The Old Elizabethan Association

Last year saw the first OE v College fixture on the Twenty20 format and was considered an excellent basis on which to run the two games this year. This not only ensures a clear victor but with a shorter playing time allows for a social gathering afterwards!!

As expected the games produced some excellent play from all sides however it was the College boys who came away with wins in both matches - The OE 1st Team lost by 42 runs chasing an impressive 186 by College and the 2nd XI by 16 runs chasing 142.

A big thank you to master chef Andre Francart of Beechwood who with his wife produced a superb BBQ for all the players after the matches up at the College Field - an ideal venue to finish the day.

Match Summary

It was a breezy but sunny day for the Cricket fixtures against the College boys. Unfortunately the OEs were somewhat short of numbers and it was an easy decision for the College captain to choose to bat and what looked a decent batting track.

The openers for the College were two in form batsmen in Tim Ravenscroft and Ben Ferbrache who got the younger side of to an excellent start. Both lads produced some wonderful shots stroking the ball around the park. They saw off the OE opening bowlers of Laurence Graham and the island bowler Steve Queripel at which point the score was just shy of 80 runs off the first 8 of the twenty allocated overs. This brought on the more experienced (older!) pairing of Bruce Spittal and Jon Ravenscoft, father of the talented Tim, who helped to reduce the run rate significantly. But it was Jon Ravenscroft who got the first scalp - son Tim, who did not quite get enough on the ball and it ended up in the safe hands of Graham. Darragh Lee as the fifth bowler also came on to bowl but he did not really trouble the batsmen too much. The older Ravenscroft continued bowling with his nagging off cutters and picked up the wickets of Jack Byrne, John Wilkes-Green and finally the dangerous Ferbrache. The College finished their 20 over innings with a useful 186 runs.

The OEs started off their innings with great determination with openers Steve Queripel and Laurence Graham both trying to score off every ball. Opening bowler Robin was slightly wide of the mark in the first over and conceded 9 runs. However young Will Thompson did not fare so well with Queripel helping himself to the first 4 of the innings and Graham a massive 6 and it was 29 off two overs. However Robin took the wicket of Graham in his next over and the pressure was on the OEs. Peter Carey marched up to the crease to meet the challenge and immediately piled on the runs with some hard hitting and quick singles, ably supported by skipper Queripel. Just as Queripel was taking control of the game (28 runs off 18 balls) with some big shots of his own he was caught by Rob Byrne off the bowling of Johnny Clark with the score on 74 in the eighth over. Ravenscroft senior was next to bat and helped Carey keep the score moving along until he was run out. Lee came in and made a useful 10 runs of just 5 balls but the OE were running out of batsmen and once Carey was caught off the bowling of Nussbaumer they fell short all (seven) out for 144 runs, 43 short of victory.

Match Stats

Umpires: Dr N Argent and Mr B Mercer

Elizabeth College 1st XI

Old Elizabethan 1st XI

Elizabeth College won by 42 runs.

Pictures of the match