Shiplake College 18 May 2022

Manager Alex Wildman

Lost by 4 Wickets

SOA 126-8 dec; (JJ Smith 42*)

Shiplake College 130 for 6 (Saqib Muhammad 3-43)

Shiplake College welcomed an SOA side for an afternoon match that was without regular manager Tom Scrase for the first time in some years. To compound this loss of spiritual leadership, a late injury had reduced SOA to 10 players whilst an as yet unanswered SOS message for an 11th player was circulating on social media.

Standing in for Tom, Alex won the toss and elected to bat in the bright sunshine, on what was an tricky looking track. Two hours later at late-lunch, SOA had scraped to 68-5. Debutant Jag Chahal along with Dan Edwards opened solidly and took some of the sting from the new ball but good lines and some variable bounce made scoring difficult. As they and each new batsman tried to accelerate, wickets fell, only JJ Smith, whose 42 not out was worth far more on this pitch, looked comfortable for any length of time and it was thanks to his innings and a breezy 19 from 11 balls at the death from Sajjad Khan that SOA was able to declare at a more respectable but below par 127 for 8. Pupil Tristan Roussouw, whose introduction to the school before joining Shiplake College was at this match last year, took an excellent and miserly 5-44 from 16 overs.

As the Shiplake innings started our specialist fielder Bob Belcher, answering the call to arms, arrived. Bob made the trip to Shiplake in time to field for all but one over and he made mid-on his own for the afternoon, our thanks go him for making the trip. Sajjad and Zac Wilton opened the bowling with good lines and lengths and both were rewarded with a wicket, Zac having the dangerous looking skipper Angell caught behind as he was looking to accelerate. Saquib's off breaks caused the batters real difficulties and he took 3 wickets, 2 of these when scores were level. An excellent bowling and fielding performance took the match into the penultimate over when Shiplake sealed victory, one that had seemed inevitable at the start of their innings, but less so as the match developed.

Our thanks to Shiplake's players and staff for their hospitality, which managed to squeeze both lunch and tea into an afternoon fixture, and we look forward to returning next year.