Radleian Sports Supplement Summer Term 2018

THE

RADLEIAN SPORTS SUPPLEMENT

S U M M E R 2018

ATHLETICS The first week of the term was spent taking part in a competition within the club, in teams of four. Each day we competed in four events and so by the end of the week everyone had tried all there was to offer from athletics, many for the first time. People found out or were reminded of what their strengths and weaknesses were, and prepared themselves to nurture the former and work on the latter for the upcoming term.

In the weeks after a routine was settled into, with a varied weekly session plan. There were important compulsory circuit training periods at the beginning of many sessions in

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Master in Charge: PM Fernandez

which we could develop our fitness.

However, there was a great degree of flexibility in what we could do each day. We had the freedom to modify and adapt our training, with whatever we chose on a particular day consistently well supported by the great team of dons helping Mr Fernandez.

We have had some great competitive successes in the club this year, as well as much to incentivise us to work on for next year. First, we had club-wide success at the Abingdon meet, with Radley winning the overall competition. Then, we had several county champions. At the Senior

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level, Felix Gilliat-Smith was champion in both the Long Jump and Triple Jump. In the Inters we had Oliver Reed-Daunter win the High Jump and Jago Gourdley win the 800m and get a silver in the javelin. It is an exciting prospect for the forthcoming years to have such talent lower down the school.

J Walker, K Social

CRICKET CLUB 2018 The winter programme has gone from strength to strength in recent years. The presence of Jeremy Lloyds, Andy Wagner and our Merlyn spin bowling machine means that a huge number of boys have dedicated one-to-one coaching and it has been great to see that number grow in recent years. A heartening thing is that boys from all age groups and abilities have access to this precious resource and the enthusiasm of Lloydsy and Wags is infectious. The boys worked incredibly hard and the club is also indebted to a number of ARW’s contacts who came to share their expertise in Sunday Academy sessions. Raj Maru, Graeme White, Ali Fraser, Nick Gubbins, Chad Keegan, Rory Coutts, Owen Dawkins and Wes Morrick all gave generously of their time and expertise to help the boys.

The club enjoyed a very successful summer in 2018. 83 of 135 (61%) matches were won and lots of teams had great records. Colts 1 won every game they played despite disruption from above and the quality of the

Master in Charge: SH Dalrymple

cricket these boys played bodes very well for the future. It was also a very promising season for JC1 who won 7 of 10 matches. Midgets 1 put in some great performances including their thrilling win against Teddies (who had won against Eton and Harrow) in last game of the season. All in all, 221 boys played in matches and a huge vote of thanks must go to the 29 coaches who give up hours to ensure the boys get to play as much cricket as possible.

Normally I would try to avoid singling coaches out because they all give so generously of their time and enthusiasm but it would be remiss not to make special mention of SAH. He has made an invaluable contribution to the lower end of Midgets cricket for over twenty years. He manages a large number of boys effortlessly and herds them through nets and matches with incredible warmth, patience and genuine enthusiasm. His postmatch emails always raised a smile whatever the result at the top of the club. In recent years he took

to the task of introducing a number of boys to the game in exactly the right spirit. You always knew that boys looked after by SAH would have a firm grasp of the intangible values of the game as well as enjoying their first experiences.

Simon always had a sense of perspective when it came to results but he seemed to like beating Harrow. This year the M5 side he shared with Dominic Scott beat Harrow away by over 100 runs and I remember a day a few years back when he took a 10-man M6 team who won their game without losing a wicket. SAH maintained, with a glint in his eye, that it counted as a 10 wicket win because one of the boys’ sister was prepared to bat if she had been required!

On behalf of generations of masters in charge of Radley Cricket and hundreds of boys I want to say a huge thank you to Simon for such tireless dedication. We wish him and his family all the best for retirement.

SH Dalrymple

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CRICKET 1ST XI P17 W9 L7 A1 Team: R. Betley (c)*, V. Brooke*, W. Carr+, T Spreckley+ (wk), M. MartinZakheim*, H Purton*, H Chapman*, W. Barker+, F. Horler+, N. Greville Williams, A. Haynes, S. Hack, Z. Hussain, C. Robertson, L. Needham+, B. Southgate, P. Barnett. + - half colours and *- full colours A brief glance at the number of boys who represented the 1st XI this year shows that it was not the smoothest season. We lost players to injury for a variety of reasons. An ankle was rolled walking down stairs, a finger dislocated attempting a return catch and, at the end of the season, William Barker managed to dislocate his shoulder trying to hit the ball out of the nursery ground at Lord’s.

These injuries and absences for field

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trips meant that the side changed frequently and the boys should be congratulated on managing to maintain a sense of continuity despite changes in personnel.

Younger boys who were asked to step up and play in 1st team fixtures against some of the strongest teams on our circuit all performed well and they will be competing hard for positions in the side next year. It is heartening that there is depth in the club and that bodes well for the future.

Due to a number of academic commitments we decided not to go away for preseason this year and arranged three strong fixtures to get ready for the first games in our two major competitions. Unfortunately, the weather scuppered our best-laid plans and we went into the first game against Charterhouse feeling

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slightly undercooked. A solid start from Val Brooke and Freddie Horler against a potent new ball attack meant that the final total of 178 all out felt under par. However, a combination of some good balls and some loose shots saw Charterhouse dismissed for 127. Will Carr was the pick of the bowlers taking 3-18 and we had made a solid start. The game away at Cheltenham was dominated by a fantastic opening partnership in reply to Cheltenham’s 199-6. Alex Haynes had joined the side from the Colts and took 4-41 in helping to limit the total but a chase of 200 in April conditions looked tricky.

Val and Freddy then combined to bat beautifully and they made the total off just 37 overs offering very few chances along the way.

It was a fantastic partnership and Val’s unbeaten 130 was an innings of real poise as well as his usual

Coaches: SH Dalrymple, AR Wagner Captain: RA Betley

clean ball striking. The following day the boys played the group stages of the HMC T20 competition and two comfortable wins saw the boys emerge from the pool for the first time. There followed two games that could/should have been won. At 70-0 chasing Eton’s total of 220 everything seemed to be going smoothly. However, a heavy shower halted our momentum and, on a damp wicket, Eton’s medium pacers became a real handful. A collapse to 128 all out was a real disappointment. Against Wellington we were set a similar target but could not establish a meaningful partnership in the top order. Henry Chapman’s unbeaten 51 saw us to 166 but a second Cowdrey Cup defeat was a tough pill to swallow.

Next up came a series of games in the John Harvey Cup. A chase of around 200 against Bradfield was

delicately poised when the rain interrupted proceedings for the last time this season. At Marlborough two sides slightly low on confidence faced off and our total of 208 all out from just 36 overs was based almost exclusively on Val’s second century of the season. He made 128 and tempered his natural aggression given the chaos at the other end.

Again, wickets were often lost to careless shots and the total felt about 50 short of par on a decent batting surface. This looked to be the case as Marlborough reached 203-7 needing just 6 more to win with plenty of time remaining.

Harry Purton had produced his best bowling performance of the term and struck a crucial blow removing Marlborough’s number seven for a well-made 42. Alex Haynes was then thrown the ball and struck twice in two balls to seal a dramatic win

by 3 runs. It felt slightly flat given the quality of our performance but it was a win nevertheless. The same was true to an extent in the game against Winchester at home. Another lightening start saw the boys move to 70-0 from just 8 overs but repeated mistakes in the middle order meant that 219 again felt short of par.

Limiting a solid Winchester batting line up to 212 from 50 overs was a very impressive bowling effort. Special credit should go to Henry Chapman and Will Barker who both produced excellent spells at the death to ensure that the final John Harvey game against St Edward’s would decide the destiny of the trophy.

The final two games of the T20 campaign were real contrasts. Against Wellington, the boys played some of their best cricket of the year.

Batting first there were contributions

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throughout the top order and and imposing total of 179-7 from 20 overs featured a very good inning from Betley who made 58 from 36 balls but the total was based on aggressive running between the wickets as well as clean hitting. This attention to basics was also evident in the field as simple plans were well executed and a vociferous Wellington crowd was effectively silenced. The following round against Bradfield was a different performance. Wickets were thrown away in clusters and the total of 120 was always going to be tough to defend.

This left four games before the end of term celebration on Gaudy. Harrow away is always a daunting proposition and looked even more imposing with both openers back in the pavilion after the first two overs. A scrambling performance from the middle order and gutsy contributions from Will Barker and Louis Needham saw us post 197. After a wayward opening spell, it looked like the game might be over relatively quickly but one of the most heartening displays in the field saw the 7th Harrow wicket fall with their total on 151. Two further strikes with the score on 185 set up a grandstand finish but Harrow managed to sneak

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the required runs to win by a wicket.

Tonbridge the following week was a tough day. They batted well and set an imposing total of 300 on a scorching day. Again, the first over was terminal.

After the first two legal balls the score was 1-2. The middle order again showed promise and maiden Bigside fifties for Purton and Spreckley showed some grit. A win against Abingdon the following Wednesday set up a mouthwatering tussle with St Edward’s. They bowled well with the new ball and at 20-3 things looked bleak. Phil Barnett combined with Henry Chapman to rebuild and helped blunt the potent Teddies attack. When Barnett was out just before lunch, Harry Purton joined Chapman with the score on 77-5 and the pair put on 149 to see us to a total of 226. These two will be back next year and we will hope to see more cricket of this calibre. St Edward’s played well to chase that total for the loss of 5 wickets. There was no shame in losing to such a powerful schoolboy outfit. Two of their players are representing England U19 this summer and the boys should be proud of their performance.

There are a huge number of people to thank. Firstly, the scorers, umpires and caterers who make match days

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run smoothly. I would also like to Adam King and the groundstaff. At the beginning of term, they managed wet conditions incredibly to ensure we played cricket when a number of other schools had to cancel games and then they managed the heatwave in the second half of term so that our playing and practice facilities were the envy of the circuit. The boys are incredibly lucky to make use of truly first-class facilities. I would also like to thank this year’s group of parents. Their support means the world to the boys and that they manage to maintain such a positive disposition regardless of the result is incredibly helpful. Lastly, my thanks have to go to Andy Wagner- a Radley cricket institution. It was great to celebrate his 100 terms’ service playing the Wesson Trophy. A beautiful Sunday and great cricket was a fitting tribute to the contribution Wags has made. He sees an ever-increasing number of boys for expert technical coaching and the relationship he enjoys with them is a key to their enthusiasm and the progress they make. He will already be scheming away trying to ensure the 2019 season is as successful as possible!

SH Dalrymple

CRICKET 2ND XI P9 W2 L5 No Result 3 Team: Todd, Weldon, Morgan, Mair, Robertson, Neville, Marshall R (wk), Redmayne, Kaye, Hayes, GrevilleWilliams, Chapman M, Peers, Southgate, Duncan, Wilson, Tufnell, Hamilton-Russell, Marshall G, Armitage, Daly This was a hugely enjoyable season where it could easily have read Won: 7 Lost: 0 . We played good cricket but did not quite get over the line against Marlborough, Wellington, Harrow, St Edwards and Tonbridge.

Coaches: CE Scott-Malden, CA San Jose Captain: W Todd

Always competitive, but not quite composed enough. Winning battles within matches, but not the whole war itself. Nevertheless, the batting of Captain Todd, Morgan, Robertson and latterly Tufnell with an array of fifties between them (the highlight being Robertson’s magnificent 96 n.o. against Winchester in a stand of 140 put on with Ed Mair always gave us a chance. We never quite kept the pressure up in the field though.

Looking ahead to next season, we perhaps need to shed the ‘Root’ problem of not converting fifties

into centuries and back up (what was this season some sporadically good) bowling with more alert and agile catching. Congratulations to the 6.2 players who were awarded their 2nd XI colours and we hope many of you continue to play club and/or university cricket in your time after Radley. To the 6.1s - we look forward to building on some very solid foundations set this season.

