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Wednesday 7th May
Cricket

1st Xl v Ellesmere College (a) 2pm

The First XI cricket team finally managed to play their first match of the season, against local rivals Ellesmere College. The team, having never played together before, were hoping for a win against the self-proclaimed unbeatable Ellesmere squad.

Ellesmere won the toss and elected to bat, possibly hoping for a prolonged innings of high scores and quick easy runs. Oswestry, with no real time for a thorough warm-up, took to the field.  Thomas Llewellyn and Shahnawaz Hussain (our new Indian exchange student) opened the bowling which resulted in Ellesmere reaching 50 in just under 8 overs.

It was time for our captain, Ollie Clarke, to change the bowling attack so on came Max Payne and Callum Morris to try and ‘suss out’ the batsmen. Unfortunately, the Ellesmere openers used the pace of the bowlers to their advantage so a change of pace was needed. Ollie Clarke (right arm leg spin) came on to try and restrain the evermore dangerous batsmen but it was Max Payne who finally bowled the opener. It later proved to be the wrong batsmen as the other opener, George Brereton, went on to score 59 along with other high scores by Ellesmere’s middle order. The College were finally bowled all out for 187, which was well above their expected target. Credit must go to Ricardo for his five wicket haul which was well deserved as his bowling was tight and accurate.

Knowing what needed to be done, Callum Morris and Ollie Clarke padded up and marched towards the crease hoping to ‘get themselves in’. After 15 overs Oswestry had reached 57 runs, as the openers had created strong foundations which the team could use to start ‘hitting out’. After a frustrating over, Ollie Clarke took a swipe at a wide ball and was caught at mid-wicket by a well drilled fielding team. In came Ricardo Martoccia, but was quickly sent on ‘the walk’ from a hasty lbw decision from the Ellesmere umpire. More Oswestry batsmen fell and then Callum Morris received the well known ‘Get a move on’ signal from Mr Philp. Callum reached 50 after a straight drive and decided to start to score some fast runs. Two 6s and a few 4s followed and Oswestry finally ran out of overs on a score of 144.
 
The outcome was a draw and the boys await another close match after half-term.
 
Man of the match Ricky for his bowling and Callum for his unbeaten score of 72 not out.
 
Callum Morris