St Edward's School 24 June 2025

Manager Matt Warner

Match Drawn

St Edwards 224 all out (Hamza Manzoor 4 for 50, Sam Hicks 2 for 54)

SOA 227 for 6 (Matt Warner 71*, Will Watts 53, Sam Down 34* )

In the depths of a very dry 2025 summer, a youthful SOA side were hosted by one of the premier cricketing schools in not only Oxfordshire but the whole country. On a slightly cooler day than we had been accustomed to in recent times, we were welcomed with coffee and bacon rolls on arrival, and the skipper strode to the middle with the umpires and opposing captain and in very familiar fashion for the season, lost the toss. The Teddie’s captain was all too happy to bat, so SOA were in the field with only two players over the age 30, which must be some kind of record.

Opening the bowling was Oxon U16 Sam Hicks of Witney Mills and Chearsley’s Aussie overseas Ben McCure. Scoring was steady going with both opening batters getting starts, but Ben made the breakthrough in the 10th over getting an edge to keeper Trevon Burgess. 1st change bowlers, late replacement Hamza Manzoor, and skipper Matt Warner came on and the game continued in familiar fashion with some steady scoring, until Hamza took two in two balls removing the other opener bowled and no.4 caught in the gully by Will Watts. Spin was introduced before lunch in the form of Sam Down but it was Hamza who did the damage with two more wickets caught by Watts at Gully, finishing with figures 4-50 from 12 overs. 

Post an excellent lunch Down picked up the wicket of their top scorer leaving St Edwards 133-6. An attempt at the short-pitched tactic from Matt McGrady and some positive lower middle order batting helped St Edwards recover although Matt did manage a scalp caught deep square leg. Jonny Warner affected a direct hit run out to remove Mutekwa who had scored 36 from 31 balls and was looking dangerous. Sam Hicks re-entered the attack to remove the final two wickets and Teddies finished 224 all out from 47.4 overs.

Will Watts and Jonny Warner opened the batting and started well with a partnership of 32 before Jonny was spectacularly caught at slip. Will Owens at no.3 supported Watts for a while but fell to a caught and bowled. Trevon Burgess joined Watts and was very positive scoring 22 from 14 balls before a mix up coming back for a two left him stranded. Joe Botha, another from SOA’s youth policy was in at number five and at this point of the game, rather farcically, there was a malfunction from the scoreboard and/or scorer. Watts was batting very well making it to his half century, although we believe he was somewhere in the 60’s. Along with Botha the pair were making good progress before Watts and then McGrady fell in quick succession leaving SOA approximately 120-5. 

At tea with the skipper Warner at the crease, it was agreed with the umpire and opposition captain that the chase would be 90 to win from the last 20 overs. Botha batted nicely before falling for 25ish which brought Sam Down to the crease. Some wayward bowling and good hitting from Down and Warner allowed SOA to cruise comfortably to a win with 7 overs remaining when at one point the chase was looking on the line. Overall, a very enjoyable day with excellent hosts and a good win for SOA against what are one of our strongest opponents.