C R I C K E T

Akshay Garipathy captained a brilliant cricket team this year. Connor Robertson, Geddy Stringer, Mark Kingston, Dominic Bishop, Luke Turner, Ben Flint, Etizazz Khan, Milo Hanifan, Ewan Stevenson. Pip France, Callum McPhail and Luke Sheppard got off to a flying start with a convincing win over West Thornton, who were bowled out for 15, and the game was won in oly 5 overs.

The second games was just as convincing, with another useful win against Winterbourne.  Royal Russell finished the overs on 92, thanks to some fantastic batting from Ben Flint with 39 runs, in a very exciting finish, Luke Turner managed to get the last wicket with the final ball of the innings.

Mark Kingston starred in the third game when he had two of Park Hill’s batsmen leaving the pitch for a duck and took another wicket under his belt before Park Hill finished 51 for 7.  Dominic Bishop scored almost half our total runs (not out on 25), and Geddy Stringer hit a great boundary to win the game with 6 overs still to spare.

In the final game of the league against Gresham, Geddy showed off some magical spin bowling, taking 3 wickets in just 2 overs, and Gresham were bowled out for 44, Connor Robertson, in his first performance with the bat, scored our highest total with 13  not out, which helped Royal Russell to victory in only 15 overs .  This win meant we won our league and that put us through to the Champions, League semi-final.

We always knew the semi-final against Woodcote would be tough, but Royal Russell played a fantastic game.  Ben, Luke Turner, Akshay, Pip and Connor all got a piece of the wicket action and Woodcote finished on an impressive but achievable 84.  The batting started off well with Pip France managing a very respectable 21.  Mark Kingston and Geddy Stringer were unlucky victims of low dismissals.  The boys played extremely well but unfortunately just ran out of time in the end and finished on a creditable 82.

The boys pulled off one of our greatest seasons ever.  They all worked very hard, played hard and had fun.  A huge thank you to Mr Swann, Mr Mark Kenlock and Mr Venier AND…. Thank you, boys, for such a great time.  Well done!