As with so many sports, the cricket season does not start and end in the Summer term. Over the Easter break it was great to see so many
current and old Cranleighans play at such high levels. Ollie Pope (Loveday U6th), Angus Dahl (North L6th) and Lewis Bedford (Cubitt L6th) toured South Africa with the Surrey Academy. Angus captained the side against Provincial teams and Ollie has gone on to play 2nd XI cricket for Surrey scoring two fifties in consecutive innings. Old Cranleighans Michael Burgess (North 2012) and Bradley Scriven (Loveday 2012) captained Loughborough and Cardiff Universities respectively in the traditional pre-season fixtures against 1st class counties, and Bruno Broughton (East 2013) made his first class debut for Oxford as well.
The summer so far has been extremely productive. Due to fantastic weather we have been fortunate to have played all fixtures, winning 65% of
all games so far, and every team has a 50% win ratio or better. The highlight has been the school winning all of the matches against Portsmouth Grammar School. Callum Job (Loveday U5th) and Ollie Pope have scored centuries for the 2nd XI and 1st XI respectively.
The 1st XI have been on a winning run and so far remain unbeaten. Last Saturday was a great advert for the School’s
cricket. The 1st XI won against Tonbridge by 20 runs on Jubilee, with over 600 runs scored in 100 overs of cricket. The 1st XI also remain in the National School Twenty-20 competition. They have won both of their sectional groups and are Southeast regional winners. They have one more game to play against the London winners (competition quarter final) and if victorious they qualify for finals day on the 1st of July held at Arundel Castle.
If you are interested in keeping abreast of the 1st XI progress this year, please do visit https://www.cranleigh.org/sport/cricket/ for match scorecards.
Alex Forsdike
Head of Cricket