CE Scott-Malden and CA San Jose

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CRICKET 3RD XI P7 W6 L1 Team: M Greene (C), C Pemberton (C), W Lennon, B Broughton, H Anderson, M Chapman, A Tufnell, M Daly, G Marshall, W Duncan, J Wilson, G Redmayne, W Rogers-Coltman, E Cockcroft.

This year the 3rd XI cricket team have enjoyed an exceptional season.

With the help of our coaches Mr Hammond and Mr Mosedale, we have just fallen short of an unbeaten season. Our first match was against Cheltenham College.

This was an interesting match as we were slightly rusty, not having played cricket properly for a year. We went into the game with confidence and with a piece of first class bowling from Will Rogers-Coltman, (achieving the ridiculous figures of 6 wickets (including a hat-trick with only 2 runs given away over 4 overs), we managed to get Cheltenham all out for 69. We then went out to bat and comfortably got the runs with 19 overs to spare. We knew from that match on that we were a strong 3rd XI. The next match was against Wellington and we went out to bat first. With some incredible batting performances from Matthew Chapman and Angus Tufnell, both achieving 50s, we put 152 on the board. Then, we went out to bowl and with some all round tremendous bowling we managed to get them all out for 97. Special mentions go to George Redmayne and Miles Greene for bowling extremely well, obtaining 2 wickets and only giving away a handful of runs over long spells. Another special mention goes to Milo Daly for taking the catch of the season.

Going into the next match against Bradfield, we were filled with

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confidence and were ready for anything that was coming our way. We went out to bat and hit a massive 196 on the board, with some great batting performances, especially Henry Anderson who made 56. They went out to bat and it was all looking up for us as they were 13 for 2. However, the rain clouds started to pour in and sadly the game had to be cut short.

We controversially decided to bowl first against Marlborough. They batted well with their openers both achieving a fifty and their final score was 128. In our innings, with two strong openers in Broughton and Duncan, who stayed strong at the crease for a long time, we managed to chase down the runs. Winning by 4 wickets, with Broughton making an excellent half-century.

Up next was Winchester. We put 166 on the board. With some great bowling from Charlie Pemberton and George Redmayne, we managed to keep the runs down to 67 all out. George Redmayne getting 3 of those wickets.

Match of the season was at Harrow and we knew that this would be one of the hardest games. We lost the toss and went out to bowl. They achieved 160 runs with some very good batting performances. It was then our turn to bat. Despite some great batting from George Marshall hitting 41, and Milo Daly, we were struggling at 109-7. It was looking tight in the last few overs, but with some incredible hitting from James Wilson, hitting a rapid 40 runs, and Will Hamilton-Russell (26) we romped home with three wickets and four overs to spare! It was a nail-biting match and we were very glad we came out on top.

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Coaches: HD Hammond, KA Mosedale Captain: M Greene

Our last game was against Tonbridge. This was going to be a tough match too, but we went in with an open mind. They went out to bat first and hit 155 for 8. We knew that we could achieve this score, as we had proved in the Harrow match. However, with a slightly depleted team we could not quite chase down all the runs. Special mention goes to Milo Daly for his 52 runs and to Charlie Pemberton for getting 4 wickets in his last match for Radley. Charlie also won the John Nash Cup for best 3rd XI cricketer of the season. I would like to thank the coaches, Mr Hammond and Mr Mosedale for coaching us all so well. Well done boys on such a good season!

E Cockcroft, C Social

Special mention to Eddie for his excellent wicket-keeping and general bonhomie throughout the season. KAM and I thoroughly enjoyed coaching such a friendly and talented bunch.

HDH

CRICKET 4TH XI

Coaches: SR Molyneux, A Cunningham Captain: M Stuart-Bourne

P4 W4 D0 L0

Salter (31) and Tucker (26).

Team: M Stuart-Bourne, T Boulton, H Gent, H Salter, J Stubbs, M Stalder, J Wilson, W Hamilton-Russell, H Walther-Caine, E Ship, F Mosedale, H Bennett, H Bertie, J Terry.

Another away fixture at Winchester College saw the team get off to a positive start with the ball, reducing Winchester to 38 for 4 after 10 overs. Thereafter, Winchester mounted something of a recovery, eventually finishing on 134 for 8, with the outstanding bowler being Boulton who returned figures of 4 for 21. In response, Radley were out of the traps extremely strongly, scoring 53 off the first 5 overs without loss thanks to Bennett (25) and Bertie (24). After their departures, it was left to Stalder to steal the show with a swashbuckling 47, unfortunately missing out on a well-deserved half-century by playing, to a rank bad ball, possibly his worst shot of the season!

Radley reached their target in fine fashion, Gent despatching a straight 6 to leave the team victorious on 140 for 4 for a 6-wicket victory.

The first scheduled match of the season was unfortunately cancelled as Cheltenham College were unable to raise a team and this was then followed by a cancellation of the match against Eton College due to rain. As a result, the season belatedly got underway with an away fixture at Wellington College.

Batting first, Wellington struggled against accurate bowling from Bertie (3 for 9), Hamilton-Russell (2 for 11) and Stuart-Bourne (2 for 6) and were eventually dismissed for a very modest 78 runs. In reply, solid contributions from Stubbs (22) and Gent (20) saw us through to 79 for 5 for a comfortable 5-wicket victory.

Next up was another away fixture at Marlborough College which followed a very similar pattern with Marlborough struggling to 84 all out (Maunder 5 for 17 and Terry 3 for 20) and Radley coasting to 85 for 2 for an 8-wicket victory thanks mainly to

In what proved to be the final match of the season at home against Harrow School (due to subsequent cancellations against both Tonbridge School and St.

Edward’s, Oxford), the competing demands of A Levels meant that we had to call on players from outside the 4th XI squad and were grateful to Sam Tucker, Henry Taylor, Kacper Rutka, Charlie Maunder and Douglas Wyrley-Birch for offering their services at short notice.

Against this background and with Harrow invariably proving tough opposition, we might have feared that our unbeaten record was at risk. Indeed, batting first Harrow started very strongly reaching 93 for 2 off 13 overs before StuartBourne dismissed their top scorer and Gent then proceeded to expose the weaknesses of the Harrow middle order, taking 4 for 19 in 4 overs, reducing Harrow to 139 all out. In response, after a slow start, Gent (22), Walther-Caine (29) and Boulton (31no) batted sensibly and confidently to take the team through to 141 for 5 for a comfortable 5-wicket victory.

Overall, a successful season tinged only by the disappointment that only four of the scheduled eight fixtures took place.

SR Molyneux

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CRICKET 5TH XI P3 W3 Although it was very difficult to find more fixtures for this team of 6.2 boys, the players made the most of this season. They approached net sessions and practice matches with abundant enthusiasm and effort.

They enjoyed a great win at home against Bradfield. Despite a batting collapse, Ollie Friend rescued the day with 80 odd not out, along with a disciplined Tom Johnston at the other end of the crease.

Unfortunately, the Eton match was rained off which was a real shame

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as the boys were really looking forward to it.

The traditional two match challenge against Aldworth C.C. was a real success as ever. Although the away match’s format had to be adjusted due to adverse weather, the boys won the challenge with some excellent bowling from Charlie Maunder. The home match was great fun, particularly as two of our players had to play for the opposition which generated some competition and rivalry.

Overall, the boys enjoyed the

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Coaches: MG Glendon-Doyle, GHS May Captain: Giles Elmhirst

season which generated plenty of enjoyment amidst A Level exams.

MG Glendon-Doyle and GHS May

CRICKET COLTS I P7 W6 L0 Abandoned 1 I can honestly say that this has been my most enjoyable cricket season since I began teaching.

This is not down to the fact that we were unbeaten, although that was a bonus, it was due to the 13 boys who represented the Colts 1 throughout the season.

Their commitment to training and matches has been second to none and this was particularly highlighted in the fixtures post half term. On this note, I’d like to thank the parents for not only their support and ‘refreshment’, but also the lengths they went to ensure the boys were available for those games. Commitment is one thing, but the good humour and collective togetherness, both on and off the pitch, made the season more memorable and it was a privilege to wrap the season up with a very entertaining team BBQ in my garden, whilst watching the World Cup football.

Coaches: CPM McKegney, AJ King Captain: S Hack

for restricting them to just 128 off 30, with figures of 3 for 16 off his 6 overs. Barnett and Hack then did what they do best and put the game to bed with another 100 plus run partnership, hitting 53 and 48 respectfully. My only criticism, and it’s hardly a criticism, was that it should have been a 10 wicket win, rather than an 8 wicket one! Other notable victories came against Marlborough and Abingdon and the game verses Bradfield would surley have ended in a win, with them 53/7 before the rain set in – Miles Rothery had bowled particularly well with the new ball. Against Marlborough, Elliott starred with the ball with phenomenal figures of 3 for 7 off 4, reducing them to just 132. Hack then clattered 79 off just 59 balls in reply with Ben Hoddinott also scoring a very mature unbeaten 35 after being promoted to the top of the innings. Vincent and Sam Richardson were the pick of

the batters versus Abingdon. The former hit his maiden Radley ton off just 67 balls, and Sam Richardson bludgeoned 71 with a strike rate of nearly 200 as we ended on 260 off 25 overs. Abingdon were then bowled out for 45 in just 10 overs, with Toby Buck taking 4 wickets.

The games that stand out though, are the two wins over Harrow and Tonbridge. I think it’s fair to say that the ‘preparation’ for Harrow was alternative, but all 11 were there on time, raring to go. Playing 50 overs, we put Harrow in and initially the ball was doing all sorts, but they were batting well. At 91/0 off 23 overs, maybe they were ahead, but two wickets in two balls including a superb run out from Richardson changed it. One further partnership of 48 made a score of 250 a possibility, but some top tactical captaincy from Hoddinott, and some wizard-like spin from George

The season got off to a tremendous start away at Cheltenham winning by 121 runs. Traditionally, this had been a tight game, but an opening partnership of 124 between Phil Barnett (77) and skipper Sam Hack (57), set the foundations for an imposing 183. Three wickets in Tom Reed’s first over saw them slip to 1/3 and at 40/6, the game was all but done. Reed ended up with figures of 3 for 7, and Tom Vincent also contributed with 3/14. Sadly, the Eton game was rained off but a convincing 7 wicket win away to Wellington followed. Once again, early wickets took the heart out of Wellington, reducing them to 4/2 and 40/4, with Jake Elliott bowling with real aggression (1 for 19) and Reed with his natural control (1 for 11). Jamie Miesegaes though, was definitely the pick of the bowlers and was the main reason

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Tompkins restricted them to 213/8 off their 50. Tompkins ended up with 4/34, and was unlucky not to get 5.

Another strong opening partnership of 87 between Barnett (54) and Hoddinott (27) got the chase off to a solid start, but with the run rate still hovering around the runa-ball mark the game wasn’t yet won. Two wickets in relatively quick succession, got Harrow’s tail up, but a calm 29 (before he was run out) from Alex Haynes and a destructive unbeaten 70 from 46 balls (including 4 sixes) from Richardson secured the win. Another away trip followed, and the lads assembled on Friday for a final training session before making our way to Tonbridge. In a somewhat ‘arranged’ toss, Tonbridge had to bat first. The Tonbridge batters certainly won the initial rounds, and at 170/4 off just 25 overs, they looked well placed to hit 240. Step up Hector Denny. A mesmeric spell of 6/32 bamboozled

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the Tonbridge middle order, and in the end, they limped to 204 all out in the final over. Yet again, Phil ‘the consistent’ and ‘skipper’ Hack went about their business and put on another hundred run partnership.

Barnett fell shortly after drinks, but a certain Richardson was promoted to number 3 and a quick-fire 31 took the game away from Tonbridge.

At this stage, with Hack still in, the big question was, “will he get his hundred”, rather than anything else.

With the target in single figures, Hack smashed another 4 to bring rapturous applause from our parents and boys. Tonbridge were classy in their appreciation for a boy, who had spent every minute of the game on the field, kept wicket and captained the team. Game won – proud coach.

