The 1st XI played Rugby on Saturday 8th. Oundle, whilst bowling two spinners, took quick wickets and fielded superbly, managing to bowl an impressive Rugby batting line-up for 185, with Ben Graves (F) taking 5 wickets and James Fischer (F) taking 4. In reply, Oundle got off to a solid start, but lost a few quick wickets to put the pressure on. But the match-winning partnership between Fischer and Charlie Fletcher (Sc) brought Oundle close to victory. Although, Fletcher got out, Fischer continued his fine performance and finished unbeaten on 71 to bring the win home.
On Sunday, Oundle 1st XI defeated Kimbolton in a convincing T20 performance, to set up a match against Wellingborough to see who would progress to the next round in the nationals. Unfortunately, Oundle was let down with the bat after an exceptional fielding performance, and ended 30 runs short of the target. However, this slight disappointment did not dent their confidence, after what was an outstanding weekend for the 1st XI.
The 2nd XI also met Rugby on Saturday. The opposition batted first and put a total of 109. They were restricted by some tight bowling from Freddie Anstey (L), Dylan Martens (L), Doug Russell (Ldr) and Tom Lambton (B). The Oundle fielding was also very tight, with not a dropped catch, and some impressive catches from Anstey and Martens. The Oundle openers came out confident, but perhaps too confident, and the top order fell quickly before they had made 70. Ed Ashton-Johnson (B) showed some character, and made 48* to win the match with 1 wicket spare.
The swim team played away at Bishop’s Stortford College. Despite a long journey there, the combined effort of the team was very impressive with Oundle winning all categories apart from the U19 boys. This meant that both the boys and girls enjoyed a comfortable overall victory across all age groups. Everyone swam very impressively, however there were some standout performances from some of the more junior members of the team, including Miles Seymour (StA), Finn Clarkson (Sc) and Linus Lam (S).
The Oundle 1st IX rounders team put in a stellar performance against Wellingborough to secure a narrow victory of just half a rounder. The team played superbly together and kept their cool in a nail-biting match fought tightly to the end. Hatty Coney (Sn) and Coco Brown (W) made some brilliant catches and Bella Buckworth (D) put in a particularly impressive performance both fielding and batting.
The tennis 1st team played against a Rugby side that had previously won the Nationals and were at the top of their game. Oundle fought very hard and played some really encouraging tennis, showing positive signs for the fixture against Bedford next week. Despite not winning a set, the team was not overly disappointed, as most of the games were tightly contested.
The 2nd team managed to beat a strong Rugby team in a close encounter that finished 5-4. The match boiled down to the 2nd pair of Will Gaynor (G) and Gordon Lin (C) needing to win their match for the school to win overall. They needed a tie-break after drawing their first two sets 2-6, 6-4. The tie break ended 7-5 to Oundle, securing the fixture.
The U15A tennis team played their first match of the season against Uppingham. Despite the windy weather all three pairs played extremely well, winning the majority of the matches and all the games were very tight. The overall end result was 5-4 to Oundle, which is encouraging considering last year’s loss, 3-6.
The U14B girls tennis team played a good fixture against Rugby. After some close matches and good wins, they managed to beat Rugby 8-1.
The 1st VI sailing team won their first regatta of the season, followed closely by the 2nd VI, captained by Hugh Tomkins (F) and Harry Curtis (G) respectively. Despite some very poor wind conditions, the first outing for two brand new teams yielded 2-1 and 2-0 wins against Uppingham.
Dylan Martens (L)