The highlight of the last few months in OC sport was the success of the OC golfers at the Halford Hewitt in April (see separate article). At Thames Ditton we suffered relegations for both the OCHC men’s 1st XI and the OCRFC 1st XV, although there was greater success further down OCHC with several promotions and the men’s Over 40s reaching the semi-finals of the national cup. The newly formed OCFC continued to play friendlies ahead of their entry into the Arthurian League next season.
In rugby, OCs continued to feature prominently in the Harlequins side with Will Collier (East 2009) and Oscar Beard (North 2020) first-team regulars. In the latter stages of the season Will Trenholm (North 2020) forced his way into the side and last week was rewarded with a new contract. Quins director of rugby Billy Millard said Trenholm was “an exciting talent” who had “worked hard for his opportunity this season and shown great improvement throughout his game”. Unfortunately, Dino Lamb-Cona (East 2016) who was a regular in the Italy side at last autumn’s World Cup, has been sidelined through injury.
Ollie Pope (Loveday 2016) grabbed headlines with his Man of the Match performance in the 1st Test v India at Hyderabad when his 196 was hailed by BBC cricket correspondent Jonathan Agnew as “one of the great Test innings, certainly one of the best in India”. The English season has started in wet and cold conditions with Pope and Tom Lawes (Cubitt 2021) featuring for Surrey and Michael Burgess (North 2012) for Warwickshire. Yousif Majid (North 2022) and Tommy Ealham (North 2022) have both started in the Surrey 2nd XI
In Hockey, Izzy Petter (South 2018) became the first OC to reach the landmark of 100 combined caps for England and Great Britain.
In May, Greg Slade (Cubitt 2020) gained his second ITF 2 quad doubles title of the season at the Kobe Open in Japan. He also reached the quad singles semi-finals before losing out to the top seed.
In March, European U-23 champion Will Barnicoat (North 2021) finish the top British runner at the World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade when he came home in 27th.