As mentioned above, the season was capped off with a lovely BBQ and the various stats were revealed.

Hack was the top run scorer with

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288 runs and an average of 96 and Barnett was a close second with 262 at 52. Top wicket takers were Reed and Vincent with 9 apiece, both with averages below 15 and Denny was a close third with 8. The season MVP was shared between 3 players on 6 points, and I think it defines the ‘all-round’ nature of the team in the fact that 6 players could have won the competition in our final game. It really has been a memorable season, and I wish all the boys my very best with their cricketing endeavours in the future – exciting times ahead.

CPM McKegney

CRICKET COLTS 2 P5 W3 L2 Team: Barlow, Eliot-Cohen, Daly, Glassey (Captain), Wallis, SheltonAgar, Cooke, Brooks-Ward, Grant, Pleydell-Bouverie, Waller, Buchanan, Rothery, Rae-Smith, Tufnell, Fallowfield This was one of the most charming groups of cricketers I have ever had the pleasure to take, and I am grateful to them - and to their parents - for the positive way in which they embraced the challenge of combining the cricket season with their GCSEs, and in particular the way they rocked up at Harrow and Tonbridge in June having dispersed to their various abodes some weeks before. We had an identical team for the first three fixtures before Leave Away, and blooded five new recruits in June.

The troops were led ably by Harry Glassey.

It was with some trepidation that we faced Bradfield’s Colts 1st team on a sunny Saturday in April, in a slot left vacant by Cheltenham’s inability to put out a side to play us. The outfield was slow and the run rate less than rapid, allowing us to post only a modest 104 off our 25 overs. However, our bowling was tight and Bradfield lost steady wickets in reply, leaving us with an eight run margin of victory in a professional display. The wickets were shared, with Cooke picking up

Coach: IK Campbell Captain: H Glassey

3 quick dismissals in his 3 overs at the end.

The Eton fixture having been lost to rain, next up was a midweek 20-20 away against a Wellington side who seemed more suited to rugby than a gentleman’s game of cricket. Again the bowling was tight, with Grant and Wallis picking up three wickets each as the hosts totalled only 74, but our batsmen too struggled against a moving ball and on a lively wicket. Fortunately Eliot-Cohen carried his bat for an invaluable 38 as we won by one wicket, with only one other batsman having made double figures.

Ten days later it all went wrong against a decent but unexceptional Marlborough side on Sugworth.

Some sloppy fielding in the sun allowed them to set a challenging but gettable target of 152, but a combination of bad luck and poor shot selection saw us crumble to 98 all out, with only Eliot-Cohen again contributing anything of note with an excellent 46, before being unluckily bowled by a high full toss.

We reconvened three weeks later at windy, overcast Harrow and again laboured, slipping 61-6 before rallying to a more respectable 127-9 in our 30 overs. Cooke, top scoring with 24, and Buchanan were largely responsible for the lower order’s contribution. The opposition made a steady start but skipper Glassey

came on to rip not just the heart but most of the entrails out of their innings, taking 6-14 in four overs, and hitting off stump five times in two overs with an impeccable spell of straight bowling. A weakened, post-exam Harrow slid to 74 all out.

We, having turned up with a strong team in spite of the timing, were very happy.

The final game at sunny Tonbridge was even more fun in many ways.

After another tight start we let the hosts post 155 off their 30, their opener carrying his bat for a crucial 71. We got off to a dreadful start after a good lunch, going from 0-1 in the first over to 2-2 in the second, before Glassey and Daly pulled things round with a fifty partnership for the fifth wicket. When Glassey holed out for 48 with more than 50 still needed it didn’t look good, but Daly contributed 24 before Tufnell and number 9 Fallowfield hit some lusty blows in the final overs. We needed 40 from the last 6 and 13 from the last over. Seven came from the first two balls, but in the end we were one short of their total. A great finale to a fun day out, again played in the best of spirits.

So ended a season which in which the boys did themselves proud as sportsmen. I do hope they play plenty of cricket in the future. Their company will be a joy for coaches and team mates somewhere.

IK Campbell

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CRICKET COLTS 3 P2 W2 L0 The games sessions were warm, full of fun and to the point. The Colts 3 Cricket team were in the middle of their GCSE exams. Ed Buchanan remarked that he enjoyed playing in the nets because it was a sense of relaxation in the middle of a busy exam period. I would hope that all the boys felt that our games sessions were enjoyable and had a positive impact on a frantic exam season.

If the games sessions were relaxed

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then the boys certainly stepped up to the plate when it came to the scheduled matches. Eton was cancelled – too much rain!

Marlborough proved to be an easy win with exquisite batting and tight bowling. However, it was the game in the rain that drew the most attention. We had scored a healthy 141 runs (20:20 format) with openers Halliday and Lindblom reaching a commanding partnership of 66 runs. Beardsmore-Gray, Young and Buchanan all scored well. The bowling attack then tore into their openers making great catches and

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Coaches: D Wilson, A Cunningham Captain: F Lindblom

a stumping. The rain then came down. The option was to go off – we stayed on and fought our way through the downpours to a great victory. We beat their second team and it was a great release during a time of intense exam pressure – well done to all.

D Wilson

CRICKET JC 1 P11 W7 L3 A1 Team: O Barker, T Beattie, Z Carter, R Elliott, J Hayes, Z Hussain, M Jardine-Brown, R Koudounaris, F Loveland, J Sharp, D Stone, A Shorthouse, T Wilson The focus for the season back in April was firstly to approach each session, match and scenario with maturity and secondly to enjoy the achievements of others. It is always nice to look back and assess with what success those criteria were met. With this group, these aspects characterised what was a successful and, arguably more importantly, thoroughly enjoyable season.

Whilst the overall win/loss ratio speaks for itself, the fact that every one of them kept striving to improve their own game but also wanted to contribute to the overall success of the whole was what made them such an enjoyable group for us. At some point in the season, every individual in the squad made vital and often match winning contributions.

Delving into that a little deeper, it was unusually refreshing to have an established opening pair with R. Koudounaris (71 v Winchester) and J Sharp (48 v Harrow) at the top of the order and by the end of the season it was great to see that developing into a formidable partnership. The middle order, with fluidity at its core, made valuable runs throughout the season. This came sometimes in the form of lusty blows when looking for the innings to kick-on from J Hayes (85* v Marlborough) and R Elliott (40* v Winchester) - with a particularly memorable consecutive six balls against Marlborough going 6-6-6 end

Coaches: K Willis-Stovold, JA Gaunt Captain: Z Carter

of over, new over 6-6-4. At other times, important rebuilding was carried out by M Jardine-Brown (52 v Abingdon) and Z Carter. T Beattie and Z Hussain were adept at rotating the strike and keeping the scoreboard ticking with clever use of gaps and hard-running.

Behind the stumps, T Beattie demanded high standards and led from the front with 7 catches and 2 stumpings.

With the ball, F Loveland (11 wickets at 19.6) bowled with pace and accuracy with the new ball and initially was well supported

by Z Hussain, until quite rightly, Zayn was promoted to the 1st XI. Until then, he had also led the side with considerable maturity and a knowledge of the game second-tonone. A Shorthouse, who had come up from JC2 some weeks earlier, more than rose to the challenge in his absence. It is always a luxury to have more than one capable spinner in a side, but to have three was a blessing. The off-spin twins of O Barker (16 wickets at 12.9) and Z Carter (12 wickets at 21.1) were crucial in tying down sides in the middle overs and M Jardine-Brown’s leg spin was often unplayable. Crucial overs were also provided by J Hayes (5 wicket haul v Tonbridge) and R Elliott (16 wickets at 13.1).

aplomb, well-supported by ViceCaptain M Jardine-Brown and other senior players. It was a game that ebbed and flowed and, going into the final over, all outcomes were still possible. Radley eventually held their nerve and bowled out Tonbridge, thus winning by 7 runs in the end, having defended 180 simply a great advert for the game.

This highlighted the progress the squad had shown in terms of maturity, not just in backing themselves to bat first, set a total and bowl a side out, but to keep their nerve when the pressure is really on.

To conclude then, bearing in mind the aims at the start of the season, a fantastic season in which all contributed to the overall success of an immensely enjoyable and enthusiastic team.

K Willis-Stovold

The defining game of the season was probably playing as the senior side at home, on Bigside against Tonbridge. As a game it had everything and provided a great spectacle for the rather large crowd that had gathered to see the game come to its finale. Last minute changes had occurred to the side due to Zayn’s promotion.

Z Carter stepped up to captain the side and continued to do so for the remainder of the season with

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CRICKET JC2 P10 W7 L2 A1 These are an outstanding group of cricketers who added tactical acumen to their raw talent this year; we predict bright, perhaps even Bigside, futures for several. The season began with a dismantling of Cheltenham, who were steamrolled for 76. Successive frustrating losses to Wellington and Eton followed, before the temperature warmed up a little and removed the early season spice from the pitches. From then on we prospered, our comprehensive bowling attack now joined by some sturdier batting. Fred Walker laid waste to the Marlborough attack in a scintillating 80* off just 66 balls, combining brilliantly with Ben Wilson (38) for a 120-run partnership which saw us to 227 from a perilous 60-4: a 93-run win duly followed. It triggered a six-game winning streak that saw Harrow bundled over for 43 for a seven-wicket win and a come-from-behind victory against Abingdon, before St Edward’s were scuttled by the dashing Walker (73) (again!), who combined brilliantly

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with ’keeper McGee (57). The Tonbridge game was the highlight: with the visitors 80-2 chasing just 145, Radley held their nerve, and their catches, to burgle a 25-run win, with Ben Wilson picking up 4-18 off seven overs and Archie Mogg invaluable as his spin twin.

It is rare to see such resilience and belief in schoolboy cricket and it was wonderful to see the delight they took in victory.

Our strength was our bowling: no team scored more than 142 against us. Barber’s pace, bounce, and hostility were simply wasted on opposition batsmen at times; he finished with the Bowler of the Season award for his 12 wickets at 10.17. Remarkably, a third of his overs were maidens. Will Blacker topped the bowling charts with 16 wickets at 9.18 and his tactical awareness improved hugely throughout the season: he was superb throughout.

Messrs Shaw, Pritchard, and Captain Dom Stone all continued in this parsimonious vein: all got their wickets at under 12 apiece. We were

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Coaches: AFC Nash, PWG Ford Captain: D Stone

lucky to have a spin bowler with the guile and craft of Ben Wilson. Batting was fragile at times but there is no doubting the enduring quality of Tom Wilson, Mogg, Horsey, and Salwey. All made telling contributions at vital moments. Fred Walker’s 223 runs at 37 ensured he was Batsman of the Season, but it was the manner of his runs and the situations in which they came that was most impressive.

His cut shot is a thing of murderous beauty. Crucially, the team trained and played in an excellent spirit throughout and fielded brilliantly most of the time. Credit for this team culture must go to the leadership group of Dom Stone and Ben Wilson, with the latter stepping in as skipper once Stone was deservedly promoted to JC1. They are joint Players of the Season. Well done all.

PWG Ford

CRICKET JC3 P10 W7 L2 A1 JC3 had a successful summer, with only narrow losses against Eton and Winchester JC2 preventing us from having an unbeaten season.

We started with a comfortable 232run victory against Cheltenham, which included an unbeaten 126 from Kristian Gilliat-Smith and a four-wicket haul from Jake Parsons.

The next match saw us fall one run short of what would have been a memorable victory against Eton. We bowled them out for 80, Henry Snell and Freddie Rasch taking three wickets apiece, but were unable to squeeze the winning runs from our 25 overs, ending frustratingly on 79-9.

An 8-wicket victory at home against Wellington was followed by a visit to Bradfield. On a very small ground we put on 210 in twenty overs (including fifties from Gilliat-Smith and George Fincham, plus 49 from Oscar Marshall). However, at tea the weather intervened and the match was abandoned without us being able to bowl.

