Tristem and Bedford see School home

OCCC 201 (Westcott 53, Houston 28, Harris 3-15, Dickson 3-41) lost to Cranleigh School 264 for 6 (Tristem 104, Bedford 92, Chetwode 3-30) by 63 runs
Full Scorecard

Ed Tristem's 104* came off 82 deliveries

The final match of the season for the School 1st XI gave them their 12th win from 17 games, ending a highly successful campaign for a side which for much of the time fielded six players still in the Upper Vth. Two of them – Lewis Bedford and Ed Tristem – proved crucial in a comfortable victory over the OCs - their second in four days, both by the same margin - adding 162 for the fifth wicket in 25 overs after Michael Chetwode,a man significantly older than both their fathers, showed there is little better than experience with here early wickets.

Early rain, in distinct contrast to the record temperatures of the previous day, delayed the start and reduced the match to a 40-over contest.  The School won the toss and batted, a welcome decision given most them had spent much of the day before in the field as Charterhouse grimly clung on to draw a two-day match.

The School started in a hurry, and although runs came quickly they lost wickets. Angus Dahl drove Chetwode to mid-off where Gerald Waterfall, a man who was drinking in Dublin less than eight hours earlier not only managed to see the ball as it looped towards him but also catch it. Suresh Kartik, looking a yard faster than when he left last year, accounted for Kennedy, before Chetwode, to the bemusement of the younger schoolboys who could see little danger in the old dog, removed Dickson and Harris to leave the School 74 for 4 in the 12th over.

Lewis Bedford was unlucky to miss out on a hundred

The game then changed in six deliveries. Bedford arrived at the crease just as Sam Langmead gave Brad Scriven his only over. It must have seemed a good idea at the time. By the end of it Bedford had smacked five fours and he was off. The bowling thereafter was distinctly average, and the catching, especially from the common-room duo of Rob Verdon and Ed Griffiths, left much to be desired. 

Bedford raced to his fifty before Tristem, whose opportunities with the bat have been very limited by Stuart Welch’s insistence on batting him right down the order, started catching him up. The pair played with real freedom and unleashed some cavalier shots, the pick of which coming when Bedford hoisted Trower into the oak. Bedford seemed set for his hundred when he called for a single to Waterfall – not a bad call in itself – but was sent back and left stranded. Trower then cut loose, taking 25 off the last four overs to reach his hundred off the penultimate delivery.

Rob Verdon struggles with a high one

Set 265 in 40 overs, Peter Westcott drove and pulled his way to 53 off 36 balls to keep the OCs up with a stiff asking rate for the first ten overs. But Turner, bowling well from the top end, removed him as well as Kent and Trower, while Ollie Trower snatched the vital scalp of Scriven, caught behind by Bedford as he tried to run the ball to third man. That was pretty much that.

Andy Houston, who had earlier bowled well at the death, ensured we passed 200 with a dogged 28 but the target was always well out of reach. For the OCs the cricket week looms. For the 1st XI, 2016 bodes well with the bulk of them back again under Ollie Pope, who missed this game as he was on duty for Surrey 2nd XI. The short-term future for the School is excellent, the long-term one for the OCs hopefully just as good.