Grammar School Pass The Test

Those who went to the effort to organise the T20 between the Llama U19’s and the RGS 1st team for the closing day of Cricket week, were rewarded as both teams combined to produce a cracking game of Cricket.

Someone had successfully had a rain dance (the guilty party has yet to own up) which served to delay the start by 20 minutes as the RGS won the toss and put the Rapids into bat where 1st teamers Seth McDowall and Jacob McLoughlin rapidly (!) smashed their way to 72 runs from the 1st 6 overs before Seth (29 from 19 balls with 5 fours) was enticed out of his ground by Tommy Bates (4-0-21-1) and was stumped by Ollie Yalden and the Llamas were 74-1.

Tom James joined Jacob McLoughlin and Jacob had a let off when he was out of his ground as keeper Ollie Yalden whipped off the bails; however Ollie sportingly didn’t claim the stumping as he didn’t have the ball when he broke the stumps. Jacob powered his way to 50 (from 32 balls with 42 in boundaries) and retired not out in the 10th over with 52 out of the team score of 95.

The run rate settled down to a steady rate as Will Brewis and Tom James took the Llamas onto 126 after 14 overs when RGS Captain (& Llama) Jack Sadler introduced Bertie Morgan into the bowling attack and Bertie’s extra pace and bounce got him 2 wickets in his 1st over (15th) & 2 more wickets in his next over (17th) as firstly Will Brewis skied one for keeper Ollie Yalden to catch (126-2) then Tom James was caught by Ben Ware (127-3). Tom Hart was bowled attempting a scoop shot (133-4) and lastly Jonny Long (4) was deceived by a slower ball and after 1.3 overs Bertie had 4 wickets for 3 runs (he finished on 3-0-21-4).

No more wickets fell; although perhaps they should have as a simple catch was put down (name withheld) at mid off that would have seen the dismissal of Alvin Richard Sathya for a duck, as Alvin went on to plunder 27no from 19 balls with 20 in boundaries as the Llamas took 38 runs from the last 3 overs and ended their 20 overs on 178-5 with Max Thomas (8) the other not out batsman.

A difficult total for the RGS to reach looked even harder as Ben Ware (5) mistimed a shot to hit the ball off the back of his bat to be caught and bowled by Alvin (1-27) as the 1st wicket went down at 23-1 in the 5th over. Jamie Quantick joined fellow Llama Harrison Lewis and after 10 overs the pair had taken RGS to 73-2 (Llamas were 96-1 after 10 overs). Max Thomas then bowled Jamie (11) for 75-2 and in the same over (11th) Max then had Ollie Yalden caught behind by Tom James for 75-3.

With over 100 runs still needed and just 9 overs left not too many players on either side would have fancied the chances of the School reaching their target but Harrison Lewis, now joined at the crease by fellow Llama Jack Sadler, obviously saw things differently as 32 runs came from the next 2 overs which also included the wicket of Jack (13 from 6 balls) who dragged a ball onto his stumps to become Max Thomas’s 3rd wicket (3-0-23-3) and the RGS were 107-4 at the end of the 13th over.

Harrison Lewis retired on reaching his 50 (from 39 balls with 30 in boundaries) with the RGS on 118 in the 15th over. It wasn’t until the 16th over (on 139) that the RGS overtook the Rapids who were 133 after 16 overs and what at one stage looked an unlikely run chase was beginning to look achievable as (Llama) Tommy Bates with Max Nichol got ever closer to the target. 12 runs from the 18th over (from Alvin) and 13 runs from the 19th over (from Will Brewis) left 9 required from the last over (from Alvin).

Tommy Bates (36 no from 25 balls) & Max Nichol (35no from 17 balls) safely saw the school reach their target with 2 balls to spare to complete a victory and claim the bragging rights between the teams who treated the game with the respect it deserved on a day where the Priory Cricket week was remembering ex RGS & Llama coach Joey Benjamin.

For the Llamas there were examples of untidy fielding, including overthrows that allowed an all run 4, a chance missed when the ball fell between 2 players who left it to each other, other dropped catches and other examples of misfields-never easy on our rock hard and uneven outfield. The wide count of 23 runs is also something that needs addressing where bowlers are straining for maximum pace at the expense of accuracy BUT all that shouldn’t be allowed to overshadow or take the gloss off what was a very close and very entertaining match.