Summer Term 2023 - Week 7 Sports Report

Rowing – National Schools Regatta and Metropolitan Regatta

Katrina Jacks Trophy - J15 Girls Coxed Fours

Clementine Watts, Maddie Woodcock, Izzy Keeley, Freya Coupe, © Devon Perrin.

This young collection of girls had their first experience at Dorney rowing on the Olympic course. Given they’ve never raced on a multi lane course their performance was very creditable eventually finishing 5th in the C final.

Jim Mason Plate - Championship Girls Coxed Fours

Maddie Nickell, Sophia Whelan, Susie Jones, Jess West, © Mia Ulyett.

The girls raced brilliantly and against the best opposition in the country. Making the cut through the time trial stage of the competition was a great step forward for the girls. This put them into the Semi Finals and from there into the B final where they finished 7th.

Hedsor Cup - Championship Boys Coxed Fours

Benji Bishop, Oliver Stuart, Arun Samra, Dan Coupe, © Imy Woodcock.

In a hotly contested event the crew raced well throughout the time trial and went into the semi’s from where they qualified for the A Final.

In that final after a blistering start Canford were nearly a length up to the first 250m and set the challenge down to the other crews. As the race progressed a massive gap opened out with Canford in contention for a medal and in the closing stages as hard as our boys tried they could not however contain Aberdeen Rowing Association, Hampton School and the Enniskillen Boat Club. It meant the team finished in a highly creditable 4th place albeit just outside the medals.

Royal Engineers’ Cup - Championship Coxless Fours

Rex Batt, Edward Fillingham, Archie Jones, William Fearnley.

The last race for Canford on the last day and all expectations were for a result to hopefully make it into the final 6 crews and the A Final.

After the time trial Canford were ranked 3rd and this set them up nicely for a good lane draw and they moved through the semi-finals still ranked as the 3rd fastest boat.

In the A final with expectations raised the crew were exemplary. The boys raced a very mature race and nothing could stop them gaining a well-earned 3rd place behind Molesey Boat Club and Norwich School, with four bronze medals to bring home.

A great weekend of racing for all Canfordians and at the highest level. They were many proud moments for all the parents and coaches across all of the races.

No matter what the result everyone gave their all and hurdles both physically and emotionally were cleared!

Very well done all, “Go Canford!!!”

Metropolitan Regatta

The second weekend of the half term saw the Canford Senior Boys start their final push towards Henley qualification. The two crews who had competed at Nationals the week recombined into an VIII for the Metropolitan Regatta. Equipped with a new boat and rowing together in a race for the first time since March, they improved steadily throughout the day. The first time trial saw a strong start out the blocks before settling into an efficient stroke rhythm as they chased down the crews in front. Despite the majority of the competition being considerably more experienced University and Club Mens crews. Canford beat 25 other crews and earned a spot in one of the minor finals. Lining up in the final against the likes of Durham University and Winchester College on the start line all the crews got off to a fast start. Winchester eked out a minor half length lead after 500m. Over the next 500, the Canford crew steadily reeled them in and squeezed past them to take a length lead which they maintained into the last 500m. At this stage Winchester had used up their energy and slipped back by another half a length. However Durham University increased their stroke rate and clawed back to a quarter length down with 250m to go. However, not to be denied the Canford VIII worked the legs hard and were able to pip Durham to the finish line on the final surge by a matter of feet. A positive result for the first showing back in the boat and with some adjustments to both rowing style and boat setup, confidence should be high for Henley Qualifiers. The crew of Rex Batt, Ed Fillingham, Benjy Bishop, Olly Stuart, Arun Samra, Dan Coupe, Archie Jones, Will Fearnley, cox Imy Woodcock, will race again at the qualifiers on Friday 23rd June.

Cricket v Wellington College, Wellington School and Purbeck School

Boys 1XI National T20 Cup

Canford School 167/4 (20)

Wellington College 126/6 (20)

Our toughest fixture of the season so far saw us travel to Wellington College and find ourselves put into bat. A surprise to us that suggested they felt they could put us under pressure from ball 1. A positive start by Robbie H and Sam M got us to 35 off 5 before Robbie was bowled for 25 (22) Sam followed shortly (17 off 19) after looking to continue accelerating the run rate. A partnership of 64 between Eddie and Dill off the next 8 overs was full of timely clips and gap placement from Dill and some big drives and huge hits from Eddie. Once Dill departed Eddie really started to hit to all parts of the ground in what was a remarkable display of power hitting. He thoroughly deserved a century but just ran out of time scoring 93 off 48 deliveries. A very decent total and something we felt comfortable to defend if we stuck to our plans.

We said prior to this game that the Dauntseys defeat could and should be learnt from and this was a perfect time to show what we had learnt.

Opening with pace off Kit B bowled a very good first over bearing in mind you are only allowed 2 out of the ring in the first 6 overs (3 runs off) This immediately put them under pressure and the rate to rise. Eddie followed up with an over going for 2 to maintain the pressure but after 6 overs the score was 37 for no wicket and fairly evenly poised. Kit B then returned for his 2nd over and bowled 6 balls 3 wickets for 1 run to turn the game in our favour. He bowled a fantastic spell of varied pace and flight to finish with 4 overs 4 wkts for 20 runs.

All our attack then continued to keep the pressure on not allowing them to get close to our score. A great improvement in our calmness and execution of plans since Dauntseys.

