9th July 2024
Last week saw plenty of Festival cricket last week as the term drew to a close for many schools, though many boarding schools had finished the previous week and enjoyed an extra week of fixtures. The Silk Trophy held at Stowe, was nicely poised before rain washed out the final day. The same fate befell the BOWS Festival held at Sedbergh, though the RGS Festival held in Guildford largely avoided the rain in which Lancaster RGS were unbeaten to win the Festival. The Adrian Gale Festival was won by Oundle, while St. Peter’s fresh from their triumph at Lord’s the previous week played in the SPREB Festival with Bradfield, Epsom and Repton.
There were also some girl’s festivals played last week: the BOWS Festival featuring Brighton, Oakham, Wellington and Sedbergh and the SPREB festival was won by Epsom. They also featured in the finals day of the School Sports Magazine T20, but lost to current holders Ipswich in the final, who added this to their 100-ball title won the week before at Lord’s.
This season seems to have flown by as it was only 12 weeks since schools returned from their Easter breaks to a constant deluge and the competitions supported by the Schools Cricket Committee all had record entries including participation by state schools and colleges. The period prior to half term proved to be a headache for the organisers of these competitions as the wet weather didn’t relent. It is interesting to note from early Wisden entries that in some parts of the country, nearly 40% of games were lost to the weather this season. There were some giant killing acts, especially in the T20 competition, with state schools and colleges beating their independent school rivals. However, by half term, the T20 competition had reached the latter stages with regional semi-finals (last 32) and in most regions, largely the schools who had been seeded in the close season.
The latter stages went very much to form with the strongest schools winning their respective regions, and the quarter-final stages throwing up some interesting match ups that this time didn’t always go quite to expectation. Both semi-finals made for exciting games, while the final that pitted Millfield – 6 time winners – against St. Peter’s York was a game that didn’t go to form in many observer’s eyes.
Scarborough, King’s Taunton, Shrewsbury, and Harrow will contest the ESCA U15 T20 finals day at Arundel on 1st September, while Solihull and Epsom will face each other in The Cricket Paper National Under 17 final at Loughborough later that week.
In Girl’s cricket, Ipswich were the undisputed best team in the country having won both T20 and 100-ball competitions, with Epsom, Bradfield, Shrewsbury and Repton not far behind. The girl’s game is rapidly gaining momentum in schools as participant numbers are rising and all-girls schools invited to send their averages to Wisden for the first time.
It remains to be seen what impact the result of last week’s General Election will have on school sport, especially cricket over the next five years. Conversations held with Masters in charge and Directors of Cricket over the last few months have indicated that scholarships and bursaries for talented youngsters may well disappear, especially for those transferring from state schools at sixth form level. There is also some doubt whether the £35 million pledged by Rishi Sunak for investment in indoor cricket facilities in inner cities will remain in place.
In the meantime, schools need to have submitted their Wisden entries by Friday 16th August. Entries received after this date will not be guaranteed publication.
This blog will return on Tuesday 15th April 2025.
Silk Trophy (50 overs) held at Stowe
St Andrews (RSA) 167, Shrewsbury 168-5
Eton 313-9, Shrewsbury 223
Eton 261-7, Stowe 218
St Andrews (RSA) 242-8, Stowe 243-6
All other games abandoned – Eton win the Festival
BOWS Festival (50 Overs) held at Sedbergh
Brighton 221-5 (32), Sedbergh 122-8
Sedbergh 271, Oakham 142
Brighton 153, Wellington 154-4
Oakham v Wellington – unknown
All other games abandoned
Adrian Gale festival (45 Overs)
Abingdon 238-6, Brentwood 167
Abingdon 271, Oundle 273-8
St. John’s 153, Abingdon 151-6
Oundle 252, St. John’s 212
Oundle 180 (32), Brentwood 142
Brentwood 79, St. John’s 81-8
Oundle win the festival
RGS Festival (50 Overs) held at RGS Guildford
RGS Worcester 202, RGS, Colchester 189
RGS, Guildford 238, RGS Worcester 93
RGS, Newcastle 276-9, RGS, High Wycombe 183
RGS High Wycombe 111, Lancaster RGS 114-1
RGS Colchester131, Lancaster RGS 132-4
RGS Worcester 246, RGS, High Wycombe 249-4
RGS, Newcastle 116-7 (20 ), RGS Worcester 118-3
Lancaster RGS 246-6, RGS Newcastle 161
RGS Worcester 245, RGS High Wycombe 249-4
RGS Guildford 130 (40), Lancaster RGS 131-7
RGS High Wycombe 180-9 (20), RGS Colchester 166
Lancaster RGS win the Festival
SPREB Festival
Epsom 267-7 (40), Bradfield 201
St Peter’s 170 (40), Repton 174-4
St. Peter’s 266 (40), Bradfield 149
Repton 236 (50), Epsom 238-7
Repton 202-5 (20), Bradfield 147
Epsom v St. Peter’s -result unknown
Winner unknown
St. Pauls Festival
T20
Fettes 89-8 (20), Leys 90-2
St Paul’s 212-3 (20 ), Monkton Combe 84
Final
The Leys 85-9 (20 ), St Paul’s 88-1
50 Overs
Leys 194, St. Pauls 197-4
Leys 254, Monkton Combe 131
The Leys 254 (40 ), Fettes 131
Fettes 161-7 (30), St Paul’s 166-1
Inspiresport ESCA Under 15 One Day Cup final
Scarborough 305-4 (40), Millfield 243
Other
Trinity , Croydon 263, Reed’s 266-7
Wilson’s 175-9 (40) , Wallington County Grammar 177-7
Langley Park for Boys 72 , Trinity , Croydon 73-7
Dr Challoner’s Grammar 107-7 (20 ), Watford Grammar for Boys 112-4
Dunottar 85-8 (20 ), George Abbot 86-4
Cathedral , Llandaff 158-6 (20), Wycliffe 140-8
Merchant Taylors’ , Crosby 150 (40) , The Perse 112-4
Fettes 161-7 (30), St Paul’s 166-1
Princethorpe 165-6 (20 ), King Edward VI , Stratford 134
Warwick 162-4 (20 ), John Hampden Grammar 139-9
Newham of Further Education 97-6 (20 ), Westminster 101-2
Princethorpe 123-8 (20 ), Warwick 126-4
Reigate Grammar 228-1 (30 ), Pocklington 161-7
The Perse 228-7 (40 ), Newcastle for Boys 219-9
The Edinburgh Academy 108 (20 ), Barnard Castle 109-2
Monkton Combe 89-8 (20 ), The Leys 90-2
King Edward VI , Stratford 141-9 (20 ), John Hampden Grammar 144-2
Monmouth 300-6 (50) (Z Williams 139), New Hall192
Girls
School Sport Magazine Sport T20 (Held at KES Southampton)
Semi-final
St Edward’s, Oxford 45 , Ipswich 46-5
Repton 126-7, Epsom 127-4
Final
Ipswich 181-3 (20 ), Epsom 123-6
Other
SPREB Festival
Bradfield 229 (40), Repton 203
Repton 286-4 (40), Willo Cricket 85
Epsom 230-7 (35), Bradfield 185
Epsom 231-6 (35), Willo Cricket 203-3
Repton 236 (50), Epsom 238-7
Bradfield 204-2 (20), Willo Cricket 126-5
Epsom win the Festival
BOWS Festival
No results available