This week, Bloxham’s 1st XI cricket squad hosted and competed at the annual Woodard School Cricket Festival
As we approached the end of the school season, the 1st XI turned their attention to the annual Woodard Festival. It was a huge privilege to host this year’s tournament at Bloxham School and it should be noted that Brett Richmond was key in orchestrating this.
After welcoming the teams with the Sunday evening BBQ, attention quickly turned to Day One and the match ups between Hurstpierpoint College and Worksop, with the Bloxham side facing Ellesmere College on Main Field. The sun was shining and Glenn and his team had produced the perfect pitch conditions for what would be a great three day battle. Ellesmere batted very well and set Bloxham a competitive total but it was their spinners who produced the magic that unfortunately the Bloxham batsmen had no answer to. Ellemsere cruised their way to a victory and left Bloxham a huge mountain to climb if they were going to not claim the wooden spoon. Over at Park Close it was a tense and highly-charged game, which saw Hurstpierpoint claim a hard-fought victory.
Days Two and Three of the tournament saw the sun beat down with high intensity and the cricket certainly didn’t disappoint the spectators who braved the heat. Once again, Bloxham failed to make any real impact against Worksop- things didn’t start well when they lost their first wicket with the first ball of the game. Resistance from Toby Sorabjee and Sam Manning helped to create a reasonable total for Worksop to chase but the batting-friendly conditions meant they had their work cut out to prevent their opponents reaching the target. Once again, Bloxham showed an excellent fighting ability and some excellent bowling from Sam Manning gave Bloxham a glimmer (and almost gave him a hat-trick but for a difficult chance to the keeper). At the end of Day 2, Bloxham were still looking for their first win of the festival and they knew that their potential toughest opponent was still to come.
Day Three welcomed Bloxham with some difficult challenges, with the players were feeling the effects of two days of cricket previous. However, for some of the team it was their finale as a Bloxham School player and this gave them the extra boost they needed. Losing the toss on the hottest day of the year saw Bloxham fielding to start. Our bowlers started well and put Hurstpierpoint under some pressure but the opening batsmen toughed it out and started to build a healthy partnership until Toby Sorabjee produced a fantastic move to remove the number one batsman. This would come at a cost to Bloxham as Toby then had to go to A&E to receive three stitches in his hand. The game continued with Bloxham striving to make an impact but Hurstpierpoint were in full control, posting a formidable 318 runs off their 50 overs. The Bloxham opening pair of Fin Smart and Jack Beever started brightly and made Hurstpierpoint work hard to get the breakthrough they wanted. However, this eventually came and Bloxham tried in vain to keep going but were bowled out for 100.
Although the festival ended with three losses it was great to see the younger players getting the experience of 50 over cricket and playing against some very good players. It demonstrates to our players the prestigiousness of the tournament and the high standards that we are aiming for as a 1st XI squad.