have played for the 3rd XI in the 2016 season has been an absolute pleasure.

KA Mosedale and HD Hammond

Our unbeaten season was by no means complete coming into the final

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CRICKET 4TH XI P5 W3 D1 L1 The 4th XI cricket team had a generally very successful season although the fixture list was somewhat decimated by adverse weather which restricted the team to only five games during the summer term. The defeat at Eton in our first match of the season (Eton 144 for 7; Radley 106 all out) was the only reverse we suffered. It was followed up by a 5-wicket victory against Wellington (Wellington 184 all out; Radley 185 for 5), a 10-wicket victory against Winchester (Winchester 41 all out; Radley 44 for no wicket), another 10-wicket victory against Harrow (Harrow 45 all out; Radley 47 for no wicket), and on the final day of the season, a ‘winning’ draw against Tonbridge when, chasing 123 for victory, we were 81 for 4 with Charlie Pritchard in control on 30 not out when the heavens opened and the game was abandoned.

Throughout the season the stalwarts of the bowling attack were Rupert Evans (3 for 20 against Wellington), James Sloan (taking two wickets on three occasions against Eton,

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Winchester and Harrow), Freddie Grant (2 for 17 against Tonbridge), James Maidment (whose 4 for 1 off 9 balls against Winchester was particularly memorable) and Tom Bracey (3 for 29 against Wellington).

In addition, George Gent also took 3 for 19 at Eton. However, this was all somewhat overshadowed by the arrival of Henry (Hedge) Austen into our bowling attack for the final game at Tonbridge. After bowling five overs his figures were entirely respectable at 0 for 22 as Tonbridge stood on 98 for 2 and looked well placed to go on to make a big score.

At the end of his sixth and final over, however, his figures were 4 for 22 (including a hat trick) and Tonbridge were reduced to 98 for 6 and were never to recover.

With the bat we were particularly indebted to Tom Carter (52 against Wellington in a display of controlled aggression entirely suited to a sizeable run chase and 19 not out to steer the team comfortably to victory against Winchester), George Gent (28 against Eton and 41 against Wellington – innings that proved impressive enough

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Coach: SR Molyneux Captain: T Bracey

to rob us of his services for the rest of the season as he was promptly promoted to the 3rd XI), Tom Bracey (35 not out against Wellington) and Jack Beattie (with a particularly cavalier innings of 35 not out in the rout of Harrow).

Jack Elvin kept wicket in fine style playing with athleticism (often as a result of the inconsistent line of the bowlers!) and unquenchable enthusiasm. He also scored an important 20 in the win at Wellington.

The team was effectively led by Tom Bracey (Jack Elvin standing in to good effect at Tonbridge) and the team spirit developed very positively as the season progressed. At the start of the season I had told the boys that 4th XI cricket should be about two things – enjoying themselves and winning. I am pleased to say that the boys responded positively on both fronts, which made it a very enjoyable first cricketing season for me at Radley.

SR Molyneux

CRICKET 5TH XI P6 W3 L2 A1 The 5th and 6th XI squad was a mainly a 6.2 squad but was reinforced by some keen 6.1s. It was difficult to find fixtures in the exam term but the boys were extremely eager to keep the momentum going throughout the term.

The season got off to a flying start away away at historic rivals, Eton.

As there were so many boys keen to play, two teams were sent along. Our 5th XI, a 50/50 balance of 6.1s and 6.2s, felt the pressure of intense Eton bowling and fielding and were all out for 75, although Bishop scored an admirable 29.

Eton finished on 76 for 3 and won by 7 wickets but it was certainly an enjoyable day out. Shot choice was a key lesson learnt.

The traditional fixture against Aldworth C.C., one which has been customary for decades, took place at Radley the following week.

The weather was changeable and disrupted play several times.

However, the visitors finished on

Coaches: GHS May and MG Glendon-Doyle Captain: G Hervey

122 for 6 with Dove taking 3 fine wickets. Radley came out in force with the bat, with Chamberlain leading the charge with 58 off 29 and Hervey and Bishop not out on 42 and 31 respectively. Radley won by 9 wickets and there was an enjoyable get-together afterwards.

off 33. Although Aldworth exacted revenge by winning by 5 wickets (131 for 5), Wiltshire, the man of the moment, took a stunning 2 wickets and Strutt took a splendid catch on the boundary. Heptinstall, Dove and Lawton made a good contribution also.

Radley next welcomed Stowe to Smithsons on a glorious day. The visitors finished on a precise 100 all out with Campion taking 3 wickets and Binks and Sloan taking a brace each. Gosling and yet again, Bishop, were outstanding and somehow both ended the match on 49 not out. Radley won by an emphatic 9 wickets.

Just before the end of term, the match against St. Edward’s sadly had to be abandoned after 13 overs due to rain. Radley were 100 for 5 with Beattie smashing 25 off 11 and Marshall hitting an wellearned 21 off 22.

Aldworth C.C. welcomed the boys to their ground the following week, a fixture which was keenly anticipated by the Radley players.

One Aldworth bowler in particular caused absolute havoc with the swing of the ball, taking a hat-trick to rip through Radley’s middle order. Radley finished on 128 all out (respectable given the collapse), and last-minute call-up Wiltshire scored a wonderful and entertaining 33

It was an enjoyable term of cricket from start to finish. With some entertaining school and practice matches, it was hopefully a fitting end to schoolboy cricket for the players.

MG Glendon-Doyle

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CRICKET COLTS I P6 W2 L4 Three out of six matches were cancelled in the first half of the season which was a source of great frustration for the colts 1 XI. With big gaps between matches and disrupted training, it was difficult to get decent momentum and we struggled to put together a convincing team performance before Leave-Away.

With the Cheltenham match cancelled we had the daunting task of taking on Eton in our first match.

They batted first and we restricted them to just 151 courtesy of three wicket hauls for Caspar Muir and Miles Greene. However, conditions were tough, they bowled very well and we fell 30 runs short. Will Todd produced a gutsy performance to score 20 at the top of the order

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and Lachie Neville blazed his way to 40 runs in just 36 balls, but they received little support and we were bowled out for 121. A feature of the match was the excellent catch Monty Martin-Zackheim took to remove Lachie Neville! An Eton player was injured and, very sportingly, Monty offered to field for them. Lachie was well into his stride but when he launched a lofted drive to long on his team mate made good ground along the boundary and held onto an excellent catch. A very awkward Eton celebration followed.

Our task did not get easier as we travelled to play against a very good Wellington side. We batted beautifully and reached an impressive 191 for 7 in just 30 overs.

Benedict Weldon was outstanding as he made 59 in just 51 balls. He was

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Coach: GR King Captain: W Todd

well supported by Lachie Neville (43 from 41) and Monty Martin-Zakheim (30 in just 21 balls). We bowled and fielded well for the first half of their innings and after a couple of early wickets the required run rate crept up to 8 and victory seemed certain.

Their batsmen were forced to attack but we panicked and our bowling fell apart as they romped home with more than an over to spare. We had played very good cricket for three quarters of the match but when the pressure was applied late in the match it was disappointing that we could not respond.

We batted first against Bradfield and some inept batting at the top of the order meant we found ourselves in a hole at 53 for 5. Fortunately Henry Anderson (31 not out) and Monty Martin-Zakheim (52 not out) came to

the rescue to add some respectability to our score but the 136 we managed was not enough. Patrick Hayes and Ned Greville-Williams bowled well and we had Bradfield under pressure at times but in the end they knocked off the runs reasonably comfortably.

With three losses out of three the team was under pressure when we played against Abingdon. It was therefore very pleasing to produce a strong performance and come away with a comprehensive victory. Benedict Weldon and Will Todd opened the batting and gave us a 50 run opening stand which laid the platform for our stroke makers to make merry. Monty Martin-Zakheim scored his second fifty of the season and Theo Spreckley entertained all with 29 off just 12 balls. We scored 192 off our 30 overs this time and we were determined to finish the job with the ball in hand. Our attack bowled well and Will Kaye, Ned Greville-Williams and Miles Greene all chipped with two wickets apiece. Our catching behind

the stumps had been good all season thanks to our superb keeper, Theo Spreckley, but Bennedict Weldon took the catch of the season with a diving, 1-handed effort at first slip to remove Abingdon’s best batsman! In the end we won by 73 runs and it was a huge relief to get our first win under the belt.

The highlight of the season was our victory against Harrow. They inserted us on a very damp and green wicket and Caspar Muir batted with great determination at the top of the order to score a dogged 25. Batting was treacherous and wickets fell regularly and when Theo Spreckley arrived at the crease we were in trouble at 74 for 6. He and Dan Bishop counterattacked their way to a priceless 44 run partnership. Spreckley was the destroyer-in-chief and his 46 off just 49 balls proved to be a match winning innings. Patrick Hayes, who deserved more than his 2 for 22, bowled beautifully with the new ball and, with Monty Martin-Zakheim also

CRICKET COLTS 2 P5 W1 L3 A1 ‘Close, but no cigar.’ I think that phrase sums the Colts 2 2016 season up nicely.

We played four and a half matches and won only one.

The season started in a mixture of wet and freezing conditions - one practice match continued through horizontal hail, and the opening game against Eton was, I think, the coldest I can recall. Its action rather set the tone for the rest of the season. We bowled quite tightly on a tricky wicket and restricted the visitors to a slow 122-8 off their 35 overs, Dan Bishop picking up 2-11 off 6 and Charlie Pemberton 2-24 off 7, with Will Lennon delivering a niggardly spell of 0-7 off 6. Even then, it could have gone much better - we had Eton 4-6 in the seventh over. However, we struggled with the bat too, losing steady wickets, and fell four short of the total, losing our last wicket with three balls left. Frustrating, but a good game.

The following week’s game at Wellington was both very similar and very different.

taking two wickets at the other end, we soon had Harrow in trouble at 19-4. Unfortunately, a few dropped catches allowed their best batsman to dominate proceedings and he looked like winning the match for Harrow. Just as things were slipping away from us, Miles Greene came on for a second spell and, in three overs of devastating in-swingers, removed their top batman and the tail to secure a tense, but welldeserved, 4 run victory.

The less said about our final match against Tonbridge the better. They had an excellent attack and, apart from an entertaining 32 from Lachie Neville, our batmen were outclassed to be dismissed for just 91 runs. This was never going to be enough and the Tonbridge top order knocked them off for the loss of just one wicket. We had high hopes of finishing the season in style but in the end Tonbridge were just too good for us.

GR King

Coach: IK Campbell Captain: BMJ Yorston

In blazing sun and on a small pitch they posted a moderate 139-2 from 30 overs, which again should have been gettable.

However, a combination of one good fast bowler, bad luck and poor shot selection saw only skipper Benedict Yorston contribute with the bat: he rode his luck to make 77 out of our total of 127 all out.

Nobody else made double figures, which wasn’t very impressive.

The following week we faced a feeble Bradfield side and dismissed them for 40 inside 12 overs, Pemberton taking 4-18 and Lennon and Will Morgan finishing the opposition off with successive double wicket maidens. We won by 9 wickets well before 4pm.

Then there was a big gap until we reconvened at Harrow a month later on 18th June, having lost the Marlborough game to the weather. We were helped out by three Colts 3 players for this one, and got off to a great start on a wet and sloping wicket, Lennon taking 4-17 in his opening spell and the hosts subsiding to 35-5. We also held every catch in the innings, several of them quite

tough ones. Unfortunately we let them recover to 102 all out off 25 overs, with a large donation of wides. This should still have been well within our grasp.

The batting failed miserably however, with only Rufus Darwall, opening, and Charles Maunder, number 9, reaching double figures. Even then we came close to edging a win, before Maunder was stumped in the penultimate over with 8 runs still needed. Not a great day.

The final match at Tonbridge was washed out after we had posted a fair score of 135-6 off 30, on a lushly grassed outfield and big boundary. Bishop, back from Colts 1, scored 32 and Yorston 23, while Pemberton chipped in with a useful 14 not out. Tonbridge were 62-3, after excellent catches from Pemberton and Yorston, when we finally gave up in the 13th over of their reply, soaked to the skin.

Not a vintage season, then. There’s always next year...

IK Campbell

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CRICKET COLTS 3 Coach: AC Cunningham Captain: F Campbell-Gray

P1 W1 L2 The statistics do not tell the story. Two losses and only one win – a comfortable one against Wellington - suggest a weakish team. But this team showed bags of talent in all three of their Matches (the traditional tough opening fixture against Eton was called off at the last minute, because of a waterlogged Smithsons pitch) and both the losses were narrow ones against higher teams: Stowe’s Colts 2 and Winchester’s Colts 2 (including some Colts 1 players). In each game, we scored at least 150 runs.

