Royal Household 28 September 2025

Manager Nick Bishop

Lost by 16 Runs (DLS)

Royal Household 105 for 3 (21.4 overs, Nick Bishop 8-1-28-2)

SOA 128 for 8 (Rhys Lewis 51)

There was sure no more a fitting late-summer close to a Presidential term for Colin Allen than a trip to Frogmore to play against Royal Household. Having lost the game to rain in 2024, the morning drizzle looked likely to send this fixture the same way, but positivity from our hosts throughout the day meant that some cricket was played and a competitive outcome was played out.

Late changes to the starting XI (Sam Herbert concussion and Matt Warner suspected appendicitis saw Russell Hayes and Rhys Lewis added to the squad, the latter nearly not making it past the security gate at Windsor Castle.

The home side won the toss and elected to bat, while SOA took the field under the stewardship of Ed Phillips and the skipper turned to 16-year-old Sam Hicks and the slightly older Nick Bishop to share the new ball, rain threatening to play its part at any minute. 

Bishop (or perhaps the pitch) struck with his second ball, dismissing Aiden Hawksworth for a duck. At the other end, Tom Hogan (39) punished anything too full or wayward and was well supported by Lewis's Wargrave teammate Dan Ormond (46 not out), with the pair adding 59 for the second wicket before the former fell to Bishop, Alex Ross taking a good catch at extra cover.

The rain had arrived by now and the ball was getting wetter with each over. Tim Mahoney and the President took over the bowling duties and did well to maintain line and length in tough conditions. Both umpires sought to keep the players on the field for as long as possible, but, with the fall of Chris Mountford-Hills to what was to be the President's last ball in office, common sense prevailed and the covers were wheeled on with Household 105-3 off 21.4 overs.

Now at any point in the following hour-and-a-half, our hosts could have suggested the game be cancelled, but their appetite for giving us a chance to have a bat was appreciated by our band of players, officials and supporters. So an early tea was taken with the agreement that, regardless of the conditions, we would be given 20 overs to chase down 145 (based on a generous DLS offer made on our behalf by Lewis without consultation with his skipper and/or teammates).

Having opened the bowling with a combined age of 75, it seemed only right that captain Phillips should continue in this manner with the batting and so Mssrs Lewis and Hayes took to the crease to set about making Lewis's target attainable. One might be forgiven for thinking that the slightly older Hayes (without cricket all summer) might struggle to match the scoring of Berkshire and Wargrave's opening bat. But this was not the case with the former's 129 strike-rate slightly eclipsing his partner's 128. The fact that Lewis also found it hard to keep up between the wickets showcased the evergreen talent that Russ brought to the team.

The SOA approach was much in keeping with the generosity of the Household, who batted through rain during the early part of their innings, and while runs were hit in good time, wickets always fell, keeping both sides in the battle. While Lewis was at the crease, victory was definitely within our grasp. However, he finally perished to Castro for a fine half-century (two sixes and five fours) and despite an even-time 18 from Jon Warner, we fell short on 128-8 from our 120-ball allocation. Castro and Morgan took two wickets apiece to go with the three taken by Corrigan.

Thanks to Sue Hayes (scorer) and Anton Saverimuttu (umpire) for their services and to the many supporters, who came along for the day - most notable George and Georgina Lamb, who appeared through the misty rain in time to take tea, whilst en route to Heathrow for their onward flight to Toulouse next morning. Here's to another grand day out (and perhaps a victory) next time out and thanks to David Easter and all RHCC for their warm hospitality and positive approach to giving us a game.