Coaches: MCF Brown, REP Hughes Captain: D Osborne

We resumed our winning ways at home to Marlborough. We opted to field first and excellent bowling from Rasch (3 wickets) and George Fincham (3 wickets) limited Marlborough to 115 all out. Radley chased this down easily, with Dom Osborne, Marshall and Finn Cunningham all making contributions.

The next match was a disappointing loss away to Winchester. We batted first, but despite some encouraging shots, none of the Radley players was able to stay in long and we were all out for 96. Despite battling hard in the field it was always too little to defend and we eventually lost by three wickets.

The following Saturday we hosted Harrow at Radley. Harrow batted first and looked set for a big total before Josh Wheeler came on to bowl and took five wickets (including an athletic caughtand-bowled to remove one of their most dangerous batsmen).

Nevertheless, Harrow still set a challenging target of 155. We lost

Fincham and Osborne quite early, but Marshall and Cunningham came in first to steady the ship and then accelerate towards the target. Each scored a fifty and we won by eight wickets.

A week later we again emerged victorious, this time against Tonbridge. Batting first, we made 157, with Cunningham once more in the runs. The Tonbridge batting line-up was solid, but we bowled well, particularly Fincham (four wickets) and won by 23 runs.

The season ended with local derby matches against Abingdon and St. Edward’s. The Abingdon game was quite close, with Radley winning by 24 runs, and we beat St. Edward’s convincingly by 10 wickets.

Finn Cunningham, Oscar Marshall and Kristian Gilliat-Smith all scored over 200 runs and George Fincham and Josh Wheeler each took 14 wickets. The boys were lively in the field all summer long, took some wonderful catches, and enjoyed themselves.

MCF Brown

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CRICKET JC4 P6 W3 L3 Team: H Moore, O Soundy, G Curling, H Walkinshaw, I Radway, E Bligh, T Lewis, M Levi, M Lertiendumrong, G Corbett, M Mujtaba, F Bulmer, C Collis, M Eastwood, F Knatchbull, A Foster-Brown, D Shah The team had a good season, the results not reflecting the ability of the squad. Orlando Soundy was the lynch-pin, acting as captain and wicket-keeper throughout, as well producing some excellent batting performances. His 97 runs against Marlborough were crucial in that victory, although it was sad not see him make a century, which he certainly deserved. He also notched up 60 against Harrow, making him the highest scorer of the season.

When it came to defeats, Eton were always going to be too powerful,

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and the first time Marlborough were played, their team consisted of a number of players from higher squads, which made the start of the season look worse than it was. The only time when a loss might have been averted was the Tonbridge match, where some expensive overs put the team on the back foot, although even then a superb catch from Harry Moore might have turned things our way.

Harry himself always acted as a dependable rock at opener, scoring 27 in the Tonbridge match, yet in all his games his careful batting meant we usually made it through the full thirty overs. Thereafter, the batting was more erratic, but George Curling produced a good 37 against Marlborough, Ivor Radway a crucial 32 against Winchester and Edward Bligh a big hitting 35, also against Winchester. This was a

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Coaches: DWS Roques, CM Bedford Captain: O Soundy

game where we looked like we might lose, when at 43 for 4, but the game was changed by some aggressive batting from Bligh. Even then, with the opposition only needing 33 to win with five wickets remaining, it was a tight battle, won by solid fielding, especially from Mark Lertiendumrong, and good bowling from Tom Lewis, Moshe Levi, and Edward Bligh.

The team also produced a good performance to defeat the usually very competitive Harrow, but after Radley scored 207, Harrow could only reply with 87 all out, after some good bowling from Freddie Bulmer (who took 4 wickets) and an aggressive spell from Max Eastwood. Overall then, this was an enjoyable season.

DWS Roques

CRICKET MIDGETS 1 P12 W6 L5 D0 A1 Team: R Harrap, F Spicer, G O’Connor, G Acheson-Gray, B Tucker, F Judd, O Mordaunt, E Farrell, T Seddon, T Thame, J Duncan, L Booth.

As the results might suggest, Midgets 1 have had a mixed season in which there have been a number of outstanding moments and highlights, matched with some difficult games against tough oppositions. The boys started the season well with a three wicket victory against Cheltenham College, which showed great promise for the season ahead. Unfortunately the team next faced strong sides from Wellington and Eton, the latter of which proved to be quite the test for Midgets 1. The boys played some wonderful cricket, but in the end were bettered by strong batting performances from their oppositions.

Then followed a string of four memorable victories, the most memorable of which was a victory by a single run against Marlborough College. We batted first in the blistering heat and posted 197-8 from 35 overs, Harrap scoring his first half century of the year. Marlborough made a good start with bat in hand, and were comfortably over the required run rate after 10 overs. Midgets 1 responded with a period of tight bowling, most notably from Mordaunt, Seddon and Judd who restricted the run rate so that Marlborough found themselves falling behind. By the thirty second over it seemed that the game belonged to Radley, but Marlborough’s lower order scored rapidly, and were positioned at just 5 to win from the final over.

Thame took the ball and bowled

Coaches: BT Knowles, OH Langton Captain: R Harrap

with nerves of steel to claim the wickets of the two final batsmen for just 3 runs. It was a spectacular end to an excellent game of cricket, with Midgets 1 showing composure under pressure in the final over.

This led us into the Cheltenham College Festival in which the boys tried the new 100-ball format. The boys took to this with enthusiasm, and showed their class as young cricketers with displays of tight bowling and athletic fielding. We first faced the hosts, Cheltenham, and won by 66 runs, with Spicer and Thame batting aggressively for 41 each. We then claimed a 5 wicket victory over Rugby School, Ollie Mordaunt taking 3 for 21 from his four overs, placing Radley as overall winners of the competition.

overs to spare. At this point Farrell came to the crease and cleared the boundary with an enormous six from his first ball, bringing home a wonderful 4 wicket victory.

It was a great end to the season, a thoroughly deserved win and a manifestation of the hard work that the boys had put into training.

OHL and I have been lucky to coach such a talented group of young cricketers who have considerable potential for their cricketing futures at Radley. We wish them all the best for next season, and hope it is one which brings enjoyment to their cricket and another good set of results.

BT Knowles

We then faced two very strong oppositions, losing by 15 runs against Harrow and 113 runs against Tonbridge. The final game of the season was away at St. Edward’s, a team who had beaten Eton earlier in their season, and the Midgets 1 boys were aware of the fact that it would be another tough fixture. They approached the game with determination and sprit, and bowled excellently to restrict their opposition to 179 from 30 overs. Special mentions to Tucker and Duncan who performed with the ball, and to Mordaunt who took a truly outstanding catch. We then went about chasing down our target, but lost three early wickets. With the required rate increasing to 8 runs an over, we needed our middle order to rebuild the innings, a job which was most excellently done by Harrap and Thame. Harrap scored a classy 68, whilst Thame hit 45 from 29 balls, and brought us to a position of needing two runs with three

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CRICKET MIDGETS 2 P11 W4 L5 A2 Team: Pilkington, Marriott, Smith, Booth, Carreras, Elliott H, Crosthwaite-Eyre, Davies, Mordaunt W, Mordaunt O, Brackenbury, Parkes, Elliott J, Farrell, Judd, Duncan, Butterworth, Bury.

Over the years Midgets 2 have had more successful seasons in terms of results but this season saw a group of players improve in technique and also in spirit as the season went on. Many of the games were close encounters. Wellington won by 2 wickets in the last over, Harrow were pushed right to the penultimate over and a collapse against Reading Blue Coat left us agonisingly short when initially well set. It would be fair to say the rain saved us against Bradfield, they were over halfway to our total for the loss of 2 wickets but on the reverse Winchester will be thankful for their abandonment.

They needed a further 120 runs off 10 overs when the rains came.

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The season started brightly against a woeful Cheltenham side. Runs for Marriot, Pilkington and both Mordaunts set up a 127 run win.

After rain caused the Eton game to be postponed for a fortnight we lost narrowly to Wellington before playing Eton who were far too good for us. It was disappointing to collapse from 32-2 to 34-7 and thus lose by over a 100 runs. An excellent bowling display saw us beat Marlborough convincingly, with Parkes dangerous with the new ball and Pilkington cleaning up the middle order, before the defeats to Reading and Harrow.

In the Harrow game Carreras and Crosthwaite-Eyre starred with the bat, both falling agonisingly short of their first Radley 50s. At 100-5 we had Tonbridge in trouble but missed chances in the field meant they posted 169 to win. At 70-1 we were well set before Carreras was stunningly caught one handed.

Impetus was added by Davies before he succumbed to a catch from the same fielder. Still we fought on but

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Coaches: JAD Wilson, M Hills

kept losing wickets just as we got back into the game. Eventually we lost 2 wickets in 2 balls and fell 30 runs short, though in truth the game was much tighter than that.

There was a strong finish to the term: Carreras anchoring the innings against Abingdon with Booth offering some fine strokeplay, then Brackenbury skittled Portsmouth Grammar’s top order before an excellent run chase completed two victories in a week.

Top run scorer: Oscar Pilkington Top wicket taker: Jos Carreras Best all-rounder: Lucas Booth Fielding award: Algy Brackenbury JAD Wilson, M Hills

CRICKET MIDGETS 3 P9 W4 L4 A1 The season began with a convincing away win against Cheltenham by 139 runs, a confident 74 not out from Zac Butterworth and 42 from Dom Martin contributing towards an impressive 222-4 for Radley, before Radley bowled Cheltenham out for 83 runs, with 3 wickets from Ben Fleming and 2 each for Rory Richmond-Watson, Charlie Graham and Alec Hogarth. Wellington (away) proved a tougher prospect: the home side set Radley a chaseable total of 118 on a small ground, but Radley’s batsmen also struggled to settle, with Tom Crawshay standing out against some decent bowling and solid fielding. A resilient but unsupported knock by Wilf Inglis at the end meant Radley were eventually bowled out 46 runs short of their target. A home game against Eton 4ths proved another challenge; chasing 185 Radley did their best with another 63 runs from Butterworth and a quick 32 from Caspian Davies, but the run rate was

Coaches: EO Holt, AJ Hibbs Captain: LL Bury, WH Inglis

always against us and Eton held on by 39 runs.

Against Bradfield Radley were set 115 to chase off 25 overs thanks to another 3 wickets from Fleming.

Lucas Bury and Hugo Elliott proceeded to bat with controlled positivity, putting on 41 and 30 apiece in quick time before the heavy rain set in for good. With Radley poised for victory on 78/1 off 11 overs the unhappy decision was made to abandon the match.

The next week a watchful start to the Marlborough innings was followed by some excellent batting from their number 4, despite regular wickets from the Radley attack. A little tail wagging and a rather chaotic final over left Radley with 109 runs to chase down. The big guns at the top of the order failed to fire, and while selfless hitting from Graham and Wingfield at numbers 7 and 9 picked things up in the last few overs, it was too little too late and Radley could only manage 99 runs off their 25 overs.

A month later, following half term, Radley resumed their winning ways at Harrow after bowling out the home side for 78 and reaching their total with 6 wickets to spare.

A tough home encounter with a strong Tonbridge side saw Radley wilt in the heat to just 90 all out in reply to the visitors’ 198-9. Happily the following Saturday on a small home pitch saw a combined Radley Midgets 3&4 team rapidly reach 145 in 20 overs. Radley then fielded with professionalism to defend their total, with Ollie Vincent taking down the Abingdon top 3 for just 14 runs between them. A fightback from Abingdon’s middle order was not enough to get the run rate to the required level, and the visitors fell short by 23 runs. Another hot day at St. Edward’s saw another scorching performance, with excellent bowling from Radley limiting St. Edwards to 56 runs, which Graham and Crawshay chased down in just 7.3 overs: a great way to round off an enjoyable season of many encouragements.