Freddy Campbell-Gray led the Team by example as leading batsman and wicketkeeper, amassing 157 runs in three Innings, with a top score of 72 (versus Winchester). Freddy was deservedly promoted to Colts 2 in the second half of the Season. Tom Johnston was leading wicket-taker, with best figures of 4-1 against Wellington and 4-33 against Winchester.

The individual Match scores were as follows: Radley vs Wellington (25 overs): Radley 168-5; Wellington 53. Radley won by 115 runs (Barclay 35no; Johnston 4-1) Radley vs Stowe (30 overs): Radley 156-7 (Campbell-Gray 61); Stowe 160-9 (Daniel 3-10). Radley lost by 1 wicket.

Radley vs Winchester (30 overs): Winchester 196-8 (Johnston 4-33); Radley 182-7 (Campbell-Gray 72; Barclay 36; Fitzpatrick 29). Radley lost by 16 runs.

Radley Team: Campbell-Gray (Wkt & Captain), Barclay, Daniel, De Watteville, Fitzpatrick, Johnston, Lowe, Marsh, Maunder, Newall, Pockney, Strain, Tregear.

AC Cunningham

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CRICKET JC 1 P10 W5 L3 A2 Team: F Horler (capt), W Barker, W Carr, H Chapman, M Chapman, W Duncan, G Marshall, R Marshall (wk), J Peers, H Purton, G Redmayne, C Robertson, B Southgate.

In the midst of another dribblingly rainy summer, JC1 played some skilled, energetic and very grown up cricket, and even though a tally of 5 wins from 8 completed matches might seem a modest return for a team who are rightly considered to be a bright prospect for future 1st XI success in the years to come, both KMWS and I were delighted with their approach to developing their skills and felt that they finished the term very strongly indeed.

The team was led with great game awareness by Freddie Horler who

not only led the way with the bat – his 278 runs at just over 30 was the highest tally among the batsmen - but who also showed the ability to manage his players and get the best out of them in a fashion way beyond his years. I can’t recall a P10 W5 L3 A2 Team: F Horler (capt), W Barker, W Carr, H Chapman, M Chapman, W Duncan, G Marshall, R Marshall (wk), J Peers, H Purton, G Redmayne, C Robertson, B Southgate.

In the midst of another dribblingly rainy summer, JC1 played some skilled, energetic and very grown up cricket, and even though a tally of 5 wins from 8 completed matches might seem a modest return for a team who are rightly considered to be a bright prospect for future 1st XI success in the years to come, both

Coaches: KM Willis-Stovold and JRW Beasley Captain: F Horler

KMWS and I were delighted with their approach to developing their skills and felt that they finished the term very strongly indeed.

The team was led with great game awareness by Freddie Horler who not only led the way with the bat – his 278 runs at just over 30 was the highest tally among the batsmen - but who also showed the ability to manage his players and get the best out of them in a fashion way beyond his years. I can’t recall a single moment in the season when he was not thinking clearly about how to manipulate the opposition to best advantage, whether that was by nudging a fielder a yard or two this way or that, or by encouraging his batsmen to put pressure on the fielding side by running aggressively to see if his opposite number could respond to the challenge.

The batting was a clear strength in the side and no fewer than 7 batsmen averaged over 20 or scored around 200 runs or better.

Inevitably these runs were scored in many different ways: the captain, playing the ball late but timing it impeccably, opened the innings with Bertie Southgate whose technical excellence allowed him to score all round the wicket but also to cope with the opposition’s best bowlers in the most testing conditions against the new ball. Bertie played a number of fine innings, but his highlight was a particularly fluent 66 at Winchester.

The next 2 positions in the order were filled by Will Carr and Henry Chapman, both of whom played important innings, and had Will’s back not plagued him throughout I suspect that even more formidable totals would have been achieved.

His 46* in 22 balls at Bradfield

was an exemplar of how to raise the tempo of a game with skill and sweet timing, without resorting to graceless slogging, and he ensured that we posted a total which had seemed out of reach with just a few overs to go.

Henry showed that he could bat both watchfully and with freedom, and even though caution was perhaps his default position, he rarely gifted his wicket to the oppo. His 51 against Harrow was a crucial contribution in a must win game.

The final 3 batsmen to make game changing contributions were very different in style: Charlie Robertson, batting largely at 5, had the ability to take the game to the enemy with both his powerful hitting but also his quick single scampering, and he never missed an opportunity to touch the ball into a gap in the field, especially on the leg side. That said his most

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impressive innings came against a highly skilled MCS bowling attack whose spinners and seamers seemed to have everyone else tied up in knots, but who could not prevent Charlie’s 56* from taking us to the brink of an unlikely victory. Will Barker, by contrast, stood taller and played more elegant shots, but who could also hit cleanly when the opportunity presented itself, and he and Charlie shared a number of brisk and influential partnerships, most notably at Winchester and in an unbeaten 74 at Tonbridge in particularly testing conditions.

The last of these batsmen was the pocket battleship himself, Harry Purton, who played perhaps the innings of the season against Stowe in the final match: his 56* from 32 balls was a masterpiece of strokeplay and manipulating the bowling, and any notion that the opposition had that they might restrict us to a manageable target was quickly dispelled.

Once the runs had been safely bagged, the bowlers could get to work, and the attack was varied and well balanced. Sharpest and most threatening was Henry Chapman, and a number of opposition batsmen found themselves skewered by his pace and bounce (Yes, bounce was possible on even soggy puddings of pitches, if Henry was so minded), and even though he might have been disappointed by a return of 8 wickets at 17, there’s no doubt that he helped others to take wickets at the other end because he had rattled the batsmen so mightily with his opening burst. On a rainy day at Abingdon he caused significant jitters for 2 strong batsmen both going well, and their ultimately modest total owed a great deal to his spell. He shared the new ball with Will Barker’s excellent, brisk away swing (12 wickets at 14) and at first change John Peers, elevated from JC2 after an injury to George Marshall, bowled full and straight with more than an hint of inswing (7 wickets at 17).

The fourth seamer was Will Duncan, a traditional English put-it-on-a-

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sixpence type of bowler who again bowled full and could be guaranteed to hit if the batsman missed. Will’s return of 8 wickets at 16 was not a huge haul, but his captain could always turn to him if the opposition were batting with freedom, because he knew where Will would bowl and could set a field accordingly. After that the spinners could work away, and from George Redmayne’s tall and quicker delivery, to Horler’s and Purton’s more flighted offerings, there were different options available in different conditions and match situations. There weren’t always that many wickets left for them to take after the seamers had had their fill, but George bowled especially well at Winchester and against Stowe, while Harry Purton thoroughly bamboozled Bradfield.

Spinners, of course, need to bowl and preferably to bowl longish spells to find their rhythm, and that is not always possible in 30 or 35 overs matches, but they gave variety to the attack and asked awkward questions.

Behind this bowling unit was a strong fielding side who concentrated well and caught most things. Rory Marshall grew in skill and confidence behind the stumps – he was superb on a devilishly difficult day and pitch against Stowe – and Messrs Barker, Chapman and Carr patrolled the scoring areas of the covers and midwicket with all the dependability of a sandbank.

‘Good shot for no run’ became a standard scenario for the opposition, and many very sharp catches were caught in these areas. Sharpest of all was Charlie Robertson, whose quick reactions at slip or gully were excellent. The catch he took off Will Barker’s bowling at Winchester early in the innings was one of those classic pieces of quality cricket that make coaches purr with pleasure: full away swing at a good pace, thickish outside edge, flying ball snapped out the air like a marksman taking a bird on the wing. Just terrific.

So….all the ingredients were in place for a great season, and while it was not quite as triumphant as it might have been, many good scalps were taken. It was unfortunate that the

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first two matches were washed out, leaving us to play our first match against an Eton side who had been on tour and already played 4 games to scour away any ring-rust that had accumulated over the winter. It was a low scoring game that was lost by 26 runs.

Against Wellington, in another rainaffected game, we played poorly at crucial times, and a cracking match against a very good MCS side was lost by 6 runs but with 4 regular players missing with other commitments. That apart wins came aplenty. Our Will Carr inspired total was 105 runs too many for Bradfield; 183 in 30 overs was far too many for Winchester, especially in the light of an excellent bowling and fielding display; Abingdon were held to 140 in 35 overs, a score reached with 2 overs to spare and with just 4 wickets lost; Harrow could only manage half of our 162 (thanks to Henry Chapman’s strong innings); Stowe could only muster 143 in response to our 180, in spite of the fact that their opener scored 101*.

On that day especially, the bowling and fielding was as sharp as it had been all season. The rain came to thwart winning positions against both Tonbridge and St Edward’s, and the Marlborough match was a third total washout.

In the final analysis, therefore, this was a successful team who played as a team and thoroughly enjoyed their cricket. I’m sure that KMWS would agree with me that they were as pleasant, purposeful and worthwhile a group of young cricketers with whom a schoolmaster-coach could hope to spend his afternoons. And they will be a very competitive, winning XI in a couple of years’ time – you read it here first.

JRW Beasley

CRICKET JC 2 P6 W5 L1 A2 C2 The tale of Radley College Junior Colts 2 in the summer of 2016 is one as old as time, or at least as old as Hollywood in the mid-1980s. A grizzled, battle worn old coach on his last legs before retirement (TCJ) is paired with a loosecannon rookie with a casual disregard for the rules (AFCN). Somehow they form a special bond and inspire a motley band of urchins (JC2) who scrap their way to victory against the odds.

In reality, the young men of JC2 were far from the ragged bunch of misfits so often portrayed on the silver screen.

They were, to a man, bold, talented and competitive cricketers who fought with real skill for each victory. It is

Coaches: AFC Nash and TC Jackson Captain: M Daly

hard to imagine having been allotted a finer bunch as one’s first team at Radley. Of the games we completed, the boys won five and lost just one.

Of those called off for rain mid-game, we had played excellent cricket to put ourselves in strong positions to win against both Wellington and Tonbridge.

The cruel mistress that is the English weather put paid to our hopes on no fewer than four occasions, but it is a measure of the boys’ commitment that in every case they were desperate to get on and play through the rain.

The weather interceded in our season before we had got going and our first fixture against Cheltenham was washed out sans play. Our first match therefore was away at Eton

College. Undaunted by travelling to such illustrious rivals at the very start of the season, the boys set about ruthlessly dismantling their Sloughbased counterparts. Magnificently parsimonious spells from HamiltonRussell, Peers and Rogers-Coltman exerted the pressure and Eton wilted to 67 all-out. Despite losing openers Chapman and Peers early on, Milo Daly and Will Nicholson steered us home without alarm. There followed a frustratingly truncated visit from Wellington who were decidedly on the ropes at 77-6 when the rain came.

Three weeks after beating Eton, the boys were chomping at the bit for their next chance to exhibit their cricketing prowess and frankly questionable

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‘chat’. We travelled to Bradfield in high spirits and duly played with the kind of panache rarely seen outside the court of Henry IV. Bradfield were dismissed for 92, due in part to Will Cox’s frugal and probing spell of 4-9. Chapman and Peers lacked the common decency to allow Bradfield a sniff of a chance or any of their team a bat, and made light work of the total. After Marlborough deemed the potential for bad rain sufficient cause to call off the trip to Radley, we were left without an inter school fixture again the following week. Instead we decided to challenge RCCC’s very own Colts 2 and duly won a very slightly rain affected game.

Five days later came the visit of Magdalen College School, and all began in familiar fashion. Will Hamilton Russell channelled Alan Mullally in his pomp to claim figures of three overs, no wickets for four runs, and we limited the opposition to 104 from their 25 overs. However, in what should have been a fairly routine chase, we came up against our first real test of character.

Apart from Angus Tufnell, who was as dependable with the bat as he is polite of demeanour, the batsmen failed to ‘front up’ as our antipodean brethren might have it. At 70-8 we were looking lost. It was only the heroics of recently promoted Ethan Russell and the finest numbers ten and eleven in JC2’s (2016) history that we scraped home with nine wickets down.

Having learnt a lesson or two about temperament from our tail-enders, we took on Abingdon with a resolve now steelier than ever. When this season is reproduced in novel form, as it inevitably will be, this match would have to be entitled ‘Chapman’s Chapter’. With 70 from 56 balls and 6-26, it is fair to say he influenced the outcome of the game somewhat. There was a typically hypnotic spell of 2-11 from 6 overs from Louis Needham as fine support, but really Matthew Chapman deserved the pilfered match ball. The prospect of a 100% winning season now felt increasingly realistic, and though most of us dared not speak the words, hopes were high ahead of the match against Harrow.

without disappointment. Harrow provided this narrative necessity. Thanks to the age-old combination of hubris and comically poor running between the wickets, we only managed to bat for 25 of our allotted 30 overs. Chapman and Tucker had begun proceedings with calm authority to reach 45-0, but when Chapman departed caught and bowled, the rot well and truly set in.

