Old Cranleighans 139 (E Stiles 30*, 41 overs) lost to Old Wykehamists 141 for 4 (27.4 overs) by six wickets
A dismal exit from the Cricketer Cup should serve as a wake-up call to the club if we are to continue to be regarded as one of the serious contenders. The loss to the Wykehamists was in the preliminary round, so for the first time we failed to make the first round proper.
On a beautiful summer’s day, Alan Cope, who had taken over from Brad Scriven as captain, chose to have first use of what looked to be another excellent Jubilee track. As if so often the case in this competition, Winchester opened with spin and continued with it for the remainder of the innings, bowling at an admirable 20 overs per hour. By the end of the 13th over, we had collapsed to 47 for 5 and only recovered slightly thanks to Ethan Stiles (30*) and Johnny Haynes (19) putting on 39 for the seventh wicket. In the end we limped to 139 from 41 overs. Although Winchester bowled and fielded solidly, and the pitch didn’t play quite as well as it looked, our batting was poor with four of the first five wickets falling to catches in the ring.
The chase looked as if it might be tricky when Archie Freeth had Cheetham caught at slip for 0 in the first over however Escott, his opening partner, made sure that there were few alarms with an increasingly assured 59*. Although the odd wicket kept everyone interested, we never had enough runs and OWs ran out winners by six wickets with over 22 overs to spare. The pick of our bowlers was Tom Ealham who, although wicketless bowled his eight overs for 33.
Thanks to Alan Cope for captaining – the lack of availability made his job so much harder than it should have been – and to all those spectators who came and watched.
Thanks also to the school for another fantastic lunch and tea and to the groundstaff who make Jubilee look better every year.