Cricket
Girls
An exciting half term for girls’ sport at Westbourne House with lots going on and plenty more to come in the final five weeks of the school year.
The U8s have had a wonderful start to cricket and have shown a lot of effort and enthusiasm for fixtures…and match teas! They have bonded well as a team and have demonstrated an understanding of the cricket lingo, which has helped them score runs in their matches. They have quickly learnt and developed a lot of new skills in fielding, batting and bowling. The glorious weather has helped them really enjoy this wonderful sport and we believe has helped build a solid foundation for appreciating and looking forward to their cricket games and fixtures.
The U9s have all grown and flourished, building their cricket skills this term. Their bowling has shown improvement week on week with lots of accuracy and power shown by all of the girls. Their batting has also become more confident but, above all, the support and encouragement that they frequently offer to teammates and their opponents is just wonderful. They really are everything we hope for and expect from our pupils at Westbourne House and are such an asset to girls’ sport.
The U10s have faced some really tough matches but persevered through every single one of them, showing great resilience and determination – two skills that help make up wonderful young sports women. They have improved their bowling no end and have become more switched on with their fielding tactics. They have had a great start to the season and still have lots more to give in what will no doubt be an enjoyable end to the season after the half term break.
The U11B team have made a lasting impression this term, making significant improvement in both their batting and fielding abilities. They have played a total of four matches, winning two and narrowly missing out on the other two by only a handful of runs. Many of the girls in the team are starting to successfully hit pull shots, resulting in many more runs in the more recent games. A great season so far and they will no doubt continue to be a fantastic team of girls.
A special mention to the mighty U11A team, who have played three matches and won all of them! A force to be reckoned with and a team to watch next term and the next two years at Westbourne House; there is some very exciting talent emerging. They had their first ever hard ball game and the other schools noticed how ready and capable our young girls already are. Well done for playing an admiral part in the revolution in girls’ sport.
The 3rd, 4th and 5th teams have all had lots of movement every single week. All girls are putting in an almighty amount of effort into training and fixtures with such commitment and keenness to improve. They are a pleasure to coach and to watch on the pitch. All of them come back fighting when they have a loss and never give up, right up until the last minute. Their fielding has been tight in all games and many schools comment on their ability to bowl well, which can sometimes account for the narrow losses; it is easier to hit a 4 off a good ball. They have experienced some close games and, thanks to good understanding of tactics and rules, the girls have worked hard and won, sometimes by only a few runs. Their hard work is really paying off and some very exciting talent is emerging in the soft ball teams in particular from Abigail L who has proven to be an accurate and intimidating bowler, and from Grace S and Isabel M, who are by far the secret weapons in batting pairs, once scoring 31 runs in one over to win the team the game.
The 2nd team have been an absolute pleasure to take and are a highly talented group of girls. They are making so much progress as a team but also individually and more importantly they are having lots of fun with it. They also happen to be winning a few matches along the way.
The Westbourne House girls’ 1st and 2nd XI teams are intimidating on the pitch. They work hard and show such enjoyment and appreciation for the game. They are an asset to the school and the perfect role models for the younger girls, who can all look up to every single one of them. What a privilege to be part of a momentous year in girls’ cricket in prep schools. A special mention to all girls playing hardball this term but in particular to all playing for the first team on a regular basis, a special group of young ladies with an impressive bank of talent between them. What a perfect time to make the move to girls’ hardball cricket.
An exciting end to the season coming for all girls but in particular the girls’ 1st XI with their IAPS tournament and plenty more fixtures to go…watch this space!
Boys
Cricket is more than just a great use of green fields and long summer afternoons. It helps children develop essential fine motor skills, improve endurance and stamina, increase balance and coordination and learn how to communicate quickly and clearly.
It is a strange game. It is a team sport that is almost entirely dependent on individual performance. Its combination of time, opportunity and the constant threat of disaster can drive its participants to despair. The children need to remember no one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. Learning from them is the important thing.
The U8s have enjoyed their first introduction into competitive cricket. The format of the games gives everyone the opportunity with both bat and bowl. A victory off the last ball of the match against Cranleigh and a tie in the Highfield match were special moments. Atti C, George T and Baxter B show great promise for the future.
The U9As have made a very promising start to the season with big wins against Twyford, Brighton and Highfield. Everyone has contributed with bat and ball and the fielding has been immense. No dropped catches so far! This is a talented bunch of cricketers and the bowling attack in particular has been strong. By way of example, they took 12 Highfield wickets off just 15 overs last week. My particular highlight came in the game against Cranleigh, which was our closest game of the season and indeed it went to the final over. Freddie T and Rupert were at the crease and Cranleigh had brought back their gun bowler. Earlier in the day, Rory had hit possibly the biggest 6 I have seen in junior cricket and there was a carnival atmosphere with the Year 8s roaring on us on during their break. By the final over, things had turned a little tense. Freddie looked nervous and knew he had to preserve his wicket to ensure a Westbourne victory. Six balls later, victory was Westbourne's and Freddie walked off the pitch a few feet taller that day.