In our attempt to defend the (nigh on) indefensible score of 104, Will RogersColtman was a man on a mission.

His figures of 2-15 from 6 helped us temporarily to dent Harrovian hopes.

Unfortunately, we simply didn’t have enough runs and lost the game by 3 wickets.

Our epic journey to Tonbridge began with a newfound sense of trepidation.

It had been established that JC2 were capable of losing. Fortunately, Louis Needham’s superb season with the ball continued on a sticky surface and his 2 for 9 from 6 played a huge part in managing to limit Tonbridge to 116.

When the English weather made its fourth decisive intervention of the season and we abandoned play at 47-3, there was a growing sense that the statistics simply weren’t going to do justice to the way the boys had played throughout term.

Fortunately, there was a final opportunity for glory with an away game at St Edward’s. In tempestuous conditions we bowled St Edward’s out for 41 and then batted for 3.3 overs in the face of an advancing flood to chase it down and win by ten wickets. The uncomplicated approach of Stalder and Robson came to the fore in ensuring we got the runs before good sense had a chance to rear its ugly head and the match had to be abandoned.

It was a great privilege for TCJ and me to work with such an excellent group of players this summer. They were fantastic company and, crucially, each and every one was eager to improve their cricket.

I am sure many of them will go on to great things within Radley College Cricket Club.

Surely no tale worth telling is complete

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AFC Nash

CRICKET JC3 Coaches: REP Hughes and MCF Brown Captains: S Tucker and J Wilson P7 W3 L4 The season opened with what is normally the toughest match of term – away versus Eton – and so it proved. Neither team had had much match practice, but the Eton batsmen found their rhythm very quickly, making 171 in the allotted 30 overs.

Radley then struggled against excellent bowling and we were never in the hunt, eventually being bowled out for 61.

The Wellington game was interrupted a few times by hail storms with thunder and lightning but we were determined to get a game in.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t use the strange conditions to our advantage and after falling for 100 a.o we didn’t have enough to defend in 25 over. They finished 102 for 6, winning by 4 wickets.

The away match against Bradfield was won conclusively.

Radley scored 220-6 off 20 overs, assisted by a very short boundary and an inexperienced attack. Tucker and Henry batted very well, with the latter falling only a few runs short of a century. Terry (4-21) and Russell (3-21) then set us on course for victory by 127 runs.

The next match, Winchester away was one of the most exciting matches of the season.

Radley made 207 off 30, with excellent contributions from Tucker, Henry, Brolly and Bertie.

The Winchester batsmen put up solid resistance, but despite a late flurry of runs we managed

to bowl them out for 194 and a 13-run victory. Russell took 4-36.

The crunch game of the season was against Abingdon. We were desperate to keep our form going and were determined to set a big score to chase having been put in to bat. We managed just that, a huge 218 for 6 off just 25 overs stood us in good stead for the Abingdon innings. James Wilson’s marvellous 61 off just 27 balls was a highlight. We then had a great day with the ball sharing the wickets around (3 for Cox, 2 for Stone) and bowled them all out for 87 – a convincing 131 run win.

With the wind in our sails we came up against a very impressive Harrow team. They chose to bat

and set a good target of 161 off 25 overs – challenging but reachable.

Unfortunately it was not our day with the bat, a few ducks and a bizarre dismissal of Wilson (who was charging at the time (30 off 15)) meant we could only muster 105 a.o. A shame as the teams were well matched.

The final match was against a well-disciplined Tonbridge team.

Batting first, we struggled to make runs and our score of 97-8 off 30 overs never looked enough. There was a glimmer of hope when Tonbridge were 35-3 (including an excellent catch from Terry), but we lost focus during a rain break and Tonbridge emerged comfortable winners.

The season has had a good number of highlights as mentioned above, and we have been ably lead by Sam Tucker (so well in fact he ended up in JC2). James Wilson’s bowling has been quick and his batting has followed suit too. A good find has been Ethan Russell’s leg-spin, not an easy skill but he has delivered all season.

Something vitally important in this level of cricket is consistency and it was nice to have a good solid set of ever presents (Brolly, Wilson, Boulton, Holbech, Russell, Terry, and Bertie). A good season, with a good chance to improve next year.

REP Hughes and MCF Brown

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CRICKET JC4

Coaches: DWS Roques and CM Bedford

P5 W3 L2

before Radley scored 199 runs, on a small pitch, with Stubbs and Mosedale both out for 42, and with Freddie Armstrong managing to take four wickets.

Although the results suggest a rather disappointing season, the squad was strong and could easily have won more if the weather had been better.

Strength in depth meant selection varied considerably, but it was great to see so many boys involved in cricket at this end of the club.

Initially the team’s power seemed to lie in its bowlers, with Douglas Wyrley-Birch, Ee-thern Ship and Jack Maidment leading the charge with pace, whilst Freddie Armstrong, Harry Gent, Fergus Mosedale, Joe McDermott and Marcus Stuart-Bourne all contributed at a slower pace.

An early, and expected loss, was suffered against Eton, but the team came roaring back against Wellington, who only managed to score 21.

Unfortunately due to injury, this was the only game Nico Reid Scott was

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able to open in, but already the batting quality was showing through, with his fellow opener Jonty Stubbs helping Reid Scott to win the game.

A narrow loss to Winchester by 7 runs, with some controversy over an umpiring decision of DWSR at a crucial moment, was probably a fair result, given the strength of their bowling, but from then on the season improved.

Against Marlborough, after a shaky start to the batting in answer to the opposition’s 137, Harry Walther-Caine saved the day with an unbeaten 58.

There then followed an excellent victory against Harrow, with Jonty Stubbs and Freddie Stone both scoring more than 50 each in their opening stand, leading to an overall score of 170 for 5, to which Harrow could only reply with 130ao.

The final game of term against Tonbridge was abandoned, but not

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Captains: H Gent, E Ship and J Stubbs

Overall the boys played enthusiastically, captained at first by Harry Gent, then Eethern-Ship and finally Jonty Stubbs. Other team members were Hugo Bennett, Jess Beardsworth, Will Goodman, Ollie Brown, George Batty, Jamie Bell, Edward Andrew, and Jimmy Aird.

DWS Roques and CM Bedford

CRICKET MIDGETS 1 P10 W5 L2 A3 With eleven new cricketers all playing at different prep schools, there can be problems with team grudges or players not being able to adapt to being part of a new team. However, this year we all bonded well together from the first training session. A cricket team will only be successful a group comes together and play as a team. This is what we have done very well, and that is why we have had a strong season.

Our first scheduled game was against Cheltenham. With cold winds blowing and wet weather around all week the match did not look. Despite the weather we trained hard, even warming up in the sports centre! Sadly, there was no let-up in the weather and the English summer had its first victim.

A week later, the rain had eased and, although the skies were grey, we took to Jackdaw for our first match. Eton are always one of the best teams

we play so we were all filled with excitement as we hoped we could get our season underway with a positive result. Straight off the bus, Eton were put in to bat. With it being overcast, Toby Buck managed to nip the ball around, and very quickly a promising looking Eton side were down 63-8.

Jamie Miesegaes took the catch of the season with a superb caught and bowled, diving to his left. Tom Vincent also picked up a few wickets and took a very good catch. The Eton tail-enders tried to form partnerships but Ed Crowston ripped through them with his off spin and they were all out for 75. Feeling like we had a good chance, our openers went out. We did not get off to the best of stars as we stuttered to 32-2, but skipper Alex Haynes came in to steady the ship and was top scorer of the day with some lovely shots and helped us to a six wicket win.

Next came a strong Wellington side.

On another ominous looking day,

Coaches: OH Langton and EG Pearson Captain: A Haynes

Wellington won the toss and batted, making it to 55-2 after 12 overs, before rain engulfed the pitch. This was a disappointing end to what would have been a very good match.

Fortunately the weather cleared for our match with Bradfield and we won an important toss and put them in.

Although, not the strongest side we played across the season, we bowled well, restricting Bradfield to 108 all out, with Sam Richardson and Toby Buck each getting three wickets. Phillip Barnett, probably our most dynamic fielder, also completed a dramatic run out, with a direct hit from the covers.

It was then left to Sam Hack and Alex Haynes to knock off the runs; Hack scoring a pugnacious 59* and Alex Haynes a silky 44* leading to a comfortable nine wicket victory.

The weather again took its third victim as our match against Marlborough was cancelled, but a rearranged Cheltenham match was our next

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challenge. Having lost the toss and their opening batsman took advantage of a small leg side boundary to register an impressive hundred and set an intimidating target of 201 to win.

However, we set off chasing this score well with Tom Vincent and Sam Hack batting beautifully to put together a partnership of 115 off 15 overs; Vincent particularly fluid through the off side and Hack launching some strong pull and cut shots. However, after an important drinks break, wickets started to fall and despite a quick 32 from Ben Hoddinott we fell short by 11 runs.

This was a tough defeat with dropped catches and poor running between the wickets costing the team at crucial times, but it was a great game of cricket and one which the side learnt a lot from.

Sadly we could not carry any momentum into our next game against Winchester.

Although we bowled tightly to restrict them to 95-3 off their 30 overs our

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innings faltered as we failed to establish partnerships, succumbing to the swinging ball and some good leg spin bowling. This was our worst performance of the season and although we were very disappointed it spurred us on for the rest of the season.

Following a fantastic training session with the England women’s cricket team at the ECB centre at Loughborough University during the week, we hoped to put Winchester behind us, with a win against local rivals Abingdon. Again we won the toss and chose to bowl first.

Immediately we were under pressure as one of their openers hit a well-deserved 66, before being caught by Ed Crowston moving well to take a steepling catch at deep mid-wicket. Further good bowling from Toby Buck and Jake Elliott restricted them to a gettable 143. Memories of the Winchester collapse came flooding back as wickets tumbled at the start of the chase, but in our time of need

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the lower order came to the rescue. In particular Hector Denny scored a vital 24 and, combined with a few extras from Abingdon, we were able to make it over the line nine wickets down with two overs to spare.

Yet more rain put an end to the Cheltenham T20 festival, but the clouds stayed away for one of the biggest games of the season against an unbeaten Harrow side. Again we bowled first and, pleasingly, set about dismantling their top order; skipper Haynes, Jamie Miesegaes and Jake Elliott all taking crucial wickets as they stumbled to a score of just 104.

Again early wickets were lost in the run chase, but some lusty blows from Sam Richardson and a composed 31* from Tom Vincent helped us across the line in the last over.

With our confidence building we then moved to take on Reading Blue Coat.

Bowling first once again we did well to restrict them in the opening overs on what was a flat wicket, but some positive stroke play from their middle order resulted in them posting an intimidating 165-6. In response Sam Hack and Ben Hoddinott played nicely in a partnership of 49, before wickets fell in our middle order once again. An excellent 33 from Jamie Miesegaes put us back in the game but with work still to do Ed Crowston and Toby Buck batting at number nine and ten put together a hugely impressive partnership of 34 off 33 balls with some powerful hitting and good running between the wickets, leaving number eleven Jake Elliott to hit the winning runs in the final over in another dramatic win.

Some good cricket was played against both Tonbridge and St Edwards, but once again the weather had its say and, sadly we had another two games called off. Nonetheless, despite the frustrations of the rain, we have all very much enjoyed this season. Skipper Alex Haynes has lead the side very well, managing the demands of opening the bowling and batting in the top order admirably whilst Toby Buck and Sam Hack topped the bowling and batting averages respectively. Similarly, we have all thoroughly enjoyed each other’s company and, although we have had no standout players, the team was made up of eleven strong cricketers with the right attitude; nobody was there to make up the numbers and we all contributed.

A team is always more than the sum of

CRICKET MIDGETS 2 P9 W6 L3 Squad: Ely, Eliot-Cohen, Barlow, Tompkins, Glassey, Roest, Rothery, Reed, Way, O’Dowd, Goaman, Brooks-Ward, Young.

This was an enjoyable season with a great group of 13 committed cricketers which provided healthy competition for places.

We first hosted Eton in arctic conditions. Despite restricting them to 150 and a positive start by opener Eliot-Cohen, we fell short with 105.

Wellington looked weak at 40-4 but they reached 121-6 off rain reduced 25 overs. The Radley run chase was well paced, with Ely and Reed seeing us home with 2 overs and 7 wickets in hand.