EO Holt

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GOLF

Coach: P Miron

Seniors: P14 W10 D2 L2 Juniors: P8 W2 D5 L1 These past few years have seen Radley golf at its best. We have been fortunate enough to have had a run of several years where we have had one or more very talented, low handicap golfers, and it is therefore with some sadness that we will be saying goodbye to Arthur Tapner this year, who has been the outstanding golfer at Radley throughout his senior years here. He leaves us with a big gap to fill, although with several other very promising improving seniors, including James Duffy, Freddie Horler and Andrew Liu, as well as a very promising Junior, Zac Carter, coming through the ranks, there is every reason to hope that the success that we have enjoyed over these past few years will be sustained in the future.

Notable highlights this season have been our 5th year in a row winning the West of England Schools invitational at Burnham and Berrow GC, a record run for any school, we believe. The team of Tapner, Duffy, Horler, Liu and Todd beat some tough competition from Marlborough in the final. The same team, with the addition of Zac Carter, also succeeded in making it to the regional final of the HMC Foursomes competition, where we were beaten

by Wellington, who have the luxury of their own golf academy and some outstanding boy and girl golfers. Tapner, Horler and Duffy also made it through several rounds to reach the National Final of the ISGA Matchplay competition at St Mellion GC, where Arthur Tapner finished in an outstanding 5th place in the individual competition, a significant achievement against some outstanding opposition.

lovely conditions – as well as Stowe at both Sunningdale and Stoke Park, Bradfield at Huntercombe, Teddies at Frilford Heath and Cheltenham at North Oxford. We remain hugely fortunate to be in a position to play such outstanding golf courses so close to home.

The Junior Golfers have faced some tough opposition from schools with very strong under 16 squads. We’ve competed in our usual Triangular fixtures against Bradfield and Wellington as well as friendlies with Stowe and Marlborough. We now have a number of promising younger players who, with the benefit of some regular coaching next year, we hope to see progress to promising Seniors. Amongst these, Charlie Deram and Ben Wilson deserve special mention for their presence in all the Junior matches this year, as well as CJL, sadly leaving us this year, for all his help with the Juniors.

Thanks to all who have helped support and coach the team throughout the year, including JRWB, CJL and also our Pro, Adam Wootton, who has worked with the Senior players. Next year, we expect to have a much more regular and more comprehensive coaching setup which will, hopefully, lead to next year’s squad living up to the high standards that this year’s have set.

P Miron

We have also played a number of friendlies, amongst which were the match against the ORs – a very memorable day at The Berkshire in

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REAL TENNIS The clean sweep in the National Schools in 2017 was always a hard act to follow, but Radley very nearly managed a repeat.

Benedict Yorston & Ned Batstone won the National Schools Doubles title, beating Wellington 6/4 2/6 6/1 in a splendid final. Batstone’s aggressive strokeplay and Yorstons resilience under some pressure enabled them to come back from 0-1 in the final set after losing the second. Harry Purton & Harry Foreman came a close third, just losing 4/6 to Wellington in the

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semi-final. Ned Batstone also won the National Schools Singles, also beating a Wellington opponent.

As a pair, they have the lowest (best) handicaps of any Radley pair since the court was opened and are both ranked in the top 10 juniors in the world, along with Harry Purton. Benedict managed to pull a minor surprise by beating Ned in the 3 sets for the College singles title, perhaps a reward for his excellent captaincy over the season. Ned and Harry will both compete in

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Masters in Charge: MF Dean Captain: B Yorston

the inaugural World Junior singles event this summer. They, with Benedict Yorston, were all ranked in the top ten World Juniors this year (though Benedict is just too old by the time of the World tournament).

Ed Crowston & Max Wetton narrowly failed to defend their U16 Schools doubles title, losing 5/8 to Portsmouth GS, though Max did play some very fine tennis to win the B grade version of the national Schools singles. Crowston himself reached the GB U16 final,

only losing 3/6 in the final set in a very tight match.

Max Jardine-Brown and Dominic Stone, together with George Hall, Nick Tompkins and Archie O’Donnell also performed well at this level.

Ed Alder & Jonty Duncan won the U14 Schools Doubles, beating Radleian opponents George Acheson-Gray & Magnus Garson with George O’Connor & Toby Marriott close behind. Ed Alder also won the school Shell tournament, after very close matches with both Toby and Jonty. Ollie and Will Mordaunt came 4th in the Nationals, and performed with great enthusiasm and no little skill, as have Caden Stradling and Tom Seddon.

Other school matches were played, too. Canford, Oratory and Wellington played at home and away, Eton at home and Clifton away. The highlights were two victories over Oxford University, with half their blues team on court, and other wins at Queen’s Club, and at home over the Dedanists (fielding a National Junior squad) and a strong Hardwick team.

Some 24 boys represented the College in matches over the season, with the improved coordination with the rackets club (both in personnel and practice schedules) a highly encouraging development.

Combined dates for Real Tennis and rackets matches are scheduled next season with Eton, Wellington and Cheltenham.

Thanks, as ever, go to Chris Ronaldson and his assistant professionals (Adam Phillips, Saskia Bollerman and Zak Eadle) for their help in arranging coaching sessions at all hours. Enormous help has also been provided by APWB. Once again, the results this season are a hard act to follow, but Captain-elect, Ned Batstone, will certainly have lofty ambitions.

MF Dean

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ROWING 1ST VIII The 1st VIII started the Summer Term in a rather pedestrian fashion, but certainly gathered momentum as the term progressed and ended up with some excellent results in the second half of term.

The first regatta of the term was the Wallingford Regatta at Dorney Lake. The eight entered two events at this regatta: Challenge Eights and Junior 1st Eights. In the Challenge Eights’ event, the crew came third in their heat, just 0.6 seconds behind Abingdon, but unfortunately this meant that they missed out on qualifying for the final. In the Junior 1st Eights event the crew won their heat and then finished 3rd in the final which was won by Abingdon with a very strong Eton 2nd VIII in second place.

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The next regatta of the term was the traditional Bedford Regatta which follows the two boat racing format with the loser knocked out and the winner progressing to the following round. This event did not go well for the 1st VIII squad. In the Junior 1st Eights event the crew were convincingly beaten by a strong Bedford crew. The coxed four then lost to a Shiplake crew (comprised of boys from their 2nd VIII) in a very close race. The other half of the eight then lost their first round race in the Open Coxless Four event against eventual winners Star Club.

After Bedford the crew were understandably feeling a bit demoralised and it was clear that changes in the line-up were needed as the 2nd VIII had been achieving

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Coach: J Gearing 1st VIII Captain: Archie McChesney

relatively better results. After further trialling three changes were made to the crew for the following regatta, the National Schools’ Regatta. This event started with a time trial and the crew secured an excellent 3rd place behind St. Paul’s and Shiplake College with a further five crews very close behind. The crew knew that a strong performance in the semi-final would be very important and they came from behind to win their semi-final by clear water. In the final the crew achieved an excellent silver medal behind an outstanding crew from St. Paul’s but a length ahead of Shiplake in third. This result was an incredible turnaround from the first half of the term and it is interesting to note that crews such as Abingdon, who had beaten us in the first half of term, did not make the top eight crews in the A-final.

The next regatta of the term was the Reading Amateur Regatta which is run in the same two-boat knockout format as the Bedford Regatta. The crew, now rowing with renewed confidence, marched through to the final in emphatic fashion and then proceeded to win the final against a good senior crew from Lea Rowing Club.

The final regatta of the Summer Term is the Henley Royal Regatta and the crew were one of the selected crews for the event. They faced St. George’s College in the first round and despite some first day nerves, the crew quickly took control of the race and were able to ease up in the second half of the race to enable a comfortable win and progression through to the second round. In the second round the crew faced Pangbourne College who had been showing good form in the build-up to the regatta. However the 1st VIII were able to control the race from an early stage and secured a place in the quarter-finals without having to exert themselves too much.

In the third round the crew came up

against Shiplake College who had kept a low profile since securing the bronze medal at the National Schools’ Regatta. We knew this was going to be a tough race so were determined to get out fast and try to control the race from the front. The crew achieved this goal and despite a gallant effort from Shiplake, who kept attacking, the 1st VIII secured a well-deserved place in the semifinals. In the semi-finals we came up against the exceptional St. Paul’s VIII. This crew had recorded the fastest time ever achieved by a school crew over 2000 metres a few weeks before Henley. The Radley crew gave it their best shot and never stopped trying over the whole course, but were beaten by St. Paul’s who went on to win the event and smash the previous course record by 10 seconds!

After their somewhat lukewarm start to the season, full credit should be given to the boys for never giving up and achieving some excellent results in the second half of the term.

We would also like to congratulate Archie McChesney who represented

the Great Britain team at the Munich Junior Regatta where he won a gold medal in the eight, to Theo Metcalf who represented Great Britain in the coxed four at the Coupe de la Jeunisse and won two silver medals in that event and to Luke Miles who represented Great Britain in the eight at the Coupe de la Jeunesse and won two gold medals in that event.

1st VIII (National Schools’ Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta) Cox: Matthew Dawson Stroke: Rory Gearing Seven: Isaac Turner Six: Max Senior Five: Archie McChesney (1st VIII Captain) Four: Theo Metcalf Three: Luke Miles Two: James Innes-Ker Bow: Will a’Brassard (Captain of Boats) Other 1st VIII rowers during the term Max Dunlap Felix Rawlinson Ned Rae Smith J Gearing

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ROWING 2ND VIII This year’s 2nd VIII has performed very well in what has been an extremely competitive field. In the first regatta of the term, Wallingford Regatta, held at Dorney Lake the crew came second in their heat and then came a respectable third overall in the final in a very close-fought race.

The next regatta of the term was the Bedford Regatta which is one of the traditional river regattas contested in a two-boat knockout format over a distance of 1200 metres. In the first round the crew beat Bedford School and then had a very close race in the second round, losing by just one second against eventual winners Shrewsbury College.

Next up was the National Schools’ Regatta and the crew finished fifth overall in the time-trial. In the semifinal they finished third, but the

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times were close so the crew knew they were in a chance for a medal in the final. The final was a very tightly contested race and despite having their best race of the day, the crew just missed out on the bronze medal by a mere one second and had to settle for fourth place. However this was a very respectable result in what was a very high standard event.

After the National Schools’ Regatta, the crew split up to focus on trying to qualify a quad for the Fawley Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta. This was a very challenging task as only eight qualifying places were up for grabs with over thirty quads all vying for a spot. Despite having to race crews that had been training all season in the quad, the Radley crew came agonisingly close and missed out on a qualifying spot by a mere four seconds.

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Coaches: S Townsend , M Genchi

2nd VIII at National Schools’ Regatta Cox: Thomas Isaacs Stroke: Matthew Gissen Seven: Max Dunlap Six: Ned Rae Smith Five: Felix Rawlinson Four: Will Farrer-Brown Three: Will Nelson Two: Henry Hawkins Bow: Max Cragoe Coach: Mike Genchi Henley Quad Stroke: Matt Gissen Three: Max Dunlap Two: Felix Rawlinson Bow: Max Cragoe

S Townsend

THE RADLEIAN SPORTS SUPPLEMENT

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ROWING 3RD VIII Bow: Dominic Woolf 2. William DavieThornhill 3. Ivo Holbech 4. Alfred Mawdsley 5. Henry Portwood 6.

William Redley 7. Felix Reynish/Henry Hawkins (SHORR) 8. Henry Taylor Coxswain: Harry Stone Results: School’s Head of the River – 2nd Place, National Schools’ Regatta – 2nd Place, Weybridge Regatta Open Eights – 1st Place The 3rd VIII started their season with the Schools’ Head of the River race in London. With a very strong senior squad this year the final crew had only been finalised on the Thursday before the race. The boys therefore performed admirably to achieve an amazing second place.

Special mention must go out to Alfred Mawdsley and Harry Stone. They had both only started rowing this term.

Alfred successfully won a seat race to make it into the crew and performed well in a long head race with tricky

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conditions. Harry was our coxswain and his job was to ensure the crew navigated the SHORR course in the fastest way possible. I have never seen a novice cox steer such an amazing course on his first ever visit to the Tideway.

fortunate to be able to explore the amazing scenery in Lake Bohinj. They were taken on a mountain bike ride and a trail run to Savica waterfall. It was at the rowing camp they picked up their crew name of the “Panama Paddlers”.