The U10A team finished this first half of term with a good victory over Highfield, which included six well taken catches and included key contributions from every player. Since losing to Twyford on the third day of term, the team have won all of their matches, notably including very close games against Cranleigh and Pilgrims’. The leading run scorers to date are Rocco M and Wilf R who have both scored 85 runs, followed by Monty F with 44 Runs. Wilf is currently the leading wicket taker, followed by Rocco and Freddie W. Freddie also has the most run outs; whist Henry P and Teddy G are the leading catchers.
The U10B team have battled hard to develop their core skills and they have impressed with excellent enthusiasm and effort. Special mention to William T for his performances and for being a responsible captain.
The U11As have had a couple of focuses as a group: bowl more consistently full and straight and look to get bat on ball more frequently. The improvement has been quite clear to see, even if some of the results aren’t quite what we’d have hoped for, with more runs being scored off the bat and a very high percentage of our wickets being bowled or LBW. Special mentions to Oscar P and Sam K for the top scores of 40 and 41 respectively.
The U11B team has played some good cricket this term winning three out of the five matches played. The team has displayed an excellent team spirit and all the boys have enjoyed their cricket immensely. The stand-out performers have been Hugo H with the bat and Orion B and Ben W with the ball. All three deservedly have played some matches for the A team.
The 1st XI have been very impressive this season and have been involved in a number of excellent victories. At the moment they have progressed to the Quarter Finals in the IAPS national cricket tournament. Three boys have earned their colours: Louie L for outstanding wicketkeeping and first rate batting, Fergus O’C for a number of excellent half centuries and Oli N for solid batting, great attitude, and impressive sportsmanship. The whole team have impressed with their commitment in the field and their ability to listen and learn.
The 2nd XI have struggled with batting consistency and were short of runs in their early matches. However, they have rallied and have been successful in their last three games. Felix B and Johnny K have shown great resilience against some testing bowling. With the ball, Adi S has impressed with his off spin.
The 3rd XI had a great start to the season. Noah C and Jiayou L have both made unbeaten 50s and Arthur R (44 not out) and Tommy O (48 not out) both simply ran out of overs before making the milestone. On the bowling front Jiayou L, Nicholas A, Alex L, Jacob B, Arthur R, Tommy N and Max MDD have regularly contributed to the wicket hauls.
Highlights for the 4th XI include Toby R’s partnership with Tobias F against Twyford, Max S’s innings against Cranleigh, the opening partnership of Arthur R and Tommy N against Seaford; Tommy retiring on 50, and Arthur reaching 38, a superb catch by Stanley VS against Highfield, Lucas DP’s enthusiasm, and Alfie R’s innings in the same match.
Athletics
Girls
The athletics season got off to a promising start with a sunny afternoon for our own girls’ athletics event at Westbourne House. With 10 schools in attendance and plenty of competition, the girls all worked hard. In the end, the high level and range of talent, as well as the home advantage, led Westbourne House to be the overall winners of the athletics meet. The girls all did so well with a total of five 3rd place wins, fourteen 2nd place and ten 1st place winners. A brilliant effort from the whole team and a special thank you to the Year 8 girls who volunteered to help run the various events.
It didn't feel so much like summer term at the Hurst Athletics meeting; the girls were wrapped up as much as they could and remained high spirited, even when soaking wet. We were so impressed with how supportive they were of each other and the older girls really took care of the younger pupils by helping them warm up and showing them the ropes. Lots of fun was had by all and impressive results from an even bigger event than ours. Notable performance from:
Fleur B: 3rd place U13 hurdles; 3rd place U13 1500m.
Neve B: 3rd place U11 200m.
Cynthia J: 1st place U11 high Jump.
U11 Relay team 2nd place.
All girls have been working hard in their PE lessons and at athletics club and have shown a lot of improvement across all events. We are excited to see what will happen at the big athletics meet at Hurst and the K2 in Crawley after half term.
Boys
Lots of work has been done in PE lessons in preparation for our sports days that take place just after half term. The boys have also been working hard to qualify for the county event, also later in the term.
Our big event so far has been the twenty School competition at Hurstpierpoint in which we entered boys from Year 5 - 8. There were many exceptional performances:
In Year 5, Freddie W won the 200m and set a new school record in the 600m. Rocco M impressed in the long jump while Wilf R finished 2nd in the ball throw.
Unfortunately Oliver A got injured in the high jump but Casimir K performed well in both 300m and long jump at Year 6 level.
Our senior boys won the whole team event producing some outstanding performances. Jake T set a new school record in winning the hurdles. There were heat wins for Ludo K 300m, Jake T 100m and Johnny K 100m. Jaiyou L produced a new record in the shot, and both Year 7 and Year 8 won their relays. However the stand out athlete of the day was Louie Lawrence; he won the long jump and javelin and obliterated the field in the 1500m.
Tennis
All the internal tennis tournaments are now underway with the competition being fierce. The Juniors just play singles while the Intermediates and Senior play both singles and doubles. It will be a busy second half of term.
The boys have had just the one match against Cranleigh. The standard of our tennis remains high and all three doubles pairs were successful in a very enjoyable event. Olly W and Fergus O’C play first seeds while Felix B, Rafferty M, Lachlan F and Jaiyou L complete this strong team.
The girls had just one match against Cranleigh at home. The fixture was won 5-4 and the girls played some excellent tennis.