A disappointing 142-9 against Bradfield, improved by a useful last wicket partnership (Goaman and O’Dowd), inspired an eager performance after tea. Bradfield

Sam Hack, f

Coaches: M Hills and TCH Norton Captain: K Ely

collapsed to 51 after an early run out and Rothery’s 4-4.

We travelled to Cheltenham. The top order made useful contributions towards 208-7 in the sunshine. In reply Cheltenham only mustered 91. O’Dowd starred with 2 runouts, 2 catches and a wicket. Spinners Barlow and Ely mopped up the tail.

Winchester visited after leave away.

Barlow scored 103* off 107 balls, ably supported by others (Roest 21 from 7 balls) as we ran up 225-6. Winchester posted 80 in reply with the wickets spread around.

On form Barlow scored 81* against Abingdon. Ely hit two maximums in a brutal 58. Abingdon started well but Glassey’s run out and Goaman’s catch off his own bowling slowed them before O’Dowd ran through the middle order (3-10) and they fell for 64.

Harrow were more challenging. On a wet pitch we elected to field. From 42-4 we allowed them 125. Looking

its parts and that is why we have had a very good season and we are already looking forward to the next. On behalf of all the team, I would like to thank Mr Langton and Mr Pearson for coaching us from start to finish and making it a very enjoyable season.

comfortable at 38-0, Eliot-Cohen hit an awkward full toss straight up and others’ injudicious shots left too much to do. 9th wicket pair O’Dowd and Way resisted but we fell 4 runs short.

Despite reflection, the Tonbridge fixture ended likewise. Replying to 139-9 (Goaman 3-26) we fell for 124 despite the tail wagging again.

Determined to finish the season positively, the team approached the St Edward’s T20 aggressively. Two respectable batsmen (Ely 60, Eliot Cohen 59) underpinned our 160-9 and we demolished the hosts in rain for 37 in 9.3 overs. Tompkins’ 5-6 (including a quadruple wicket maiden) was commendable.

Special mentions to the season’s top run scorer and wicket taker Kit Ely (238 runs and 14 wickets) and Will Way who kept wicket with skill and energy.

M Hills and TCH Norton

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CRICKET MIDGETS 3 P7 W6 L1 From the outset our bowling was sharp and effective – indeed in the opening 8 overs of the first game against Eton we managed to contain the opposition to just 23-4, before some defiant middle-order batting took Eton to 168-7 after 30 overs.

Hopes were relatively high until Eton’s equally reliable bowling took its toll, pinning back Radley to just 111 all out in reply.

With stand-out players Alex O’Dowd (3 wickets) and Ed Roest (57 runs) promptly promoted, the void was swiftly filled the following week by newcomers Alec Cooke and Archie Halliday, who helped Radley to a first victory, away at Wellington.

Three wickets from Ludo Grant and two from Alec Cooke (three in a row including a run-out) closed down Wellington to 114-6 despite a slew of dropped catches. Batsmen

Archie Halliday (35) and Alec Cooke (17) helped Radley finally reach this target with just two overs and two wickets remaining. Victory ensued the following week as well, with Radley reaching Bradfield’s total of 69 runs with intelligent bowling from medium pacer Alex Scott (2 for 10) and spinner Thomas Williams Bulkeley (2 for 3) and batting contributions from George Daly (23) and Archie Halliday (15).

With the Marlborough game cancelled, the boys headed to Abingdon, posting a respectable 133-5 with an inningsspanning 43 from captain George Daly, supported by 18 from George Wallis and 14 from newcomer Will Brookes-Ward. Three stumpings from keeper Archie Halliday, and wickets for Zach Martin-Zakheim (3) and Josh Rae-Smith (2) helped the boys bowl out Abingdon for 117, thus taking the game by 5 wickets.

Three more victories followed,

CRICKET MIDGETS 4 P8 W5 L3 The weather made what would be a mixed season for Midget 4 Cricket.

Three matches were cancelled, three matches were lost and four matches were won. More specifically the matches that we lost, against Tonbridge School for example, were rain affected. On an occasion when we would expect to play 30 overs we were reduced to 20/20 and had to keep walking on and off the pitch!

Having said all that the boys, as usual, were brilliant and in every way stepped up to the plate to play their heart out for Radley. Our Captain, Tom Beardmore-Gray, always turned up to each match with his pink cap and shades and was ready to lead his men. The fielding positions he set were well thought through and he 26

would move from attack to defense quite seamlessly. The captain received great support from the boys and all the boys played their part. Special mention needs to be given to Hamish Fallowfield who bowled with precision and Frederick Lindblom who waved the bat like a piece of poetry.

However, like all good teams there are things that we need to learn. Whilst the bowling was of a decent standard – a good line and length as they say – the batting was rather timid. They were some good technical exhibitions on display but on occasions the boys just needs to ‘wack’ the ball to get the scoreboard moving. This timidity was seen when we lost to Eton by 77 runs.

We were playing on so-called Death Row, the smallest pitch in Radley, and we only scored one boundary!

Therefore, when the team moves to

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Coach: EO Holt Captains: A Halliday and G Daly

including comfortable wins against the usually tough-to-beat Harrow and Tonbridge, as well as what was the most evenly matched contest of the season, a 60 over thriller against a touring prep school 1st XI from Aysgarth. Highlights against Harrow included a gutsy partnership from George Wallis and Alex Scott, three wickets from pace bowler Harry Young and a stunning one-handed backpeddling catch from Will Brookes-Ward.

The Aysgarth game saw Radley post a decent 157, including a swift 30 runs from Jeremy Shelton-Agar, and then battle hard to contain Aysgarth for 142 in reply, with 3 wickets each for Josh Rae-Smith and Zach Martin-Zakheim.

The final win against Tonbridge saw captain George Daly lead the batting again with 43 of Radley’s 143-5, before Radley bowled out the visitors for just 87: an emphatic conclusion to a highly enjoyable season for all concerned.

EO Holt

Coaches: ME Walker, EO Holt and D Wilson Captain: T Beardmore-Gray

Junior Colts level next year I would like to see a little more confidence in the obvious natural ability that the team possesses.

My final word is with regards the team spirit. I felt that all season there was not one occasion when I did not enjoy being out with the boys – both in practice sessions and match days. The boys without any doubt demonstrate that twin attribute of politeness and keenness – quite infectious as a coach. On match day the boys always conducted themselves to the very highest standards and I for one was very proud of each boy. I wish them all the very best in their cricket career.

D Wilson

CRICKET MIDGETS 5 P6 W5 L0 T1 A very chilly but bright afternoon saw a mightily spirited performance against a strong Eton side on the astro wicket at Smithson’s II. We employed nine bowlers to hold their batsmen to 155-7 (30 overs), the highlights perhaps being George Perkins’ two maidens and George Dring’s two wickets. In reply we were, remarkable to relate, always ahead of the required run rate. Harry Young powered to 30 while William Milne and Ben Mather made useful contributions. There was a moment of high drama: captain Frank Barlow on 66, caught by his own team mate, sub fielder, George Perkins - a really fine catch at mid-off because Frank middled it. The Eton players simply mobbed George, and the moment inspired all sorts of cheery calls from the boundary edge - you can imagine. Naturally there were many supporters in attendance to savour the entertainment, including grandparents, sisters, several domestic animals and for a few minutes, thanks to former M6 star Archie Clifton Brown, the entire beagle pack. This was a victory to relish because of the rarity of the boys’ achievement. M5 beat Eton once a decade.

Marlborough always provide a cheery test series. This year was no exception.

At home we beat the downpours to seal an exciting 7 wicket win over a spirited visiting team, with just a few balls remaining in our 25 over allocation. In the field we kept things within bounds with lively fielding and some accurate bowling. Freddie Pratt picked up two vital wickets, the first an inspired, slow, looping ball which returned to the wicket with some snow atop. George Dring offered up some hostile deliveries and new cap Christopher Sloan bowled with great control, deserving his two wickets.

There were no run outs this week, but twice we threw down the stumps from the outfield and the opposition knew that we were at them throughout the innings. We patiently built our reply, and Jamie Richardson anchored the

Coaches: SA Hall and DJT Scott Captain: C Rosling

innings scoring a meticulous 27 n.o. in an hour at the crease. Freddie Pratt smashed 32, Freddie Smith clubbed an enormous 6 over mid-wicket, and captain Harry Young hit a quick fire 29 to ensure victory.

Bradfield always field a strong 11 and this year was no exception. They batted well against some accurate bowling and amassed a decent tally of 104-7 in their 25 over allocation.

After a hearty tea we set about overhauling this score and captain Charles Rosling lofted a huge six behind square as a signal of our intentions. Never behind the run rate for a third match in succession, Harry Rugman carried his bat through the innings, reaching 46 not out at the close of play. Ben Mather struck a measured yet powerful 26 not out and we ran out eventual winners by a generous looking 9 wickets – it certainly didn’t feel that sort of margin, especially while Bradfield were batting. Again we were lucky to enjoy wonderful support from an appreciative home crowd.

Another cheery, cloudy and humid afternoon followed on Death Row, as we welcomed Abingdon U14Cs. This was an exciting match which the visitors could easily have won, and would likely have done so, were it not for some tidy and controlled bowling near the end of the game.

M5 batted first. The top five adopted a remarkably positive yet measured approach to the innings: Harry Rugman 26, Charlie Rosling 27, Ben Mather 25, Freddie Pratt 25 and Richard Butterworth an important 13 n.o. This gave such a solid platform for the lower order and led to a seemingly impressive 160-9 total from 25 overs. However on Death Row with those inviting boundaries and fast June outfield just more than six runs an over is not that demanding and the opposition batted equally sensibly, reaching 95-3 with 10 overs of the allocation remaining: the game was theirs for the taking.

Captain Charlie Rosling then ripped out both batsmen ending that

impressive 70 run fourth wicket stand and Abingdon wobbled for the first time in the game. Christopher Sloan, Jack Metcalfe and George Dring bowled with some hostility while Freddie Pratt and Freddie Smith flighted the ball with remarkably good accuracy. All in all 30 runs sounds like a comfortable win but until the last four overs this game was anybody’s. The highlight? Charlie Rosling’s magnificent, steepling six, lofted high and far over deep-square.

The car owners looked on anxiously as the ball fell and rolled between the vehicles…

And so there followed the long trek to north-west London. Harrow is often not a happy hunting ground for M5 and this was always going to be the biggest of challenges. Sometimes the traffic takes its toll, sometimes the weather is stiflingly hot and still, and sometimes Harrow are just too strong. This year a series of hiccups could not prevent a fun afternoon of cricket in which both M5 and M6 were able to triumph. We arrived to the unhappy news that one pitch was waterlogged and unplayable.

Despite the disappointment, their call was quite correct - the unused pitch was sodden and nobody could have played on that.

So we each played 12 overs a side on just the one pitch. M5 batted first and amassed 85-4. Not too bad thought Harrow’s Master in charge, Mr MartinJenkins O.R.. Captain Charlie Rosling elegantly stroked five boundaries in a score of 23, which in the context of this match was titanesque. Then M6 knocked their cheery F team back to 35-7 in 12 overs. Charles Ames smashed down the plastic stumps twice. Even Wendyn (the friendliest of family dogs) seemed to sense the importance of these events.

Following a chaotic tea interval (M6 were politely directed to a separate pavilion from which they were unceremoniously ejected because they were, so it seemed, at the wrong tea location), M5 fielded with extra zest. George Dring (who removed both

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openers after a 55 run stand in just the three balls) and Robbie Johnston (who always takes wickets) have spearheaded this attack all season and they made the vital break throughs once again. Harrow were always just behind the run rate and M5 modestly won by 19 runs. M6 easily knocked off the runs in about half the overs, Miles Khano starring. So all in all the afternoon turned into a festival of entertaining cricket, much enjoyed by our loyal supporters.

Tonbridge was always going to be the toughest challenge. We are not interested in unbeaten seasons and we are only ever concerned to play our best, in the right spirit. Nonetheless there was some extra edge in this game given M5’s remarkable run this season.

The game was arranged as a 25 over duel.

M5 lost the toss and Tonbridge batted first. Soggy pitch, soggy ball (though I did have a towel to hand) but this was far from soggy cricket. Tonbridge’s opener was dropped on 0, then on 22, and went on to score a huge 73. Surely M5 didn’t drop 8 (EIGHT) catches? Oh yes they did.

Freddie Pratt saved the day, removing two vital wickets in quick succession with those mesmerising, flighted deliveries as things seemed to be slipping away.

