The Wykehamist The Wykehamist Cloister Time 2017 | Page 8

Dodd and Will Richards (G), who went at less
than 2 runs an over for their set of 10. It was a
strong 76 run win, much needed after a nervy
start to the season. Our next win came against
the XL club, where a young side made a
statement for the future. An opening century
stand between Henry Axtell (C), and Spencer
Lee (K), the former making 69, was followed
by a middle-order collapse, only for Byers and
Henry Adams (Coll) to see us home with 62
and 44 not out respectively. The next week
was sadly put to an end by rain. Shaun
Rooney, our New Zealand exchange for the
year, was smashing the Eton attack with a
rapid unbeaten 59, only for the heavens to
open. The following Saturday was against
perhaps the strongest team on the circuit:
Charterhouse. However, in overcast
conditions, Adams ripped through their batting
line up with figures of 10-1-27-5. This was
backed up by Dodd and Shirvani, who
frustrated the batsmen with no “get-out-of-
jail” deliveries. However, the batting line-up
could not back the bowling performance, and
we limped to a meagre total in response.
Perhaps this game more than any summarised
our side this year: our bowling was as good as
any we would face, but we were perhaps
missing 1 or 2 batsmen. A win against the
Essex Boys Club was a strong end to the first
half of term. Younger scored a fine 57, while
Pasapas Uahwatanasakul (E), despite only
starting to play cricket in his first year at the
school, smashed an unbeaten 44. This
was then followed up by some fine spin
bowling from Dodd, and James Flatt (I), who
shared 7 wickets between them.
We started after Leave-out with a timed game
against the Free Foresters. Rooney made a
rapid 68, with Younger then backing this up
with a run-a-ball 86. Agonisingly, the Free
Foresters finished 100 runs short, but with the
loss of only 9 wickers. Nevertheless, this
winning draw propelled our season. Against
the Rifles, excellent bowling from Shirvani,
Rooney and Flatt restricted them to 141, with
Rooney then making 71 in a fine all-round
performance. Joe Scull (Coll), then bowled the
side to a comfortable win over the Butterflies,
while Freddie Egleston (D) made 58 in a
losing cause against a strong MCC side.
Perhaps the individual performance of the
season was Shirvani’s bowling against Radley.
Despite a bruised back, and a strong batting
line-up, he recorded 6 wickets, including 5
bowled, in a phenomenal spell of swing
bowling. The strongest team performance
came against Harrow. A