Broughton leads School to victory in Colin White Trophy

Old Cranleighans 113 for 9  lost to Cranleigh School 154 for 4 (Broughton 73*) by 41 runs (Twenty20)
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Luke Chitty bangs one in shorter than short ...

On a stunningly faultless day, an OC XI and the School 1st XI played out the annual Speech Day match for the newly commissioned Colin White Trophy in front of a large and expectant crowd.

With two former 1st XI captains in the side, the OCs were not entirely lacking in quality; however the fact that Jonny Gates decided to desert the team and spend the first quarter of the match in the dining hall for a reunion lunch rather negated that fact.

Will Rollings

It was sensibly agreed that the school would bat first in the interests of match duration, and Jack Scriven decided that he would try and embarrass the OCs by setting a record total. With Charlie Clarence-Smith opening the bowling ten minutes after arriving, it was safe to assume he wasn’t too pleased with the prospect. Fortunately a wide half-volley from James Harrison was slapped high into the June skies, and Will Jordan took a good catch right out of the sun.

The rest of the innings rather went as expected – the school showing that they had been well coached by happily knocking the ball into gaps and feasting upon the almost inevitable bad delivery per over. However some wily bowling from the OCs ensured a few more wickets fell through the course of the innings. It should be noted that Bruno Broughton batted superbly, finishing with an excellent unbeaten half-century from the top of the order.

Credit must however go to Andrew Goudie who bowled very tidily in the middle overs, and indeed to the aforementioned Gates who held on to a ‘sharp chance’ at backward point off Goudie’s bowling. Yes, you did read that correctly, Gatesy was at backward point AND held a catch. But sharp may not be the entirely correct word to have used. Rather surprisingly there seemed to be neither dropped catches nor misfields in the outfield, quite possibly an OC record.

Not all catches were held by the School

With a target of 155 to reach after a well-earned lunch break, Gates and Croker had the unenviable task of seeing off Will Rollings, who was intent on testing the middle of the pitch in his opening spell – a tactic which was not appreciated by the opening batsman but amused everyone else on Jubilee. Unfortunately Gates perished showing aggression to a rapid Rollings bouncer, and Croker followed him soon after with a saunter past the ball against the left arm spin of Broughton.

Luckily the third-wicket pair of captain Rob Cowdrey and Jordan showed more appetite for the fight, providing a few lusty blows and delicate flicks to move the scoreboard along and keep us in the game. Once they both departed the crease, only James Evans was able to provide much significant resistance to the school bowling attack, and we unfortunately succumbed to a 41-run defeat.

Congratulations must go to the school for deservedly winning the Colin White Trophy, another achievement in a yet again successful season for them. Hopefully the 50-over contest against the OCs will provide a different result…