After rain interrupted play and the runups

became slippery, and the wicket messy, 143-5 looked to be a real challenge for a less experienced M5 this week. The clouds frowned ominously and our ever loyal spectators were unusually quiet upon being invited for burgers.

So we were first back from lunch and it drizzled a bit. We plodded along, always just behind the asking rate, chipping away each over. Harry Rugman cruised to 18, Freddie Pratt smashed six 4s in his 28, and Robbie Johnston built a splendid innings of 53, including 8 fours, six of which were played to leg.

Charles Wantz and Sam Hughes (who kept wicket perfectly in wet conditions) added useful contributions. But wickets regularly fell and with just an over to go we still required a huge looking 16 to win. Game over? Well look what happened. Jack Metcalfe, number 9, on just a single struck a lofted drive straight down Death Row for four. The crowd, by now swollen to perhaps 30 strong, roared.

Jack marched off towards square leg and had a look around, tapped the pitch a bit, and adjusted his left pad. The second ball I called wide, but, alas! Robbie Johnston was run out. Caspar Osborne Young, number 10, pinched a quick single from his first ball faced. Four balls remaining, still 10 needed for a win. The strike then rotated twice in successive balls,

CRICKET MIDGETS 6 P4 W3 L1 M6 had a curtailed season, owing to more than one school being unable to provide a team. However, the boys made excellent progress through the term, and there were some fine individual performances. We lost our first fixture at home against Eton with a scratch team who had not yet had time to practise together having restricted them to 72 runs, we did not manage to make them in time. After that, however, we were unbeaten, beating Winchester at home in a tightly-fought contest which was won by some superb death bowling from Radley - three double wicket maidens in a row

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to take the last six Wykehamists!

We had an interesting result in a hastily arranged fixture against Cheltenham - we won in the standard one innings match, but then were asked to take part in a second innings where the batting list was reversed, along with various other complications.

Having had no idea of this format before speaking to the opposition coach, the boys were not picked or prepared for this, but they acquitted themselves amiably enough - in any case, the match was won in the first innings.

The final match, away against Harrow, saw a waterlogged

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leaving 8 needed from 2. Was there a hero in our midst? Jack Metcalfe now back on strike may well have shut his eyes behind that grill as he lofted the ball into the lower atmosphere. Up and up it went, momentarily disappearing into those low clouds and then down it came, crashing onto the middle of the adjacent Leagues pitch. So it all came down to the last ball... and would you believe it?

A scrambled single... Scores level. What to do? But the warm hearted visiting umpire, Dr King (a Mathematician), generously and immediately declared this a tied match (we are not worried about numbers of wickets at our level...). A cheering afternoon for all concerned.

A final word for Charlie Rosling.

Captaining any side is not an easy proposition. Captaining some of the characters in this side has been quite a challenge and how well he has coped – great maturity and good common sense have, time and again, led to this team performing at its best week in week out.

This team’s spirit has ballooned out of all proportion and success has been the result. Lastly, a huge thank you to Mr Scott who has been boundless in his enthusiasm, knowledge of the game and relentless encouragement of the whole squad.

SA Hall

Coach: DJT Scott

pitch called unfit for play as we arrived, so we had to play a rather odd bits and pieces match, switching innings with the M5 team. However, it was the best performance of the season, and Radley won so handily that we decided, with the Harrow coach, to have some fun in the last 4-5 overs, and played with a reversed batting order, seven men around the bat, etc. It was a great way to end a good season, having fun and enjoying the game, which is, naturally, what M6 cricket is all about.

DJT Scott

CROQUET On 21st June, a select team of 6.1s took part in an inaugural croquet match against Abingdon School.

Despite a number of last minute venue changes, the lawns were set up with great precision by Harry Crump and his team and looked magnificent in front of the New Pavilion.

Coach: RT Tufnell Captain: T Carter

The Abingdon team contained a much broader range of ages with players from all year groups. This however led to a mix in standard and the Radley players, led by our captain of Tom Carter, were dominant from the start.

Abingdon made a come back in the second round of games and there was some exciting play from both teams.

The final score was 8-0 to Radley thanks to the impressive teamwork from the players.

RT Tufnell

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GOLF

FIVES Coach: DL Cox Captain: CAJ Rothbarth

P9 W2 L7 The Fives club has flourished throughout the last year, with last year’s senior players continuing to grow in maturity and experience, and a fresh approach being taken to get more players through the school involved.

Captain Charlie Rothbarth (6.2, h) has led from the front, organising a new inter-social competition in which pairs comprised one junior (Shell / Remove) and one senior (Vth / 6.1 / 6.2). This proved to be a tremendous success, with some very high-quality Fives being played, even by inexperienced boys, and a wonderful atmosphere of amiable competitiveness among the spectators at the courts.

The winners were E Social (Jack Foreman, 6.2, e and William Nicholson, Shell, e), whose dominant, cross-court style proved to be too much to overcome. The traditional Shell Singles Tournament also produced some wonderful games, with the overall standard of play being much higher than in previous years, Arthur Eliot-Cohen (Shell, c) ultimately storming to victory.

Fixtures against other schools have proved to be educational once again for our boys, although it was incredibly pleasing to see two Radley senior match victories, against Bradfield (home) and Malvern (home).

Charlie Rothbarth (6.2, h), Arthur Woyka (6.2, a), Felix Barbour (6.2, f) and Alexander McGee (6.2, f) played superbly, demonstrating tenacity and passion, and producing some unusual but successful shots.

Winchester Fives National School Tournament (held at Winchester College on Sunday 8 November) was sadly not as strong as it might have been - however, last year’s captain Arthur Woyka (6.2, a) and the powerhouse of the E Social team Jack Foreman (6.2, e) almost walked away with the Plate, only being beaten by a very strong and recently-refreshed Malvern pair in the final. A new addition to the calendar this year, the matches against Old Radleians (led by Duncan Neale (OR)) have been fantastic for honing skills and pushing the standard ever higher and, although the ORs have ultimately triumphed in each match, the experience gained by the boys has been invaluable.

Finally, the programme of renovations to the courts has been completed, with a new roof attached over the Easter break, and the slippery floors coated with (rather bright) paint.

It has been fantastic to have both courts in regular play, and these improvements should put an end to the pre-match ritual of mopping the floors - no doubt future captains will be pleased!

Looking ahead, the club is looking rather thin as the most enthusiastic and experienced players will be leaving 6.2, with only a few players in younger years to fill their shoes. I hope that we can maintain some of the momentum that they have built up over the last couple of years.

With injuries plaguing the team, and choral commitments further reducing the numbers, the showing at the

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DL Cox

P20 W16 H1 L3 Regular players: Tom Wright (capt), Fred Campion, Harry Bartlett, Henry De Groot, Sanjay Anand, Arthur Tapner, James Duffy, Alex Beare, Charlie Seddon, Charlie Davies, Fergus Clark & Andrew Liu. Statistics do not lie….the golfers have had a highly successful year.

The main targets were to continue the successes of 2014-15, achieve a spot in a national final and also to develop some more talent in the shell and remove year-groups. The boys retained their crown (third win on the trot) at the West of England School’s Championships at Burnham & Berrow G.C. in late March and finished runners up in the handicap section in the South East School’s Championships at West Sussex G.C. in September. However, more importantly, the team have achieved a coveted spot in the HMC Foursomes finals in July and narrowly missed out in the regional final of the ISGA National Championships.

Coach: KJ Reid Captain: TR Wright

The golf season kicked off in week one of term with our now annual strokeplay meeting with Wellington, Tonbridge and Marlborough at The East Berkshire. This is valuable in gauging the state of the top 6 golfers early in the term as the “major” matches come thick and fast before the daylight hours recede.

Two weeks later, our campaign in the Independent School’s Championships commenced with a home tie against Oratory School at Stoke Park. It’s fair to say that there was a big gulf between the sides and we ran out comfortable 3-0 winners. Harder ties would follow. The competition continued and we faced a strong Warwick School side in the regional final. Warwick are not on our usual “circuit” of fixtures and the boys were understandably nervous but ready for battle! We were out-handicapped on the day despite boasting a 3-man side all with sub-4 handicaps! The boys did not let this bother them and, in traditional Radley spirit, fought incredibly hard. Fred Campion won his tie by the crushing margin of 6 & 4 and we required one win from

the other two ties. Captain Tom Wright was 2 holes clear with 4 holes to play against his scratch rated opponent and looked certain to claim the victory we needed. The golfing gods had another plan! Tom managed to uncharacteristically 3 putt the 15th, take 3 from the edge of the 16th, his opponent produced a Houdini-style approach on the 17th from a water hazard and he found himself 1 hole down on the 18th tee. He played the final hole perfectly and knocked in a 5 foot birdie putt to take the tie down extra holes. The 19th was halved in par figures and the boys moved to the long par 3 20th. Tom found the green and his opponent then drew a 3 iron from his bag and hit a towering approach shot to little more than 8 inches. The game was over. The match was now in the hands of our new recruit, Sanjay Anand. Sanjay joined Radley in the 6.1 year from a school in Singapore and is an outstanding prospect. He was always behind in his tie until a late surge drew him level after the regulation 18 holes.

Another tie was in sudden death. The boys approached the 19th with caution and halved the hole in nervous bogey

5’s. Sanjay still looked a little edgy on the 20th and a regulation par 3 was enough to send Warwick through. It was a tough lesson for the team and it would be fair to say that the drive home was a quiet one. The boys were disappointed as the ISGA Finals this year were held at St Andrews and they were all desperate to be at the party.

The HMC Foursomes campaign followed a similar pattern in the early rounds with opponents being brushed off with relative ease. Tom, Fred and Sanjay were joined by Harry Bartlett, Henry De Groot, Arthur Tapner, James Duffy and Alex Beare. These 8 boys fought for a place on the 6 man team and in each round we got the selection just right. The highlight of the early matches was a resounding 3-0 victory against a strong Reading Blue Coat side boasting an English U-18 international in their top pair. To say that Tom and Fred delivered a lesson in foursomes golf is perhaps an understatement. A semi-final against Oratory was arranged after the winter shutdown which meant that Frilford Heath should be in the best possible shape for what

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was an important tie. Despite Oratory attempting to “doctor” their playing order (Tom & Fred won by the margin of 10 & 8 in the top tie against two very weak opponents), the boys took the tie 3-0. A regional final against Bradfield was booked for early May at the neutral venue of The Berkshire (Blue). Tom & Fred knew they would be up against it in the top tie against two sub-scratch players. The quality of foursomes golf was high and the boys narrowly lost on the 18th green. Thankfully, we had got off to fast starts in the bottom two ties and a birdie blitz from Bartlett & Anand had given the boys a 5 hole advantage at the turn. They were an approximate 2 under par at the time as well! De Groot & Duffy blended well – the razor-sharp short game of Duffy complemented the radar accuracy of the “Doctor”. Their tie was over on the 11th green and tied the contest at 1-1.

Bartlett & Anand tried their best to give Bradfield a sniff by missing some short putts on the 12th and 13th greens and found themselves 2 holes up with 5 holes to play. Lightning did not strike twice! A few choice words from Bartlett focused their collective minds and the boys closed the match out on the 17th green by the margin of 3 & 1. Radley were in a national final for the first time in many, many years! All in all, the

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boys should be immensely proud of what they have achieved. Winning the southern region qualifies the college into the national finals at Delamere Forest G.C. in Cheshire in July where we will be joined by the 5 other regional winners and the winner and runner up from 2015. The line-up is as follows: Millfield, Loretto, Whitgift, Wellington, Bedford, Reed’s, Tonbridge and Radley.

What makes the success all the more impressive is that fact that 6 of the finalists do not develop all of their own talent - in a lot of cases boys and girls are parachuted into academy set-ups on large scholarships. To be able to mix it with these schools and colleges will be an interesting and unforgettable experience for the team.

to make. The team played some superb golf over the 3 days and, if truth be told, it was probably the most one-sided competition I have witnessed in all my years of playing and watching golf.

Each tie was won with relative ease (very few matches continued beyond the 14th hole) and some superb golf was played in the process. The star of the show was probably young remove player Duffy in the 5th spot. From tee to green, his golf was tremendous and he thoroughly deserved his spot in the side. He stayed calm, played some intelligent shots in the breeze and fitted into the team situation well given the gap in age to the others. He is one to watch for the future – he has the potential to go a very long way indeed!