Our bowlers all deserve a mention bowling in and out of the power play.

Kit Blomfield 4-4-20

Eddie Jack 3-0-10

Sam Reeve 3-0-26

Tom Barrett 3-1-21

Oscar Bailey 3-1-19

Sam Martin 4-0-27

Next we host Winchester in the Regional semi final (Last 32 in the country)

Girls’ 1st XI – National U18 T20 Cup – Last 32

Wellington School 95 (16.5 overs) Clare Robinson (2-4), Poppy White (1-6), Hester Child (2-12), Charlotte Parkin (5-18)

Canford School 96/1 (12 overs): Izzy Reeve 46* (40), Poppy White 9 (8), Penny Dirou 17*(24)

The Girls’ 1st XI had their first match at Mountjoy Oval; 3rd round of the National Cup against Wellington School. After winning the toss, captain Clare (standing in for injured Emelia) chose to bowl first. With gorgeous sunny conditions, the pitch was in good shape with Penny taking the first over. Despite her excellent left arm leg-spin, the pitch was not turning and Wellington managed to get their runs started. Clare came on next with some tidy bowling, securing 1 maiden in her spell. The standout bowling has to be Charlotte Parkin, who took an astonishing 5 wickets, (with a 6th being disallowed due to a no-ball and a stunning catch from Lucy!). This is historic for Girls cricket at Canford as she will be the first female to ever be on the honours board for taking 5 wickets in a 1st XI game. Hester and Charlotte had a deadly partnership in the bowl, with wickets tumbling. All but 1 wicket taken was a bowling, with the other being LBW.

Restricting Wellington to 95 all out, Canford were feeling confident going into bat. Izzy, being on great form at the moment, started first and immediately starting the chase. Poppy also made some beautiful shots, but ultimately fell victim to a higher ball and a top edge, being caught by the wicketkeeper. Penny came in next and set out her stall early. A weapon at sneaking in a cheeky single, Penny and Izzy did not disappoint, with hard running between the wickets and making the most of the slow fielding and overthrows from Wellington. Penny took the winning shot, taking us over the required target and a dominating win. Onto the next round again KES Southampton in the last 16!

Under 15A’s v Purbeck School

When all of your top 3 batsmen score 50’s in a T20 match, you stand a very good chance of winning and Seb Rowland, Raffi Organ and Ben Jack did just this! As a result Purbeck were never going to get close to the required 219 runs and finished 85 for 2 from their 20 overs with Isaac Freeman, Gabe Davey and Sam Armstrong all bowling tidily. Greater challenges lie ahead but we can be really pleased with the manner in which we scored singles off good balls and ran so well between the wickets.

Canford – 218 for 4 (20 overs)

Purbeck – 85 for 2 (20 overs)

Tennis v Clayesmore

Canford 2nds vs Clayesmore 1st L 6-3

Canford 3rds cs Clayesmore 2nds L 5-4

The girls put a up a great fight all afternoon, in a rather stronger than usual Clayesmore. That said there is nothing worse than one sided match and this fixture was not that. Throughout the afternoon it was a well fought, with the opposition particularly strong from the back of the court, with regards to consistency. Whilst our technical ability was stronger, Clayesmore made us play a lot of balls and we would just lose concentration and give away some unforced errors. The girls all came away feeling a little frustrated as they felt they were the better side but couldn’t convert the points at important parts of the game. We learnt a lot and enjoyed a lovely match tea! Bring on the half term break and looking forward to the new challenges for the team that we face in the second half of term.

15As vs Clayesmore 6-3 Win

15Bs vs Clayesmore 7-2 Win

It is always nice to get a win, but the U15 girls are all to be commended for their improvement individually and in doubles play over the past few weeks. It was a pleasure to watch both teams play yesterday in the glorious sunshine. In the B team it was especially pleasing to see the girls adapting their game in order to win the point and cut out unforced errors – keeping the ball away from the net player; targeting an opponent’s backhand , for example. Well played to Anna Landale on her first performance in the B’s and congratulations to Poppy and Tess for their clean sweep against all three opponents. In the A team there were some excellent performances against a very strong Clayesmore first pair. Kurumi and Connie had some excellent rallies, which included some lovely volleying, especially from Connie. Sadly, the overall scoreline hides how entertaining this match was for the spectators. The standout performance was from Rose and Sienna who were able disrupt the rhythm of the Clayesmore first pair to take them to 4-4 and a very close match. Sienna’s forehand easily matched the power of her opponents and both girls served sensibly giving themselves the best chance to stay in a competitive position, finishing with a very respectable 4-6 set score. I look forward to seeing things continue to improve after half term.

Pair of the week – Bea Woodward and Layla Stannah

Canford U14A - W9-0

This week Canford U14A/B faced Clayesmore. They went out fighting and ready to play their best. Willa K and Oriana played some competitive matches and managed to get 3 wins for the day. Willa B and Chloe used their partnership they have formed over the weeks and gained themselves 3 wins as well. And to finish off the A’s Lily and Phoebe played the best they have all term and won all 3 of their games

Canford U14B - W9-0

For the B’s Grace and Alice worked together and got themselves 3 wins for the day. Annie and Cata were together as a change to last matches pairings, however they worked well together and won all 3 of their games. And to finish off a fantastic day of matches, Esme and Jemima worked together to secure 3 more wins.

Overall a very successfully day for the U14A’s and B’s

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