Rowing camp Slovenia, Lake Bohinj

National Schools’ Regatta

The crew’s next big milestone was the very successful and very enjoyable rowing camp in Slovenia at Lake Bohinj. The boys were very fortunate to have the help of Natasha Townsend (Double Olympian GB Rower) who not only helped coach the eight but also filled in on a few sessions.

Her experience and guidance really helped the boys make great strides to becoming a faster crew. Natasha was also instrumental in helping to develop Harry Stone’s coxing abilities and confidence in the boat. The focus for our rowing camp was slightly more relaxed and so the crew was

As a crew the boys set themselves a challenging goal of trying to win gold at National Schools Regatta.

Their approach and dedication to this endeavour needs to be commended.

They opted in for extra early morning sessions, came back early to school for extra water sessions, and always ensured they put in solid work on the rowing machines. Their final at the regatta will remain as one of the most courageous races I have ever seen.

They were over a length down to Eton in first place with 500m to go and thanks to their hard work in training and sheer dedication they managed to

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Coach: S.W Townsend Captain: W Redley

close down the gap to just 0.4 seconds as they crossed the line in second.

rocky start, turned into one of the hardest working individuals in the boat.

Weybridge Regatta

Ivo Holbech – made huge improvements throughout the season on both his technical and physical abilities. He can be extremely proud of his efforts and I hope he has been able to see the potential he has.

The crew managed to win the Open Eights division at Weybridge Regatta beating the St. Georges 1st VIII to the victory. The fact that a 3rd VIII could beat a 1st VIII shows the level of dedication and hard work this crew put in during the season. However, hard work is not the only thing to move a rowing boat and the boys must be congratulated on their development as oarsmen. Their boat feel, rhythm and technique never stopped improving and that is all thanks to their eagerness to learn and develop as rowers.

Dominic Woolf – a fierce competitor in the bow seat and I don’t ever recall him missing a session on land or water.

William Davie-Thornhill – A very competitive individual who, after a

Alfred Mawdsley – as a novice rower his improvement was drastic. Always eager for extra sessions in the pair and his dedication to mastering a new sport was an inspiration in the crew. He will go onto do very well in the sport if he continues where he left off.

Henry Portwood – A hard working and positive individual. His approach to rowing and the crew really made the boat a pleasant place to be. When race day arrived I could always count on him to be relaxed, smooth, and there until the last stoke.

William Redley – one of the natural leaders in the crew. He has a quietly tenacious drive and really helped keep the crew together. His approach to the sport and to receiving coaching is incredible.

Felix Reynish – A quiet determined individual that will always lay it all on the line to achieve the best result for the crew. He was unfortunate with illness to miss out on the 2nd VIII but he never once complained nor made any indication the he felt hard done by, instead he immersed himself completely in the crew and was able to achieve some amazing results Henry Taylor – has an amazing feel for the boat and played a major role in the crew’s success. He was always able to set up a solid, smooth, and sustainable rhythm that the crew could follow and he led the boys to some amazing results. He has huge potential and must believe in himself 100%.

S.W Townsend

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ROWING 16.1 Key results – 6th Quintin Head, 7th at Schools’ Head, 3rd J16 VIII at Basher Regatta, 2nd at Wallingford Regatta, Winners at Bedford Regatta, 6th at National Schools Regatta in the VIII, Silver at National Schools Regatta in the coxless four.

The season began in January for the group with a good number of boys returning to the squad from the previous year, which was encouraging to see. There was a lot of work to be done on fitness to make sure that we got back to the levels required to compete at the front end of what turned out to be a very competitive field of J16 eights.

The squad took this challenge head on, and got to work in the gym, on the ergo and out on the water

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when the river levels permitted.

Throughout the early stages of Lent Term we had a number of injuries, which meant we had to use the full extent of the squad, with boys doing a terrific job of stepping into the first boat. After some hard work in the first couple of months, the first major challenge of term presented itself at Schools’ Head.

With a number of regulars out of contention, the crew did a very good job finishing in a competitive placing of seventh out of 13 crews.

It was after Schools’ Head, and on training camp in the Easter Break on Lake Bohinj, Slovenia, that the group really made some strides forward. They put in some excellent mileage in the boat on the picturesque lake, as well as some paddle boarding! Finishing the camp with some encouraging

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Coach: SW Townsend

training pieces against the seniors.

This led nicely into Wallingford Regatta on our return, where the crew raced extremely well, placing a very close second behind Abingdon, and ahead of St. Pauls’, Westminster and King’s College.

The following week saw us at Bedford Regatta, where after a dead heat with Windsor Boys’, the crew rallied and beat them by a length in the re-row. Some further tight racing and wins in the following rounds against Shiplake and Norwich meant the crew had their first ‘pots’ of the season at what turned out to be a very damp Bedford!

The main event of the season, National Schools’, was the next race in the calendar, and in crosswind conditions, a huge

amount was riding on the time trial, and subsequent seeding of lanes. The crew placed in 6th place in a tightly packed field and this made it an uphill struggle from here in for the rest of the day. The crew raced with real aggression and determination looking to overhaul a strong Abingdon crew in the semi-final, but to no avail, meaning they had qualified into the A Final, but in an unfavourable lane unfortunately. Again, in the final, the crew pushed extremely hard to get into the race and in the early stages were in contention, but as the race developed, they struggled to hold the pace of the front-runners, finishing in sixth place after a commendable effort.

The following day saw a second chance for the group in coxless fours, with both crews acquitting themselves well. The second coxless four of Ashforth-Pook, Thorneycroft, Martin. Goschen had a cracking race in the D Final, pipping Eton College in the final sprint to the line. The first boat (Dreyer, Spraggs, Nielsen, Senior) started the day in excellent

fashion with a second place finish in the time trial, and cemented that second place position in an outstanding race with Westminster in the A Final. Up until the last 100m it was neck and neck with both crews clear of the rest of the field, and it was Westminster who ultimately found one more gear to take the win.

A fantastic silver medal for the Radley crew, and thoroughly deserved for their racing through the day.

with fitness and injury, this talented group showed real signs of speed, with some excellent racing and silverware won along the way.

As boys were fully immersed in GCSEs after National Schools’ not much racing took place for crews, but the silver medal winning coxless four did continue with the aim of trying to qualify for the GB vs France match in the summer. This trial took place in Nottingham the week before Henley Royal Regatta, and the crew raced extremely hard but came a close second in the race-off to a strong Norwich crew, meaning they missed qualification.

Fred Dreyer

Overall, a strong season from the group, with many boys stepping into the crew throughout and working as a full squad. After some early struggles

Louis Ashforth-Pook

I am very confident that they can develop into some top class senior oarsmen in the next two years.

Squad Ted Williams (cox)

Freddie Nielsen Alec Goschen Charlie Spraggs Alex Senior Hector Thorneycroft Henry Martin

Jamie Batchelor

SW Townsend

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ROWING 15.1 Lent Term saw some good training and after a good Easter break, the boys arrived back early to school for the three day Remove rowing camp at Reading, which had been relocated to Dorney due to the flooded river. During the camp, we spent the week forming 15.1 arranging the boys into the right combination. After three good days of training, we were ready to move onto regatta season with a 15.1 crew of Cox-Bow: Harrison Kane, Archie Donald, Justin Lam, Bert Dreyer, Pip Chetwode, Rupert Halford-Harrison, Orlando Alford, Ben Zhang and Finlay Trasler.

The First race of the summer regatta season was BASHER 1 at Dorney. With all of the clubs represented this was a chance to gauge speed. After a solid time trial, the boys were placed 4th in J15 boats and raced off Abingdon 15.2 and Eton 15.1 in the final. We comfortably dispatched Abingdon’s lower ranked boat and had a close race with Eton which we won by half a length. It was a good result but clearly there was some work to do to catch up with Hampton, Abingdon and St. Paul’s.

We raced a slightly different crew over Exeat Sunday due to availability at Wallingford Regatta, with Johnny Ekins and Ralph Adams getting a shot in the hot seat. Racing did not go as planned with the crew learning some harsh lessons not proceeding out of the heat stage, with a large gap to the winners (25 seconds). We all knew we had to train harder to close the gap.

Onto Bedford regatta, and due to injury, Johnny Ekins was now a consistent member of 15.1 doing a good job in the three seat. The crew started to find some good base

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Coach: H Lyons

speed, producing results against Norwich School and a much cleaner race over Abingdon’s 15.2. Onto the semi-final against Abingdon 15.1 who were 6 seconds ahead of us just 2 weeks before, racing them to half a length, with our boys leading most the way.

we put in stellar examples of passionate sportsmanship and gave our all no matter what, with a smile on our faces.

With two hard week’s training under our belts and some positive steps towards more boat speed, the crew (unchanged from Bedford) went into National Schools’ with a lot more confidence. Rising talent Harrison Kane put in a stellar performance however it was not enough, at just a mere 10 seconds behind the winners we were placed in 14th position and into the C Final, along with Eton College and Bedford School. Disappointed the boys picked themselves up and put down a great side-by-side time.

They led out the field with Eton overturning them in the middle stages and came second.

H Lyons

After Leave-Away, we had a few great regattas with the boys having fun, and learning how to race in various small boats and new crew combinations, with Archie Robertson, Orlando Alford all getting a turn to row in the first boat. My personal favourite after watching some devastatingly close racing in the fours and Reading Town Regatta, the boys jumped into the eight for the last time, putting out their best performance of the year, beating St. Edward’s (placed ahead of us at NSR) and an Abingdon School second boat in the heats. Unfortunately following a blade clash in the final, we did not go on to win, but it was great to see everyone having a good time late into the season.

We faced a tough field this year however despite not winning

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ROWING 15.2 After a great Lent Term’s training in which all the boys from the 15.2 crew attended 90% of the optional morning sessions, the boys were fit and ready for the summer season.

The boys arrived back at school for our 3 day Remove rowing camp at Dorney. During the camp the boys rowed for the first time in a ‘15.2’ potential boat and in some coxed fours for some small boats skill work. Due to a few injuries over the Easter season, the boys rowed in several combinations of the boat all through the regatta season, trying to achieve a place in 15.1 whilst securing their seats in 15.2. The boys included in the boat (and who were Radley’s National Schools’ Regatta crew) were: Cox-Bow: Felix Gates, Ralph Adams, Seymour Shaw, Orlando Alford, Archie Robertson, Nithin Siminand, Yuhan Yan, Will Moss, Mallam Findley Grant.

Others included were: Johnny Ekins, Charlie Morgan, Tom Wheeler, Finlay Trasler, Ben Zhang, Alex Hardy and Alex Pearson.

Onto the races, our first of the season was at BASHER 1 and the boys after racing a solid time trial beat the Bedford and Eton 15.2 boats. The best races of the day for the boys came with two sideby-side races with 14.1 beating them on both occasions, with some great racing from both crews, 15.2’s experience winning the day.

Next up was Bedford regatta, with the boys racing in an open and junior category, in which the boys beat a university crew before losing to the second one, and had a tight race with Hampton who they eventually lost to by 1 length. Our last race before National Schools’ was Thames Ditton regatta, where the boys were now in NSR crew

Coach: H Lyons

formation, and the boys were entered into the J15 first eight category. The boys won their first race against local rivals Oratory School by a good margin, before losing to an other local Oxford crew, St. Edward’s, by 3 lengths. But the boys had some good racing and were ready for National Schools’.

With a field of 21 crews, National Schools’ Regatta was very competitive, our 15.2 crew rowed a fantastic time trial, coming 9th in the field and out performing our 15.1 boat, and this led them into the AB semi final. The semi final was challenging for our boys and they came in fifth after a great race with Reading Blue Coat School.