Burnham & Berrow G.C. again provided the venue for the West of England School’s Championships and, unusually, the weather was relatively benign for mid-March on the Bristol Channel coastline. The boys were well prepared for their tilt at a 4th victory in the past 5 years. Wright, Campion, Anand, Bartlett and Duffy were the quintet chosen based on their form at the time. It was tough on De Groot as he narrowly missed out for the second year in a row, and young Tapner was also disappointed. Not easy decisions

Aside from the major competitions, we have again played an array of fixtures. Over the past academic year we have competed against Wellington, Tonbridge, Bradfield, Stowe, Cheltenham, Eton, and, of course, the OR’s. Venues for these matches have included Sunningdale, The Berkshire, Stoke Park, The East Berkshire, Cotswold Hills, Woking, New Zealand and Huntercombe.

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The course at Radley has, again, been in stunning condition this year. Adam

King and his team do a remarkable job on a daily basis and we are all very fortunate to have such a facility at our disposal. The large extension to the putting green has bedded in nicely and bunkers have been re-modelled or added on the 1st and 6th holes. We were again invited to host the National Prep School’s finals in late June and the event proved to be another huge success. The event saw the top 14 prep schools, who qualified regionally from the length and the breadth of the UK, here to play 18 holes of strokeplay golf. I have never seen the greens run so quickly and the course looked unbelievably sharp. Some aerial footage is available here: http://www.radley.org. uk/All-Video. OR’s and parents are also very welcome to play the course if they are in the area, however, it would be extremely useful if they could email kjr. reid@radley.org.uk in advance so that arrangements can be put in place.

We are also indebted to Mark Walker (OR) and Adam Wootton at the Oxford Golf Centre in Binsey. As I have mentioned for the past few years, Mark really does roll out the red carpet for us and Adam is a coach who the boys really relate well to. I would also like to extend my thanks to the ORs for kindly hosting the boys at two fixtures

during the year and we managed a victory at The Berkshire in March at long last against a part-Hewitt side!

Whilst on the topic of ORs, I have been assisted heavily by Will Bailey this academic year. He has helped organise neutral venues in Berkshire, taken time to play ties with the boys and, most importantly, been a great source of advice for me. Finally, I would also like to extend my thanks to Capt Wright for all of his help and assistance over the past few years. His game has come a long way and he has overseen some of the biggest golfing success stories that the college has had. I will miss him greatly next year and wish him well for the future. He will be taking a year to develop his golf further with the target being a place in a US university starting in September 2017. I often talk to him about my old Scottish friend Martin Laird who has forged a highly successful career on the US tour – hard work, determination and accepting the right advice were the three key ingredients that pushed Martin into the golfing limelight. Time will tell whether young “Wrighty” has what it takes. We also lose another 3 pivotal members of the team. Harry is a multi-talented sportsman and has squeezed the most out of his golf swing. He would often puff out those trademark cheeks and

hit the ball distances that are rarely seen in schoolboy golf. The boys all enjoy his company and his presence in team situations is an endearing quality that cannot be taught. When the word “steady” is checked in the dictionary, a picture of “Doctor” De Groot will be found. He has been a dependable and resilient member of the side and you can always be sure that he will give 100%. He has been an excellent influence for Arthur and James and I will miss his trademark “banter” in the minibus. Last but by no means least, I will also miss the unofficial deputy Captain Fred enormously. “Camps” is an enormously talented player, has great determination and a razor sharp wit. He is very much the fully rounded Radleian and you will see a picture of him on this year’s front cover. I am not sure that a contract from a modelling agency will be forthcoming but it is certainly an image that thrusts Radley golf into the well-deserved limelight.

KJ Reid

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POLO

REAL TENNIS

Coach: DL Cox Captain: M Rumsey

2015-16 will go down as a highly successful one for Radley Real Tennis and one that cements the reputation of the school as a centre for excellence in the sport. Hot off the back of his fantastic victory in the GB Junior Singles at Queens’ prior to the start of the season, Felix White (g) took on the role as captain of Radley Real Tennis for 2015-16. He led the way in terms of ability (playing off a 30 handicap) and also in terms of motivation, encouraging and cajoling boys from all year groups to participate and improve. A big thank you to him for his efforts this year, which played no small part in the progress the club made over the season.

The Radley Polo Team has enjoyed great success throughout the Summer Term, with each fixture played ending in a win for the 1st IV. The first fixture of the season was Radley vs Stowe.

Radley won the match 8-4.

The highlight of the season was perhaps Radley’s 12-4.5 victory over Eton at Guards Polo Club, with Eton only scoring one goal, yet having started with a 3.5 goal advantage due to the handicap difference between the two teams.

At the recent Schools and Universities Polo Association National Tournament, Radley fielded a team. Due to exam commitments, the only regular 1st team player within the team was Rob Fleming, with the three Barlow (Jonty, Freddie and Frank) s being the other team members. Radley, nevertheless, did extremely well, placing 2nd in the tournament. The team narrowly lost in the final to a full strength Stowe team, despite Radley having previously doubled Stowe’s score line in a match where both schools entered their strongest teams.

Although the summer term has come to an end, all of the first and second team players will be regularly playing in high level professional tournaments throughout the summer at Guards, Cowdray, Kirtlington, Longdole, and RCBPC to list a few club destinations, with a few boys playing in the British National Championships throughout July and August.

Max Rumsey, f

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The weekly block fixtures, both home and away, are the mainstay of the club’s season in the Michaelmas and Lent terms. The record of W12 D5 L3 is testament to the hard work and commitment of both boys and coaching staff. Notable wins included a season opening 9-4 victory against the Dedanists club, the juniors beating Canford 6-2 and the seniors beating

Seaford 5-1 (H) on the same day, and a battling 7-4 victory for the seniors against our very own RCTC. The club regulars performed admirably, week in week out, but it was particularly satisfying to see boys relatively new to Real Tennis opting to represent the college, both home and away, and scoring some great victories. During the Michaelmas term a set of informal year group leagues were also set up, with the aim being to encourage more boys onto court and develop the skills of those involved. These leagues, combined with the regular Shell and Remove coaching sessions by the college pros, led to significantly higher demand on court time and the evident development of boys’ skills ahead of the crucial Lent term competitions.

The Lent term was a packed one for Radley. It was a real priviledge to see the new world champion, and world number one, Camden Riviere come to Radley to play a stellar exhibition match against our own Zak Eadle. This clearly inspired the boys and it was

Coach: GJA Hughes Captain: F White

no surprise therefore to see success in the annual National Schools’ Doubles competitions. Ed Crowston (d) and Max Wetton (b) won the Under 14s title, held at Oratory, by beating George Bishop (e) and Jack Sykes (f) in a very well matched encounter. Radley dominated the Under 16s event, held at Radley, with Ned Gordon (c) and Benedict Yorston (b) emerging as champions, beating Portsmouth Grammar 6/3 in the final.

Will Barker (d) and Hugo Carr (c) took 3rd spot from Milo Daly (g) and Oscar White (g), who finished a credible 4th.

The Senior competition at Queens’ was very hard fought, with real talent seen from a variety of schools. Felix White and Henry Batstone (h) were, unfortunately, out-gunned in the A grade final by Eton, but deserve huge congratulations for their efforts in reaching this position.

Ollie Martyn-Hemphill (f) and Freddie White (g) - both 6.1s - positioned a very impressive 3rd, with Leo Boddington (g) and Harry Meek (h) finishing in 5th position. Radley had yet more success in the B grade final, with the Foreman brothers (Jack and Harry - both e social)

taking apart Canford 8/3 in clinical fashion.

George Eaton (h) and Fergus Ryan (d), both relatively inexperienced players, excelled to place 5th.

The new Radley open handicap tournament, designed so that boys with a range of differing abilities from the college could compete fairly, was an epic affair in the latter part of the Lent term. 30 boys entered in the first round and, after some fantastic matches and shock upsets along the way, Oscar White emerged victorious, claiming the inaugural trophy with a hard fought 6/5 victory over Ed Crowston. Three year group level tournaments were also contested during the Lent term, with Ed Crowston winning the Shell competition, Will Barker dominating the Junior Colts’ tournament to take that crown and Felix White putting in set of excellent performances to take the Seniors’ title, beating Henry Batstone 6/3 in a final of the highest standard.

The year finished with a flourish in the Summer term, with Henry Batstone and Wolmar Boris-Moller (d) beating

Benedict Yorston and Ned Batstone (the only non-Radleian) in the Under 19 GB Junior Doubles Championship. Further success came in the Under 15 final, with Max Wetton and Ed Crowston winning comfortably. Finally, special mention must go to Max Wetton for his excellent French Open Junior U15 Doubles victory at the end of the season.

All in all, it has been a pleasure to see the club develop over the past nine months. Competition success is always a great thing - and we saw plenty of that this season - but the most satisfying achievement this year has undoubtedly been the increased participation of boys in the sport from all year groups and from all abilities, together with greater links between the college club and RCTC. The club will start the 2016-17 season in rude health and I wish the boys, the pros and everyone else involved continuing success in the future.

GJA Hughes

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ROWING 1ST VIII As Henley Royal Regatta draws to a close, it is time to review the past season that the Radley College 1st VIII has had.

The season started in two fours at the Head of the Charles in Boston USA over the Michaelmas half term. We had had a good build up to this race, although the 2nd four could have done with a bit more time to prepare. However, on the day, both fours had a very good row: the 1st four placed 5th and the 2nd four came 6 seconds behind in 7th place (out of 85 crews). Whilst 5th place wasn’t the result that the 1st four were hoping for, we were all very excited with the overall outcome and what this meant for the season ahead.

The Lent term brought the highlight of the head racing season with Schools’ Head and Men’s Head within days of each other at the end of the term. The VIII had performed well at previous head races throughout the term such as Reading and Hampton Head where we were only three seconds off Westminster and so we fancied our chances this year, despite Freddie Elwes’s injury leading up to the race. We started from 4th behind Eton and ahead of Shrewsbury but unfortunately got stuck in a ‘void’ between the two crews and didn’t have

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Coach: JE Gearing Captain: M Rowse

anyone to push off. Once Shrewsbury had been overtaken by St. Edward’s, we began to move away as we realised that we needed to push on. However, the race was won by Westminster and there were 17 seconds separating the top eight crews. We came eighth being narrowly beaten by Abingdon, St. Edward’s and a few other crews: we were disappointed with this result, but we were determined to set things right in the summer term.

National Schools Regatta:

Men’s Head was on the Saturday after Schools’ Head where we started near the back as we didn’t race last year.

Men’s Head is one of the largest head races in the world with many university and foreign crews competing. We were having a very fast row, overtaking multiple crews until I managed to catch a crab, snapping my carbon backstay: not my proudest moment! We carried on, but then Freddie Elwes decided to do the same thing right in front of the St Pauls’ boathouse. Having broken our backstays, Freddie and I could no longer put as much power down as our riggers were no longer supported to take the strain of each stroke. However, we refused to give up and finished with a very respectable 34th place despite the two boatstopping crabs.

In previous years we have been the underdogs of the regatta, sometimes struggling for a place in the A Final.

In fact, this year, Junior Rowing News dismissed us as “not going to reach the A Final”, let alone challenge for medals. We had a good row in the time trail, showing our new found form with the 5th fastest time. In our semi-final, we drew St. Pauls, last year’s Henley victors, so we were going to have to step it up for this race.

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Now to the National Schools’ Regatta, one of the major highlights of our season. We had had a productive camp in Varese, despite a few injuries and infected blisters and came back to school ready to throw ourselves into the training. By the time of NSR, we had come on in leaps and bounds, now really in the mix to compete for some medals.

At the half way mark, I can remember glancing over at the St Pauls boat and being mildly surprised that we were half a length up. We beat them and were through to the A final in what the commentator said as “the biggest upset of the regatta”. We were no longer underdogs. In the final Westminster

disappeared very quickly after the start, but we maintained contact with Eton until about 950 metres to go where they made their push. At the finish, we came 3rd, 2 lengths up on St Pauls but 12 seconds back on Westminster. We were very pleased with the result, but knew that we had to make up some ground for Henley.

The weekend after half term, we raced at Metropolitan Regatta at Eton Dorney. Here we were up against strong school crews such as Winchester and Hampton who we had raced a National Schools as well as other university crews. We eventually made it into the final after a rather slow first race as we had not been in the boat for five days. However, in the final, we came second to Oxford Brookes, one of the top university crews in the country.

Henley Royal Regatta: As term came to a close, Henley Royal Regatta was upon us. We had hoped that we were going to be a seeded crew, having come 3rd at National Schools Regatta. However, we were unfortunately not selected and so ended up racing Groton School USA on the Wednesday.

We knew we could beat them; it was just a question of us rowing well. I think that pre-race nerves got the better of Freddie Elwes because on the first stroke he actually fell off his seat! In all honesty, in that moment, I saw our Henley campaign

flash before my eyes. Nevertheless, in an amazing recovery, Freddie got back on his seat and we kept our heads, rowing through Groton with about 800 metres to go. We won by a length and three quarters. Day 1 was over: relief. Now onto Day 2.

