Page 78 - The Royal Lancers Chapka 2019

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The Royal Lancers enjoyed a ram-packed but brief cricket season this year with much to celebrate. Training commit- ments and summer leave resulted in a season restricted to only five weeks, however, I am pleased to report the only side to have lost was the Warrant Officers’ and Sergeants’ Mess in the annual inter-mess fixture.
After electing to bat first, the Officers lost early wickets to some excellent bowling by WO2 Lucas and others and failed to rally despite the cameo performances of Maj Horsfall and Capt Mar- riott. Chasing down a meagre 101 the game was up for grabs. With three big wickets down in as many overs, the Officers had the seniors in all sorts of bother, rendering them all out for 73. A special ‘thanks-for-coming’ prize was awarded to SSgt Quinn for a torrent of verbal diatribe throughout the game which unfortu- nately failed to disguise his cricketing deficiencies, or have any effect whatsoever on the Officers batting.
After a resounding win against the RAPTC, a jaw-dropping vic- tory against the Light Dragoons at Newton-le-Willows was per-
The Royal Lancers vs The Light Dragoons, 04 July 2019 at Newton-le-Willows Cricket Club
Officers’ Mess vs Warrant Officers’ and Sergeants’ Mess Cricket, 24 July 2019 at Great Crakehall Cricket Club
haps the icing on the cake for the season. Boasting good looks, enviable stash, state of the art indoor nets and two Army players, our local brethren were surely set for an easy win. After putting the opposition into bat, a tight start with the ball by Tpr Clarke and SSgt Burnell was almost squandered by the “off spin” (more like no spin and rubbish) of Capt Luke and the Dragoons piled on the runs. Chasing over 150 was a tall ask for some but the Lancers made a strong start with Tpr Ridgeway and Cpl Kemp. Wickets tumbled with some loose shots and kamikaze running from Capt Jibb and the game was in the balance. After a blister- ing 85 off 39 balls including a straight six to win the match, Lt Titcomb brought home victory for the Lancers.
As a collective, the Regiment holds some excellent talent. 2020 will hopefully see a largely uninterrupted season where we will look to build upon the unbeaten successes of 2019 as well as pro- mote our players for representational selection. Future tours, such as Barbados in 2021, should enable us to thrive as the best side in the Royal Armoured Corps.
DET
Cricket
The Royal Lancers’ Orienteering team has had yet another very successful year. From the start of 2019 to the summer, the team competed in the remainder of the Military League North races and very convincingly became both the Major Unit Team Winners 2018/19 and the Leagues “Harris Race” winners. In addition, there were great individual results from Maj Gum-
RL Winning Sports Team 2019
bley and Lt Colquhoun who achieved first place in their respec- tive age categories, with WO2 Lucas and Cpl Burrow taking second in theirs.
Sadly, we had to say goodbye to two prominent members of the team – Sgt Williamson and Cpl Williams-Tanton who posted out of the Regiment, however, I’m sure they’ll soon be back in the mix. Despite these losses, The Royal Lancers’ team has doubled in size, with the team regularly fielding 24 competitors; a re- markable achievement given the Regiment’s ever-busy forecast of events.
This growth is partly due to the inclusion of orienteering in the annual Babington Shield Inter-Squadron competition. Here, a younger member of the regular orienteering team is empowered to select a team from across their Squadron, which introduces the sport to many who might otherwise never have become involved. The 2019 winners of the inter-squadron event were B Squadron, led by Cpl Alexander.
The 2019/20 season kicked off in September and, in the six rac- es that took place prior to Christmas, The Royal Lancers team
REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL LANCERS (QUEEN ELIZABETHS’ OWN)
Orienteering