Sports round-up – 16th May 2015

Sports round-up – 16th May 2015

On another beautiful and sunny Saturday there were once again a large number of sports fixtures across both parts of the School.

In the morning the Prep School hosted two games of cricket against Kingswood. Both matches were extremely close and there was some excellent batting on show. In the A team Barnaby Craven-Smith and Harry Butterworth made some strong hits. Joe McQuilton’s bowling continues to improve as he took two wickets. In the B team there was a mixture of pupils from Years 2 to 4, both boys and girls. Everybody got an opportunity to bat and bowl and there are some good prospects for the future amongst the players.

Over at the Senior School the Year 7 and 8 boys competed in an eight-a-side house tournament. Rules included a “powerplay” (double runs) over which made things extremely exciting. Ken eventually ran out winners with excellent batting performances from David Aspray and Ed Vickery. However, the shot of the day came from Jack Pickford who launched a six out of the ground.

The U12 and U13 girls’ tennis team headed off to St Mary’s, Shaftesbury in the morning for their matches. The U12s called up Lottie Craven-Smith due to a late pull out. They played some fantastic tennis and a 5-4 victory was achieved. Well done to Lottie and sister Maisie for winning all three of their games. The U13s battled away but eventually went down 2-7.

In the afternoon a cricket team made up of boys from Years 7 to 10 faced Clayesmore School U15B. Warminster batted first and scored 157-4 with Sean Bailey scoring 34 and David Aspray scoring 32. Warminster struck early in Clayesmore’s reply through Jack Vincent with his first two balls of the game. Sean Montgomery then took 4-19 from his five overs. Clayesmore ended up with 73-9, a long way short of their target.

The U14 cricket team travelled to Sherborne International School. Warminster batted first and scored 96-5 in their 20 overs with Felix Sheves batting through the allocated overs. During the reply Matt Caine and Vagif Gadimov bowled excellently, taking regular wickets. Sherborne eventually ended up with 82-8, losing by 14 runs.

In tennis the boys’ teams played against Downside School. The seniors travelled away and had to promote two U15s to the 1st team. These two, Oliver Morgan and Mark Antrobus, won the two points that Warminster achieved in a 2-7 loss.

In the matches at Warminster the U14 team, including two U13 players, won 4-0. Congratulations to the team which was made up of Mathias Folkesson, Pierre Emorine, Ben Pearson and Ben James. The U15 match was much closer. Tomas Gaztelu-Diaz and Woody Mok impressed throughout and won their three matches. Juan de Brugada and Moritz Feller also performed well, winning one match and losing one on a tie break. Warminster eventually went down 4-5.

The older girls’ teams faced a strong outfit from Monkton Combe School. Whilst the seniors struggled with a number of players missing, the U14s and U15s put in some great performances. Despite losses for both, most games went to deuce and on another day Warminster could have easily come out the victors. Mrs Wood commented that the results did not represent the quality of the tennis played by Warminster.

On Friday, Warminster’s U12 and U13 boys and girls travelled to Wells Cathedral School for their first swimming gala of the season. Both the boys and girls swimmers started well by securing first and second places in the early events. Highlights included the girls’ 50m backstroke in which Warminster’s captain Alice Robinson won the race by a clear length; and the girls’ 25m backstroke and 25m freestyle in which Rose Elsden, Annabelle Jackett, Lauren Melia and Charlotte Robinson dominated. The boys also gained a number of successes including Ben Cook smashing the 50m backstroke and Jack Pickford who won the 25m backstroke. The boys' relay “A” team also won both of their races with notable performances by the boys’ captain Jasper Spandler. Dylan Bolter also deserves a special mention for his enthusiastic and positive attitude. Strong performances across all strokes meant that the squad came out as winners. This is the first time we have beaten Wells in some years. The squad should be very proud of their efforts.

Earlier in the week the Prep School hosted St Francis at cricket and rounders. The girls played with great spirit and really pulled together as a team in the rounders. There was some excellent batting from Lucy Rodgerson and also good performances from Isabel Woods and Arabella Steptoe in a 20½ – 10 victory. The boys’ U8 cricket team unfortunately went down by 7 runs in their match.

Finally, congratulations to Edward Vickery and Bryce Furlong who represented Wiltshire U12s in their 6-wicket victory over Dorset on Sunday.

Christopher Knight
Director of Sport