The boys again had another good race in the B final and came fifth beating King’s College School in a very tight race. The boys put together a very strong National Schools’ Regatta performance, especially after all the crew changes in the boat during the term.

had beaten them at the National Schools’ Regatta previously. They then lost to Abingdon 16.2 in a hard race, eventually losing by 1 length.

The boys have had a great season of rowing, learning to row in lots of different combinations, with different people, seats and boats.

H Lyons

After Leave-Away the fun really began for this crew, with lots more small boats and racing. Our first regatta was Marlow Town Regatta, we had stern 4 and bow 4 racing each other in quads, with both boats winning the heat and into the final against bow 4, with stern 4 taking the win and the pot. The second race of the day was in a 4 in which the stern four lost to the national school champions by just 1 length after leading them out the blocks. The last and final race of the day was in the eight again, in which they beat Sir William Borlase by just 1/3 of a length in an excellent tussle.

Our last race of the season was at Reading Town Regatta, where the boys won their first race against Reading Blue Coat, the crew who

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ROWING 14.1-5 The J14 year group had an excellent introduction to rowing this season, showing great promise and in particular depth across the squad. Running a 50-strong squad of oarsmen is no easy feat, but one that Miss Milanova and her team did exceptionally.

The year group took their first few strokes on the river just before Christmas, before officially starting rowing in the Lent Term. It was extremely unfortunate that the Lent Term of 2018 was plagued by wet weather, meaning the Radley stretch of river was seemingly in a state of constant flood. This meant that water time for the new recruits was very limited, but the squad made the most of all the landbased sessions they had instead, in particular in the rowing tank. This was a huge credit to the team, as they used the time effectively to become much fitter.

The first ever event for the Shell year group was The Oarsport Junior Scullery, where some mixed octuples raced over 3600m. The

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Coaches: SI Milanova, LRI Smart, BJ Holden

boys raced extremely well given their lack of experience, with our ‘B’ boat winning its category, winning their first ever silverware as Radley oarsmen.

time for all crews in their first few months in the sport, these results were a truly significant achievement against the best schools and clubs in the country.

The major event of the year for the Shells is the National Schools’ Regatta, and we had three crews competing in the two separate events – 1st Octuple and 2nd Octuple. We were delighted that the J14.3 boat comfortably qualified through to the B Final of the second crew event, highlighting the strength in depth of the squad, and they raced brilliantly to come ninth overall, and ranked as the fastest J14.3 crew in the country.

Our J14.2 crew also just missed out on the A Final, but raced with a lot of determination to win the final and come seventh overall. The J14.1 crew produced a really strong time trial, meaning they would be racing for medals in the A Final.

Unfortunately, after a huge tussle with the Windsor Boys School crew, the boys were pipped to the bronze medal by a matter of inches.

However, given the disrupted water

A particularly notable performance also came from J14.3 at Bedford Regatta, with them getting through numerous rounds of racing to take the win in their category. For the remainder of the summer, the squad travelled to various river regattas, gaining valuable experience and some exciting wins.

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All coaches throughout the year agreed that this particular year group have shown some great promise and potential this season, and we will be watching their progress with interest as they move through the ranks in the years ahead.

SW Townsend

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TENNIS 1ST VIII P7 W2 D0 L5 Sets For 32 Sets Against 48 Team: Ned Batstone, Harry Foreman, Ed Crowston, ThĂŠo van der Meerschen, Alex Alder, Ed Alder, Milo Brett, Joe Beck, Oscar White, Ben Yorston 2018 saw an impressive squad of players gel together to form a new and successful Bigside team.

Led by 6.1 entrant Ned Batstone, whose brother Henry represented the Firsts in 2016, a number of excellent victories were recorded in regular and competition play.

Radley has the luxury of being able to select representative Bigside teams to match oppositions and so looking at an overall results table

can be misleading as better players were regularly rested. Notable successes came against Harrow (9-0 winners) and Bradfield (6-3 winners) and against Harrow, Wellington and Marlborough in the RHWM competition where Radley won the Jackson Trophy and defeated all opponents. These matches together with the matches against Eton and the Army involved full sides.

Eton beat Radley 8-1 in a disappointing tie where Bigside failed to really get their feet under the table and were beaten by a confident and experienced side perhaps the best in Britain. A 7-13 loss to a full-strength Army team was outstanding. Notable wins came for Ed Alder in singles (again) and Alder

Photograph: RHWM Jackson Trophy Winners Upper: Alder E, White, Beck Lower: Alder A, Foreman, Batsone, van der Meerschen

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Master in Charge: RD Woodling Captain: N Batstone

and Alder in the doubles. Alex and Ed combined again vs Eton to secure the Club’s lone point. Ed Alder, still a Shell (!), wins his Half Colours and Alex, his brother, Full Colours.

Throughout the season Ned Batstone was outstanding. He demonstrated a higher level of professionalism and focus than is common in amateur tennis and betrays his professional aspirations. He and partner Harry Foreman were excellent throughout the season with some exceptionally confident victories in the RHWM competition really standing out.

The pair lost to Hall and Christie of Abingdon twice during the season but it was never quite felt the matches were representative as players were slightly out of sorts. The

Abingdon pair remain exceptional, however and will play again next season.

Foreman is gifted with a thunderbolt first serve, and over the course of the season he used it more and more judiciously with more careful placement and structured point making. His overhead is the best in the Club and his reaction volley is sublime. He has been a loyal servant of the Club over five years and leaves with Full Colours.

Ed Crowston and Théo van der Meerschen played with verve and authority throughout the season.

Although still U16 players, they have completed two full seasons for Bigside and have won Half-Colours.

Their performance in November in the closing stages of the Aegon National Junior Competition was exemplary, securing an impressive victory against elite players from Millfield. Théo has an exceptional scything backhand and a fabulous serve, and Ed is a consummate match player with a resilience and determination to win out in most situations. A particularly pleasing result was scored for Ed against a mighty giant from KCS in the ISL 1 competition at Radley and Théo ruled the roost in the RHWM at Harrow with some Federer magic.

Milo Brett threatened to break through and played well in bursts, variously over the season. Next year he needs to just go for it. Milo is a talented and determined lad, but sometimes over-thinks his play. He secured a decent win for the Club partnering Ben Yorston at 4th pair vs Eton. Joe Beck latterly started to excel and has a fine foundation of shots and an athletic frame. He serves well and is reliable off the ground.

Latterly, his volleying gained more authority. Joe played with exceptional determination in all the matches he was selected for and was an example to others. Joe is one of the few players to have beaten Ed Alder and again looks like he might come to full bloom next year.

Oscar White played better and better over the season and is a first-class match player. His tennis had been hampered over the previous season

Photograph: Bigside vs Army Bottom Row: Alder E, Alder A, Batstone, Foreman, Beck, White

by a broken leg and it took Oscar some time to regain his form. Oscar is another tenacious competitor and is an indefatigable athlete and possesses rasping groundstrokes and the ability to kill an easy ball – an invaluable asset.

Ben Yorston could be relied upon to play with craft and determination and brought culture to the team. He was quite comfortable playing no. 8 and would usually bring home the bacon. Ben is an outstanding Real Tennis player and his skill and big match experience were an asset to Bigside.

A very pleasing Bigside win was secured vs Bradfield away on their fantastic clay courts. This was spiriting as Bradfield are traditionally very strong at Tennis and Batstone and team managed to really stamp their authority.

The season was embellished with a lovely day for an invitational side at Roehampton, culminating in a draw on the lawns against a refined team of grizzly grass-court players.

In addition, valiant afternoons were enjoyed for representative sides against Winchester (last time on grass?) and Tonbridge. Batstone and Foreman won the Radborough Competition with better and better

play, ultimately seeing off Radley second pair van der Meerschen and Crowston in the final, who themselves had beaten a decent Marlborough first pair in the semifinal.

The Tennis term was rounded out in traditional style at Eton at the Youll Cup where the College won easily against St. Peter’s, York followed by a narrow defeat in a deciding set against New Hall. New Hall fielded one of Britain’s very best players, combined with a decent partner and were ultimately too strong for Batstone and Crowston. Ned did remark that he had beaten his opponent when last they played – but they had been 12 at the time…

My thanks to Jon Maskens for his coaching of the Senior side this year and for his wisdom and bonhomie. It was a pleasure to welcome back Toby Ryan (2017 Captain) who made a real impact to the team as co-coach with Jon and his input is especially appreciated. We wish him well back in Boston in the coming term where he is playing national club tennis.

RD Woodling

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SECONDSIDE TENNIS P7 W5 L2 Sets For 20 Sets Against 16 Team: Harry Seaton, Ned Gordon, Lucas Ely, Baz Butterwick, Geordie Thomson, Hugo Carr, Tom Sweetnam Occasionals: Ed Elliott, George Medd, Will Dunhill-Turner, Tristan Southwell, George EgertonWartburton, Jude Dobby, Luke Howard Another very pleasing season indeed for Secondside with excellent wins coming against Harrow, Bradfield and in the RHWM where Radley were victors, again. The Tonbridge match was lost having had a point to win the tie and Eton proved a little too strong, as usual.

Bigside players were regularly drafted down to play for the thirds, but stalwarts Harry Seaton and Ned Gordon were classy Lawn Tennis players with quality serves and excellent volleys and were the backbone of the team. Their craft

and maturity would undoubtedly have won them matches for the Senior side.

Geordie Thomson and Baz Butterwick improved over the season and Geordie, in particular, began to shine latterly with an impressive win against the excellent Joe Beck in the closing stages of the term. Geordie had worked hard with Toby Ryan after the end of regular practices and played with more care and grit.

Thirds’ Captain Hugo Carr represented the Seconds regularly and played with swashbuckling determination and excellent volleys. Lucas Ely continued to demonstrate beautiful technique – next season more fire-in-thebelly may see him rise to the top squad. Tom Sweetnam is a little out of practice following injury but has a fine bedrock of shots and a cultured tennis brain.

Others threatening to excel

Photograph: RHWM II Winners Sweetnam, Carr, Butterwick, Ely

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Master in Charge: RD Woodling Captain: H Seaton

included Tristan Southwell: a casual observer would mark him as truly gifted, but Tristan still struggles to maintain his play in match situations and shot-in, shotout. George Medd had the rare feather of having beaten Bigside grandee Oscar White (on George’s birthday) but Oscar might claim the match was not representative, for some reason. It was a fair reflection of play on the day, however, and a credit to George who has improved greatly as a player and possesses a very strong serve and impressive court-craft.

A number of Secondside players will be challenging for Senior honours next year and will bring experience and grit to the squad.

My thanks to Toby Ryan and Simon Barlass for their coaching and good cheer over a fun term.

RD Woodling

SENIOR CLUBSIDE TENNIS P6 W1 L5 Sets For 15 Sets Against 38 The Thirds and below played a number of matches - three against Eton – and played with style.

Many lads played for the Club side over the term and the spirit of competition runs deep. Radley is lucky to be able to draw upon a large reservoir of good Senior tennis players to match opponents and make a close tie.

A decent match was lost to Tonbridge; and Eton proved too strong on each occasion, though several sets were won. Pleasing wins were achieved for the College against Bradfield and in Competition Play against Marlborough and Abingdon. The Club has looked to introduce more competition format matches where pairs are numbered off down to 16 or 32 and entered into a seeded draw. This usually throws up surprises and is a chance for players from lower teams to make a real impression against

higher ranked players.

Master in Charge: RD Woodling Captain: H Carrr

some mean volleying from Mick and some decent serving and smashing from James – together with some necessary scampering.

Congratulations.

The Club played a very pleasant afternoon’s tennis with Westonbirt in what is fast becoming a traditional and much anticipated fixture.