We drew Boston College USA on Thursday, a crew that we had beaten last year at Henley. However, we did not have a particularly good row in the adverse conditions and so we were really pushed to get the win. In the end, we won by three quarters of a length, with Boston coming back at us on the so-called “Conveyor Belt� of the Berks Station past the Enclosures. Friday was our biggest race of the regatta so far, against Melbourne Grammar from Australia. We knew they were quick, but with a good row they were beatable. From the start they were ruthless: they blasted out of the blocks, keeping a very high rate until the Barrier, which is 600 metres in. By this point, we still had a bit of overlap. We settled into our rhythm, which had been our strength all season, and were just about able to stay with them. However, despite our almighty push in the last 500 metres, Melbourne unfortunately beat us by three quarters of a length. Obviously, we were gutted to be knocked out on the Friday as we were hoping to go all the way to Sunday, but we gave it everything and they were the quicker crew on the day.

Finally, as I write this on the way home from Henley on Sunday, looking back on the season, I think I can say it was a successful season, with a good result at Head of the Charles, a bronze at National Schools and reaching the Friday of Henley and most importantly, it has been a privilege to row with such a great crew and it will be a season which I will never forget. The thanks have already been given in the speeches today at Henley. However, I think that a particularly special thanks is due to John Gearing, our coach, for the fantastic work and effort that he has put into the crew over the past year. Be it the early morning starts, late evening sessions or all the work that he does behind the scenes, Mr Gearing has helped us perform to our best, getting as much out of us as possible. As I look forward to next season, it is with great excitement and anticipation about what we might be able to achieve.

Joshua Bowesman-Jones, j

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ROWING 2ND VIII For those of us rowing for Radley J16s this season presented itself as quite a challenge. At the beginning of the Lent term we set out to race in a Colts VIII heading for SHORR. However, this soon fell apart following poor races at Hampton and Basher and the removal of one of our best oarsmen, Archie McChesney, to race for the 1st VIII. It was therefore decided that we would integrate into the Senior Squad to boost the numbers and to have competent 2nd and 3rd VIIIs. In the build-up to SHORR the new 2nd VIII was a changed boat. Richie Horton took the stroke seat supported by Harry Behrens at the 7 seat and myself at 6.

The crew came on leaps and bounds in the short weeks before SHORR and came a very respectable 6th (this was the highest of all crews in the boat club) in the 2nd VIII category behind some very quick St. Pauls, Shiplake, and Eton crews. In the weeks following SHORR neither the 2nd or 3rd VIII did much water training due to GCSE and A Level mocks and poor weather conditions.

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The Easter training camp at Lake Varese was certainly a success, not only in terms of the vast improvement of individuals and of the crew, but also the balance between work and training as many of us had public exams in the forthcoming summer term. I spent the first few days of the camp training with the 1st VIII squad in coxed fours being coached by JEG. This was a very useful experience as I was able to spend time rowing with far more experience than I did. For the second part of the week I rowed with the 2nd VIII group and we spent time in a variety of boats with lots of different combinations.

The summer term is always challenging for Colts and Seniors due to the public exams and internal exams throughout the term. Once again the challenge of balancing between work and sport presented itself and it was a real struggle. Crew members were often absent meaning we found it very hard to come together as a crew. These absences also caused issues for selection as trials required all the squad together.

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Coach: AJ McChesney Captain: M Senior

The crew was finally decided one week before National Schools. During that week we had a very limited number of training sessions together. With very little race experience, we went to National Schools with very little idea of where we might come. In the end we came 4th in the much faster of the two semi-finals and were therefore knocked out of the competition.

Over the remainder of the half term break four of us decided we would try our luck at Henley qualifiers in a coxless quad. We trained very hard in the little time we had, with Mike Genchi there to coach us. However, despite our best efforts we did not qualify and were not able to race at Henley.

This season was going to be difficult from the start and we knew that, but I do think we profited far more from this season than many of us realise and I think we stand in good stead for the oncoming seasons.

Max Senior, e

ROWING J15 The season started with a threeday camp at Eton Dorney, with most of the squad present, showing great commitment from the start by finishing their half term early.

The team had to improve quickly to have any hopes of competing for a podium placement at BASHER Regatta. These improvements were hard earned, through long hours out on the water, and early hours in the morning weights sessions.

In the build up to the National Schools Regatta (NSR), training hours got longer and the boys worked harder. The final race day before NSR was Putney Town regatta, where we raced Westminster in an eight. We lost, however there was hope from the

Coaches: CA Ingham-Clark, AR Rhodes, CJ Lee

fact that the gap between the two boats had decreased massively.

We also put out two fours, both of which made it to the final.

Reading Town regattas, a great way to end the season.

Now came National Schools, and we knew our main competitors were St. Pauls and Westminster.

In the time trial we placed 3rd, meaning we were placed into a semi-final with us as the top crew, and we finished 1st comfortably.

Then all three met in the final, and with great commendations to the boys’ effort, we finished 3rd and in the end were happy with the result.

Thanks to all the boys, especially those in the lower crews who stood in many times when boys were away, and many thanks to the coaches who brought on the skills of the boat so far.

Matthew Dawson, d

After NSR, we wanted to prove our real worth, and despite the main competitors not present, we managed a win at both Marlow and

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ROWING J14 1-3 Before any shell is allowed on the river, they have to perform a capsize drill following a swim test in the pool. The capsize drill used to take place in the sterile atmosphere of the swimming pool but now we take advantage of the September warmth and the shells first introduction to the river is a wet one – try and stay afloat as long as possible and enjoy submersion when it comes. For many this is immediate, for others they have to force the capsize.

Many coaches and launches are on hand to make sure all is safe and a change of clothes is at the ready.

It is a time for much hilarity and a bonding exercise for the boys.

We point out to the newcomers, the older boys sculling past with effortless ease and tell them that one day, fairly soon they will also be able to do the same – its like riding a bike, we say, and they stare back in disbelief. Only a matter of days or for some, weeks later, almost all Shells who signed up for the Michaelmas term sculling option have earnt their ‘Sculling Socks’ – a pair of knee high socks emblazoned with the RCBC Maltese cross and one green foot (bowside) and a red foot (stroke side). The challenge is to scull to Sandford Lock and back without falling in. The Sculling Socks were the brainchild of our inspirational Master In Charge, Angus McChesney who devised this and many other schemes over the last three years, to motivate and inspire a new generation of Radley oarsmen.

In 2011, 12 and 13 the Radley J14’s brought home only one win per season, but over the past three this

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has been transformed to gold, silver and bronze medals at National Schools Regatta (the premier schools rowing event) and seven wins in 2014 and 2015 and nine in 2016. Not to mention the numerous runner up medals, some from allRadley finals.

The 2015/16 new boys had much to live up to, in 2015 the 14.1 crew had won Gold at National Schools in the Octuple scull for the first time in eighteen years and a Silver in the 14.2 category. This year we had a good number of boys all of a very similar standard yet less of a spike at the top end as in previous years. It was difficult to predict how they would perform.

This year was a unique one – September 2015 saw the opening of the state-of-the-art Jock Mullard Rowing Tank, named after Radley’s home grown and legendary former Oarsman, First Eight coach and Master In Charge. This meant that wet and windy weather no longer sounded the death knell for an afternoon of rowing. It provided the perfect tool to teach the Shells how to scull and how to work as a crew. Built close to the ergo shed, sessions were combined with an introduction to the Oarsmans instrument of torture, the Ergometer.

An inkling of the success to come was at The Scullery in March where the 14.2 crew struck gold and the 14.1 crew were fourth, the 3’s being denied a win when they caught a crab on the second leg. They were competing against J14’s, some of whom had already been sculling for a term. At the first BASHER

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Coach: A Eyres

regatta of the season, both 14.1 and 14.2 won their divisions with 14.3 coming second in theirs. In the build-up to National Schools a trip to Putney Town Regatta saw the 14.1 Octo and 14.1 Quads win their events. It was an all-Radley octuple final with both A and B crews bettering many London clubs and schools to reach the final race of the day where the boys were able to show off both the strength and the depth of Radley’s J14 sculling programme.

National Schools Regatta, held at the beginning of leave away, was held at Eton Dorney this year with the Shells racing on the Friday over 1000 metres. On the first sweltering day of the year we took three Octuples to Dorney in temperatures which gave Dorney Lake, near Slough, a feel of Lake Como in summer. The conditions were frustrating – a cross wind which favoured lane 1, a lane which had to be used as the 1000 metre fixed pontoons did not allow for lanes to move towards the fairer side of the lake. Both crews were fourth in their time trails meaning that the fastest qualifiers started in the favoured lanes. In the semi’s both crews were second and unluckily they were both allocated lane 4 for the finals.

Coaches watched despondently as crews came down the course in order of the lanes – winners always in lane 1 and tailing off to last in lane 6. The Radley boys knew they had a hard task ahead.

Inspired and motivated by the First Eight who made a special trip over to Dorney in time to support their younger counterparts, the 14.1’s

and 2’s took to the water (the 14.3 crew having been eliminated after a valiant recovery from a crab in the time trial). 14.1 had the added bonus of a brand new Fillippi boat, named Michael and Charlotte (being the children of the immensely generous OR oarsman who in honour of his time spent at RCBC and his former coaches Angus McChesney and Donald Legget, has so generously donated two new boats).

14.2 were first to perform and after an incredibly gutsy and close race they secured a Bronze medal. From Lane four this was a remarkable feat.

The 14.1 crew had an excellent start but a jittery middle section which left them fighting for a silver that they appeared to have in the bag – Latymer Upper meanwhile rowed serenely past and beyond on the mill pond of Lane 1 whilst all other crews fought against a head wind. The crew fought back valiantly to a photo finish with Radley’s rivals, St Paul’s just securing the silver by a bow ball with Radley winning the Bronze.

With success becoming the norm in the upper boats, it was time for two quads from the 3’s and 4’s to perform at the picturesque Blenheim Regatta. It is a rare, if not unique sight, to be able to race with a Palace as a backdrop. Both crews performed excellently to reach the final, winning both the Gold and Silver medals. Meanwhile at Marlow Town with the backdrop of a funfair and Marlow Bridge, the 14.1 and 14.2 quads won close fought battles to secure wins in both events.

In 2015, the St Pauls 14.1 Octo, so incensed to be beaten by Radley at National Schools, mounted a revenge

campaign at the 2000m Marlow Regatta, an International event again held at Eton Dorney. This year we were ready for them and with a slightly re-arranged and adapted crew, Radley were victorious, not by a small margin but by clear water.

This extraordinary feat was re-played at Reading Town Regatta, where over only 800 metres the 14.1 Octo dominated their races and won again by clear water. They were truly a credit to Radley’s sculling expertise.

With so much success, there are of course casualties. Once a boy has won an event they no longer qualify for the B category, hence only a few of the 14.2 boat were able to compete at Reading Town and the B boat was made up of boys brought up from 14.3 and 14.4, all of whom deserved their shot at the action.

They performed admirably but failed to make the final racing often against other schools’ first boats. The splendid Radley tea tent equipped with cakes, drinks, parents, dogs and the perennially supportive Charles Behrens, outgoing Chairman of the Radley Mariners, made up for any disappointments though.

bring. Some have moaned a bit at the thought of another session on the ergo or another trip to Sandford and others have gone for a few too many tactical capsizes but they have learnt how to scull, how to race and how to wear the Radley shirt and hold a Radley red and white oar with pride.

Thanks go to the patient, steadfast and motivational coaching team of, Tom Barfield, who we sadly wave off to a new life in New York, Dr Borthwick, Andrew Norman and Angus McChesney. Many thanks too to the equally steadfast support from the parents and, of course, thanks to Andy Thomas for his enduring patience and countless repairs to a fleet of boats which this exuberant bunch sometimes mistook for the dodgems at Marlow Fair.

A Eyres

The final event of the season was a sculling race for the ‘Yellow Jersey’, quite literally a yellow tabard won by 2012 Olympic Bronze medallist Alan Campbell. The winner was Alex Senior with Josh Beck second and Sam Palmer-Tomkinson third.

The race was followed by the much longed for river jumping session and a barbeque.

This has been a truly fantastic season, the boys have all worked hard and been rewarded with the success that only hard work can

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TENNIS 1ST VIII W8 D0 L2 Honours: Winners of Rugby Davis Cup Main and Plate Competition, 3rd place at the ISL, Winners of the inaugural Radlingdon tournament.

