WE were delighted to be able to welcome XL Forty Cricket Club into school on May 27th!
Our 1st XI boys played the Forty Cricket Club team on Campus Field and despite losing by 13 runs, they thoroughly enjoyed the game and meeting representatives from the club.
Alex Meddle, Head of Cricket at King’s Ely, said: “As is custom, the Forty Cricket Club batted first and were restricted early on with the opening bowlers using the new ball to good effect. Connor Marshall using his height to move the ball away from the ex-county cricketer and Charlie Boyle bowling good areas. The bowling continued to test the batsman on a challenging pitch with some good spells from Zak Bailey, Ben Marshall and Calum Macdonald. However, it was Barney Whittome who challenged the batsman the most with some excellent left arm bowling. The Forty Club started to gain some ascendency in the innings and their opening reached 50 in the 23 over. However a smart catch from Ben Marshall on the boundary stunted the scoring and with other tight overs and a few more wickets including a good run out, left the Forty Club with 169-4 off 39 overs before declaring at tea.
“The replay started well with some excellent batting from Connor Marshall but the experience of the Forty Club showed with a number of wickets falling at regular intervals. A cameo from Zak Bailey of 33 runs from 17 balls including a number into the golf course helped push the score along. However, the team fell only 13 runs short in the end with an excellent 44 not out from Ben Marshall, who carried his bat throughout the game and was ably supported by captain Tom Parry.
“A disappointing result but a fantastic spectacle that could have gone either way. If the team show a bit more application with their batting alongside the energy they demonstrated in the field it will be a successful set of fixtures after half term.”
The Forty Cricket Club is reputed to be the largest wandering cricket club in the world. As a wandering or nomadic club it does not own its own ground, and so always “plays away”.
The historic aim of the club since its foundation in 1936 has been ‘to take cricket to the schools’ by offering State and Public Schools, and Youth XIs, fixtures against experienced cricketers who will encourage young cricketers to play the game to the highest standards of performance and behaviour – and in the best spirit of the game.