Elsewhere, the Club’s annual Lads and Dads competition was hotly contested with the punchy partnership of Joy Tacon (mum) and George Medd narrowly losing to experienced partnership Simon (dad) and Oscar White after some imaginative line calls and oldfashioned looks. Brothers Ely reached the final where they met the grizzly pairing of JCR (Rackets Professional) and MFD (Former Oxfordshire Men’s Capatain – a while ago). Ely senior was a little generous early on and this proved costly. Dean and Rock have a taste for Champagne and are accustomed to winning and sure enough, before long, the ‘father and son’ pairing edged in front and closed out a competitive tiebreak with

The Dons played well against Cothill and Dragon and took part in a brilliant new fixture against MCS. Several matches were won, and the support of Toby Ryan in all three ties was invaluable…

A host of Senior players can expect to play at least Third Team tennis next year and the cauldron of competition they provide day-in, day-out will raise up the standard of the top players in the Club as always.

My thanks to Simon Barlass and to Mark Jewell for their stewardship of the Thirds and Fourths, and to Dan Pullen and Lee Ryan for supporting the Senior Social lads.

RD Woodling

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COLTS 1 TENNIS From: Power, Haigh, Way, Beukers, Goaman, O’Dowd, von Sanden, Ward, Woods This summer term was an emotional rollercoaster for the Vths, not only as a result of the mental marathon that is the GCSE period but also because of a season with a mixed bag of results, which Colts 1 was able to end on a high.

The season got off to a slow start; for example, narrowly losing 4-5 our first match against Tonbridge on the 21st of April and to Harrow (2-7) on the 26th April. However, as frustration grew towards both Colts 1’s absence from its usual excellence and to the seemingly never-ending public exams, the lull in success dramatically changed half-way

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through the season with a flurry of victories.

The major turning point in the team’s success took place on the 9th of June, in the Independent Schools’ League (ISL), which Radley is an annual participant in, when Colts 1, against all the odds, since the team had to be reshuffled with several injuries, managed to win, during the second weekend, the ISL Group 3. This tournament is calculated by the results of the Colts, the Junior Colts, and the Midgets scores so it was particularly pleasing to see three year groups coming together successfully. As the sun began to shine and temperatures increased, so did Colts 1’s success. Another highlight of Colts 1’s season was the outstanding performance in the

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Coach: H Crump Captain: WHC Power

Oxford Independent Schools’ League (OXIST), beating both Abingdon and MCS to win by a clear margin (Radley 110 games, Abingdon 63, MCS 43).

Overall, Colts 1’s misfortune was that their terrific ending to the season was relatively short-lived as fixtures dried up because of exams and exam leave. However, it has been an honour to captain a team devoted to the sport and to improve at every opportunity.

WHC Power

JC1 & 2 TENNIS JC1: P7 W1 Team: A.O’Donnell, B.Barton, E.Southgate, F.Rees, G.Dutton, H.Hoare, H.Glover, L.Donaldson, N.Tompkins JC2: P5 W2 Team From: A.Coulson, A.Rowley, A.Cornet de Ways Ruart, B.Barton, E.Southgate, F.Rees, H.Brown, M.Rowland, N.Tompkins, T.Hordern The Remove tennis players started term with much promise and an optimistic outlook from head coach Mr Rock. An encouraging season in Shells gave much promise for the term ahead. After a quick reassembly of the pairings, the JC1 side were ready to take on a well-prepared Tonbridge opponent. Despite putting up a brilliant test for a talented opposition, JC1 came away unsuccessfully.

Coaches: JC Rock, RK McMahon, JAS Sheldrake Captain: L Donaldson

The next main fixture was the Independent Schools’ League tournament. Here four players form JC1 (Louis Donaldson, Harry Hoare, Harvey Glover and Archie O’Donnell) played three schools in both doubles and singles.

This four came away with three doubles wins and five singles wins.

Unfortunately, this was not enough to continue and the four were forced into the plate competition.

However, with some ferocious training, the team competed in ISL 2 and won the tournament with the second pair not losing a game.

The season continued to be mixed with fun yet tiring training sessions, narrow losses and a tournament victory.

JC1 played seven matches. They won one and lost six, although they lost three of those six by one set only. JC2 played five. They won two and lost three.

Despite a difficult season the team showed talent and commitment.

The likes of Freddie Rees and Edward Southgate proved their progressing talent and enthusiasm to rise from the depths of JC2 to a third pair in JC1.

As a player and onlooker of the entire season I believe these results do not reflect the JC’s talent and dedication. Against many schools there was just one set in it and winning a tournament against the main tennis schools in the country proves the hope and optimism that the coaches have for our tennis futures at Radley College.

The JC1 team consisted of Louis Donaldson (C), Harry Hoare, Harvey Glover, Archie O’Donnell, Nick Tompkins, George Dutton, Benjamin Barton, Freddie Rees and Eddie Southgate.

H Glover

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JC3 & 4 TENNIS JC3: P7 W1 L5 D1 Team From: A.Coulson, A.Sweetnam, B.Pastukhov, H.Brown, H.Carlisle, J.Harrabin, L.Baglietto, L.Parsons, M.Rowland, P.Clegg The C team had an enjoyable season playing four times a week and competing in seven matches against well-matched schools including Marlborough, Eton and Harrow. The team was made up of three pairs playing doubles matches. We played competitively throughout the term, although we only managed one win and a draw in the seven games played.

Throughout the season, as we became more confident, the performances become more skilled and better-fought. This is shown

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Coaches: JC Rock, RK McMahon, JAS Sheldrake

by the 5–4 win over Marlborough in the last match of the season.

Despite the lack of wins we bonded very well as a team as well as greatly improving our tennis with the help of our coaches and a skills session every Tuesday; I will have very fond memories of this season.

J Harrabin JC4: P4 W1 L3 Team From: A.McCullough, B.Pastukhov, C.Frei, E.Betton, H.Tufnell, H.Carr, J.Bentley, L.Baglietto, N.Blackburn Playing for the JC tennis D team has been a very enjoyable

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experience. Due to the marvellous coaching of Mr Rock, Mr Sheldrake and Dr McMahon we have been able to obtain some great results, including a very narrow 5-4 victory over Malborough. Each session has been very enjoyable and has helped our tennis improve hugely.

The Junior Inter-Social tennis was a great way to end the season and, although it was a very close competition, C Social were the deserved winners.

H Carr

MIDGETS TENNIS The Midgets tennis squad had a successful season. In a term packed with both team fixtures and individual tournaments, the boys showed remarkable resilience and determination. Overall, as a squad, they played 25 fixtures with the M1 pairs additionally playing in the ISL, Eton College Pairs, Oxford Tennis and ISTA tournaments.

The Midgets tennis season opened with traditionally difficult fixtures against Tonbridge and Harrow. All three teams were in action and Radley ran out winners 15-12 in both matches. Both M1 and M2 winning comfortably and M3 narrowly missing a win. This was a great start to the season, which gave the boys the confidence for their first ISL 1 tournament at St. George’s Weybridge. The boys came up against tough opposition but competed in every game finishing a creditable third place and moving through to a home draw in the next round of the ISL. Despite being on a high from previous results, the boys came down to earth with a bump after their first face-off against Eton. An Eton team strong in depth proved too experienced for all of the Midget sides, sending them to their first team defeat of the season. This defeat was closely followed by the ISL 2 tournament and the M1 pairs pulled off a fine victory, triumphing over second place St. Paul’s by one game (228-227).

Coaches: PM Bennett, R Burns

The RHWM tournament, held at Harrow, is always a keenly contested event. This tournament is both a single and pairs fixture where every game against every school counts.

The team of Mason-Phelps, Medd, Stradling, Rowland, Ng, Andrewes, Fletcher and Hartigan faced Harrow in the first round. Despite winning comfortably earlier in the season, many of the games went to deuce with Radley losing the doubles but winning the singles, coming out with a twelve game advantage. The second round against Wellington proved an easier affair, Radley winning 75-21. Harrow also managed to defeat Marlborough by a similar margin, which meant it was all to play for in the final round. After a stiff team talk, the boys fully appreciated the task ahead of them and produced their best tennis of the day. A special mention must go to Rory Fletcher who only lost one game in the final round. The team recorded a score of 76-20, which was enough to win the tournament overall. Further wins against Marlborough and in the OXIST tournament rounded off a successful

season for the entire squad.

While the season was winding down, the first pair of Alder/Rowland and second pair of Mason-Phelps/ Stradling represented Radley at the U15 ISTA tournament. First pair easily won their group and qualified for the main competition. The second pair came third and entered the plate competition. Alder and Rowland beat Sevenoaks 6-4, 6-4 to progress to the last sixteen where they met strong opposition in Eton 1. An evenly contested game saw Eton win 6-3,63.

Coaches PMB and RB would like to comment on the attitude and team spirit of the boys. They were always early, stayed late and competed in true Radley form in all aspects of the season. They were a pleasure to coach and we hope that they will have continued success next season.

R Burns

Normal play resumed on a sunny afternoon at Bradfield with all three teams competing. M3 recorded their first win of the season with the third pair of Butterworth and Lewinton securing victory for the team. With the added success of the M2 pairs, and a close defeat of M1 following a nail-biting tie break, the overall team score was 15-12 to Radley.

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SAILING Team: T Bennett, M Lopez, G Adams, A Bhandarkar, H Carlisle, S Collis, W Cook, F McCarthy, M Morgan Stark, C Rooth, H Bennett, G Turner Warsash and Cowes crew: G DillonRobinson, T Bennett, F McCarthy, C Roth, G Turner The Easter holidays and first two weeks of April finally saw some competitive action for the sailors with the Warsash Spring Series.

Despite weather and illness putting paid to three of the race days, the crew got nine races under their belt, sailing our aptly named SB20 Trouble & Strife.

Master in Charge: AK MĂźhlberg Coach: G Barker Captain: G Dilon-Robinson

Results were a little inconsistent anywhere between 2nd-7th place.

However, considering this was some of the sailors’ first Warsash, they achieved a very creditable 2nd Place overall and won a lovely bottle of bubbly. We call that a win! Many thanks to George and Bertie Barker for jumping into the breach when we were short of crew. Much appreciated as always!

The rest of term consisted of further training for the SB20 crew in preparation for Cowes Week and dinghy sailing for the rest of the sailors. Summer Term lived up to its name this year, making capsize practice the favourite drill

Photograph: www.lendycowesweek.co.uk

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by far, as it allowed the boys to stay cool. As well as capsizing, we are glad to report many sailors also improved their sailing skills, earning them their RYA Dinghy certificates. Several boys even gained powerboat qualifications, which is fantastic news.

Congratulations all around!

With term finished, the Cowes crew got a little rest before heading to the Isle of Wight in August.

Weather wise, it turned out to be a week of two halves, starting fabulously hot with light winds and ending with a bang (once literally) with typically challenging Solent conditions of strong winds

and rain. Wednesday, the first of the wilder days, was the most frustrating, as the boat’s rudder snapped during a massive broach.

A replacement blade could not be found in time for the next two days’ racing, which could easily have meant ‘game-over’. Fortunately, the boys’ fellow competitors very kindly offered them crewing positions on various other boats for the last two days. Naturally, everyone jumped at the chance and had a thrilling time with their new crews. The conditions were particularly rough on the last two days, returning the boys full of excitement and tall tales. Trouble & Strife being out of action sadly meant a last place result overall, but the boys took it with customary cheerfulness and consoled themselves watching the Red Arrows and fireworks instead.

Both were absolutely spectacular, as ever. Also as ever, many thanks to George Barker for all his hard work preparing and supporting the boys for this very special event and to all of the families for their unwavering support and steady supply of tasty treats – you really are the best!

Finally, a hearty ‘Farewell’ to our intrepid El Capitano, George ‘Boris’ Dillon-Robinson. We wish him all the best and look forward to seeing him on the water again soon.

Seaview Regatta, here we come!

A K Mühlberg

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Photograph: Tanya Goodwin

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TEAM PHOTOGRAPHS We are very grateful to Gillman & Soame for supplying team photos which have been reproduced by kind permission of Gillman & Soame photographers and can be ordered online at: www.gsimagebank.co.uk/radleycollege/t/radley2018 Parents can purchase team photographs (those featuring a watermark in the bottom right corner) by contacting Gillman & Soame directly.

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