Once again the Bigside tennis season kicked off with an excellent pre-season camp in Mallorca, where the boys were treated to a masterclass by Ali Yenilmez and his coaches, including Patrice “le machine” Kuchna (former Roland Garros quarterfinalist), at the Tennis Academy Mallorca. Thanks, as ever, go to RDW for his organisation of the camp and his unwavering support throughout the season.

This year’s squad was one of the strongest in Radley’s tennis history, with many returning 1st VIII players.

A squad of fourteen players trained tirelessly throughout the summer

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term. They worked on their technique, shot selection and tactics, with head coach Jon Maskens, and on their strength, conditioning, agility and quickness with Kristian Borthwick.

Kristian leaves Radley to pursue a career in Strength and Conditioning in US College sport and the Tennis club is extremely grateful for all that he has done to prepare us for matches. Our whole set up is now more professional and he will be sorely missed.

The first tournament of the year was held at Rugby School and the 1st IV travelled up to the midlands with high hopes. Wolmar Boris-Möller and Toby Ryan played some tremendous tennis at 1st pair and comfortably won the main draw of the tournament, whilst Henry Batstone and Freddie White overcame a tentative first round to win the plate competition. The season was off to a

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Master in Charge: RD Woodling Coach: DJ Cresswell Captain: W Boris-Möller

good start and the boys were playing some aggressive doubles, focusing on winning the battle at the net.

The first round of the ISL was an impressive display by the 1st VIII: Boris-Möller, Ryan, White, Batstone, Lennon, Boddington, Meek and Donaldson. Radley only dropped 2 sets out of 36 in the whole afternoon, which was a recordbreaking performance by the squad.

This meant that Radley progressed to Group 1 of the ISL for the first time in many years, where they more than held their own. Wolmar Boris-Möller beat the Eton number 1 seed 6-3 by overpowering him with big serves and raking forehand winners. Toby Ryan was not far behind and lost an extremely close match to the Reed’s number two seed, who is playing at Junior Wimbledon this summer. As a pair they beat the Eton number one pair for the second time in the

season. The rest of the team carded good results against St George’s, and Radley won a total of 16 sets to come third in the group (and the tournament overall). The tremendous depth of the Radley squad with the ever-reliable Leo Boddington paired with big hitting Ed Lennon at 3rd pair, and superserver Harry Meek and level-headed Oliver Donaldson at 4th shows how far Radley tennis has come. Indeed, Will Caplain, Harry Osborne, Seb Hill and Ned Rees constantly pushed the other players in training and there is healthy competition in the squad.

The season continued with the inaugural “Radlingdon” doubles tournament, expertly run by Mr Woodling. This was a straight knockout competition with pairs from Abingdon and Radley all competing against one another. RDW’s judicious seeding meant that everyone played a competitive afternoon’s tennis, but it was Boris-Möller and Ryan who continued their winning streak by clinching the title.

The St George’s Pairs tournament followed. The 1st IV looked a little different: Henry Batstone and Leo Boddington played at 1st pair and competed admirably against tough opposition, only to have to pull out through Leo’s injury. Despite this, it was fitting that he had the opportunity to play at 1st pair, having been a dedicated team member throughout the season. Seb Hill and Oliver Donaldson played at second pair and progressed to the plate competition only to be undone at the semi-final stage. Once again, this shows the depth that Radley possess. Seb and Oliver played consistently all season, moving their opposition around the court. Harry Osborne and Ned Rees continue to improve and Will

Caplan’s big serve will be a weapon next season. Once Josh Bex is fit and healthy, he will also put pressure on the others for a spot in the team.

In the run up to the ISTA tournament held at Eton College, Jon Maskens and his doubles partner played an exhibition match versus the 1st IV. Even though Jon and his partner were a cut above the Radley players, they showed how far their doubles play has come. Wolmar threw in some aces and still had to work hard to hold serve, and even Freddie White met his match on stop volleys and deft touches. However, this was excellent preparation for the Youll Cup, for which Radley held high hopes. The 1st IV played professionally against Cokethorpe in the first round and did not drop a game in two matches.

Tonbridge were the second round opponents and could have been a real ‘banana skin’. Wolmar and Henry Batstone had played well against Tonbridge the previous week and continued their run of form. The Tonbridge pair could not contain Wolmar’s forehand and Henry served well throughout the match to win 6-3, 6-1. The most impressive display of the season came from Toby Ryan and Freddie White who were focussed on winning in crushing style, only dropping a single game in the match 6-0, 6-1. Radley were through to the 3rd round to play Eton for the third time in the season.

Freddie and Toby and they were oddson to win. However, pressure got the better of them at crucial moments and they were undone by a break of serve in each set. They will have gained a lot of experience from this match, which will serve them well next season as they will go into all their matches as firm favourites.

I have been extremely impressed by the work ethic of the whole squad this year and particularly the improvement shown in their awareness of doubles tactics and when to employ them. In light of this, Toby Ryan and Freddie White were awarded their Full Colours for Lawn Tennis (Wolmar Boris-Möller was awarded his last season). The next step for the Radley team is to play more high quality matches throughout the season to make sure we are ready to think clearly under pressure when it counts, as well as bring in the next generation of younger players into the squad.

DJ Cresswell

The standard of tennis was high in the 1st pair and credit must go to the Eton pair for playing quality tennis.

There were flashes of brilliance by Wolmar, and the Eton number one player looked bemused as crosscourt forehands flew past him, but they held their nerve to win the first rubber. The all-important match came down to

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COLTS 1 TENNIS P11 W6 L5 Colts 1 have had a strong season, only losing one normal school match (to MCS) throughout the season.

The first round of the Independent Schools’ League (ISL) proved to be very tough competition, though Harry Foreman won two rubbers at first seed. On the second weekend of this tournament, the Colts played brilliantly, defeating Wellington and Dulwich, and with the help of the Junior teams, winning the group.

The team progressed throughout the season as stability set in. This showed as they picked up wins against tough opponents such as Harrow, Bradfield, Winchester and Tonbridge. This victories were aided by some outstanding performances from the team, including the pair of Harry Seaton and Freddie Barlow, who only lost 1 game in their 3 sets against Winchester. Foreman and Alex Alder played 1st pair for almost every match, and were promoted to Bigside for a game. Tom Parr, Joe Trafford, Patrick Sayer, Max Armfield,

COLTS 2 TENNIS P4 W1 L3 Colts 2 has had a very successful season, defeated only by MCS and Harrow.

Throughout the season there were many boys involved in Colts 2, and this shows the impressive success of the team despite regularly changing partners. After a slow start to the season against MCS, Colts 2 were able to develop into a formidable

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opposition, convincingly beating the likes of Abingdon and Bradfield, while conceding very few sets. However, after an extremely close final set, Harrow grasped a gripping victory by 5 sets to 4, reflecting the grit and determination of both sides. Colts 2 bounced back and managed to win all of their remaining matches. The quality of the Colts 2 players allowed some to progress into Colts 1, leaving space for others to fill.

Particular thanks goes to Mr Crump

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Coach: H Crump Captain: H Foreman

Ned Gordon and Felix Milne also notched up wins for the team.

Special thanks to Mr Crump for coaching the team throughout the season and setting us up for what should be a strong team in the years to come.

Harry Foreman, e

Coach: JMA Sumner Captain: N Gordon

and Mr Sumner who coached the team through the season, giving many colts 2 players the foundation to become brilliant tennis players and aim for the top teams next year.

Ned Gordon, c

MIDGETS TENNIS The Midgets tennis team had a very successful season in the summer of 2016. We won many of our matches across the squad. There were many memorable moments such as, winning the group in the ISL competition and the general comradery and competition of the Inter-Social Tennis Competition, eventually won by J Social. There was a good team spirit amongst the squad and it did not matter what the pairings were, everyone stepped up to the challenge. In fact, the random pairings on some training afternoons were some of the most fun sessions.

A cancelled fixture mid-season allowed Theo and Harry Haigh (top

Coaches: SJA Perkins and SR Giddens Captain: H Haigh

pair) to take on the Bigside pair and pushed them close (10-7 loss) in a tiebreak. This was a real highlight for the season and a promising sign for the future of the tennis club.

After a good first week of training, the A team had a fixture against MCS to start the season, it was fair to say our performance was shaky, but it showed massive potential. We lost 3.5-5.5, with Freddie van den Arend and George Bishop our third pair, and Karl and Will Power our second pair and Theo and I making up the top pair. Looking back, it was a frustrating loss which we were capable of winning.

In the second fixture, the B and C team took on Marlborough, a fierce rival. Unfortunately, Marlboroughgot the better of us, in a closely contested match. Then came Harrow, in another close encounter, with the A team benefiting from the addition of cricketers Ed Crowston and Will Way to bolster the team, the A team managed to win but the B and C teams lost in two very close games.

Eton was the most difficult match of the season. Nevertheless we still put up a good fight in each match, and Wilfred Pease and Alfie Cameron fought particularly well. Although it was close the match just did not go our way. We then took on St. Pauls,

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in an easier match, but as ever it was challenging. The top four pairs shone in this fixture, and Rupert Woods and Archie Ward played particularly well.

Then came a rematch against Eton for the B and C teams. The B team, consisting of Tom Burke, Ben fletcher, Archie Ward, Wilfred Pease, George Bishop and Will Beukers, achieved a memorable victory in this fixture. This was closely followed by a good win by the A team over Cheltenham. Radley were clinical in their win with the first pair, Harry Haigh and Theo van der Meerschen, only dropping two games all afternoon.

Soon after we faced a tough Bradfield side. It was a very competitive match and we grabbed a win by the closet of margins. This time the talented regular cricketers Ed Crowston and William Way won a ten point tie break to seal the win for us. Wissam Attou and Rafe Lang also played very well in the C team winning the majority of their games in an evenly matched fixture.

Winchester was the most successful match of the summer, we only dropped three sets in total. Albi Tufnell and Kippy Curtis played extremely well in their three set wins, as did Freddie van den Arend and Ben Fletcher.

We then faced Abingdon in a block fixture A-D teams and we needed to call up some more players. Freddie Smith, Freddie Pratt and Henry Insley were on hand to help us win against our local rivals, despite the rain not allowing us to finish the last set, we were firmly in the driving seat when it was called. Kit Pitman, Hector Norman and Tom Uglow playing extremely well in this match and they only dropped 6 games overall in the two pairs.

Our final match was against Tonbridge, it was a close encounter in which we ended up on top, with the C and A teams winning their two respective encounters.

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The Shell players for 2016: In the A team Theo van der Meerschen has deadly ground strokes to frustrate any opponent, with an excellent tweener shot to back it up, when needed. Will Power has a deadly serve and brilliant slice forehand to win important and crucial points in matches. Karl has a deadly top spin forehand enough to put any opposition on the back foot, George Bishop has a deadly swinging serve - enough to win any service game he wishes, with a forehand with deadly spin being enough to back up his monster serve.

Will Beukers then topped off the squad with a great spinning backhand, which proved frustrating to return.

The B team consisted of Archie Ward, who was voted the most improved player. Tom Burke also was vital to the squad with his incredible consistency and then ability to poach the short balls which annoyed many players. Ben Fletcher’s complete game was very hard to get past, and his consistent performances when needed were influential. Rupert Woods was a very good and powerful player with incredible ground strokes. Freddie VDA’s forehand was put to good use during the season. Finally Kippy Curtis was voted the best team player, The C team was also very strong, Wilfred Pease was a very consistent player and was able to get to any ball which was difficult to play against.

Rafe improved dramatically over the season and managed to beat players in much higher teams, due to his commitment and consistent ground strokes. Albi Tufnell was also very consistent with great serving skills.

Albi was arguably one of the best team players and improved massively over the season. Kit Pitman also improved over the season and was a regular team player by the end. Tom Uglow ended the season with a very good performance against Abingdon.

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Hector Norman improved a lot, not playing many matches but was always enthusiastic and was known to come out with an incredible shot from time to time.

So overall the season was great, all of the boys improved and it was a great foundation year for our tennis careers, thank you so very much SRG and SJAP for all you have done for us this term, and thanks to RDW, who organises our matches and the coaching. Thanks also to our RHWM, ISL, OXSIST and ISTA matches, in which we won our ISL group, came second in the OXIST, and most people got through the first two rounds of the Radlingdon, a competition involving pairs from Radley and Abingdon and pairings from Shells to Bigside. Once again many thanks to SRG and SJAP for making our season’s success possible.

Harry Haigh , d

TEAM PHOTOGRAPHS We are very grateful to Gillman & Soame for supplying team photos. Parents can purchase team photographs (those featuring a watermark in the bottom right corner) by contacting Gillman & Soame directly as highlighted below.

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