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EASTBOURNE TOUR
By Simon Hicks (F 07)
Oundle Rovers returned to Sussex for the third time in July, for what is becoming a well-established mini tour.
First up were Old Eastbournians on College Field, where captain Tom Bishop (F 10) lost the toss and the Rovers took to the field.
In a 50-over fixture, the Rovers bowled well to dismiss Eastbourne for 269, with four wickets for Will Street (Sc 10) and two each for James Esler (C 19) and Toby Warner (St A 15).
In reply, as Esler and guest Fred Walker punished the opening bowlers to reach 120-0 inside 15 overs, the Rovers looked on course for victory. However, after they were dismissed for 41 and 53 respectively and George Johansen (F 11) followed for a stylish 39, the Rovers collapsed to 194 all out inside 34 overs.
The second game was against Lancing Rovers at the beautiful setting of Lancing College, with Oundle keen to avenge a crushing defeat by Lancing in 2018.
Street won the toss and elected to bat. Henry Rudkin (St A 07) (30) and Esler (41) batted fluently to set a platform for Simon Hicks (60) and Rory Jenkins (G 88) (20) to score quickly at the end and lift the total to 206 all out inside the allotted 40 overs.
FIVES
By Alex Smith (N 91)
The OO fives team had another cracking match against the School this year.
The relatively youthful Charles Lamb (S 03) joined stalwart and captain Alex Smith (N 91) and two true veterans of the game, John Farrow (C 73) and Bev Boag (St A 60). John’s name is up on the boards as a double winner of the Public Schools Singles Championship,
GOLF
2019 HALFORD HEWITT
By Steve Carr (S 84)
Hopes were high for a decent run in the Halford Hewitt as Oundle gathered on the Kent coast in mid-April, but the chosen 10 were soundly beaten 4-1 by King’s Canterbury, the 2015 finalists, in a one-sided affair.
Only Angus Lang (F 09) and Richard ‘Bomber’ Harris (Lx 91) were comfortable winners.
King’s went on to lose in the third round to Ampleforth, who made a third consecutive final, but lost yet again, this time to Malvern.
Oundle won one Plate match against Bishop’s Stortford before succumbing to Cranleigh at Prince’s.
Results
1st rd v King’s Canterbury L 1-4: Carr & Will Kendall (S 02) L 1up; Harris & Lang W 6&5; Andy Lightowler (LS 97) & Richard Pentecost (St A 05) L 6&5; Mark Eddy (St A 84) & Jack Ireson (L 15) L 4&3; Henry Fray (G 08) & Tom Goodley (G 99) L 6&5.
In reply, the Rovers were clinical with the ball, bowling the Lancing side out for 99, with Simon Fernandes (Ldr 18) the pick of the bowlers with 4-9. Special mention must also go to Greg Smith (St A 07), whose accurate leg breaks accounted for the two premier Lancing batsmen.
Finally, it was on to Uppingham Rovers at the picturesque Firle ground. Skipper Charlie Fernandes (Ldr 17) won the toss and chose to bat, and Esler, with 11 fours and seven sixes in his 48-ball 91, set a fast, early tempo.
The relentless accumulation of Rudkin continued with 61 in an opening stand of 147, before acceleration was provided by Jamie Letten (St A 11) (24), Charlie Fernandes (32) and Hicks (26 not out) to set Uppingham a challenging target of 271.
In reply, Uppingham lost two early wickets, but recovered well and when Tucker went to a swift ton, they required just 85 in 16 overs with four wickets down.
However, his dismissal by Smith heralded a collapse to 195 all out as seven Rovers bowlers shared the wickets, with only Street managing two.
A quick thanks must go to all the hosts of the games. Their hospitality and warmth were second to none. We will return next year hoping to go one better and win all three games.
which drew awed admiration from the youngsters playing for the School – as did the play on court of John and Bev, both proving that age is no barrier to playing fives!
The youngsters possessed the energy and power, and some great games were played, but the old guard luckily had the shrewdness and experience to keep the scores generally in their favour.
A narrow victory for the OO Club was celebrated in The Ship, where many of the rallies grew even better in the retelling!
2019 GRAFTON MORRISH QUALIFYING
A beautiful day at Denham in May greeted an experienced OOGS team trying to qualify for the Grafton Morrish Finals, but it was not to be on this occasion.
Despite a total of 80 points, we came joint seventh and were knocked down to eighth on countback, meaning that we did not qualify for the finals and are instead the first alternates if another team pulls out.
For this tough event of scratch stableford foursomes, Andy Lightowler (LS 97) and Tom Goodley (G 99) played really well until the final hole to close with 28 points, while Richard ‘Bomber’ Harris (Lx 91) and Peter Edwards (Sc 73) also scored well, apart from an unfortunate error on the 17th, to finish with 29. In contrast, the father and son partnership of Peter Pentecost (St A 73) and Richard Pentecost (St A 05) had a tough day on the course, notching 23 points.
Every other year that we have competed at Denham this would have easily been enough to be one of the seven qualifiers out of the 15 teams. However, scoring was much better than in previous years, including a
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