Weekend Sports Roundup...

Athletics

King's Bruton Home Athletics Meet

This Saturday was the King’s Bruton Home Athletics Meet but we decamped to the tartan track at Yeovil Arena. 60 athletes and 18 staff travelled over to Yeovil to compete, officiate, help, score, time-keep, commentate and fire a starting gun. We welcomed teams from Dauntsey's, Kingswood, Blundell's and Bryanston, all of whom are much bigger than King’s but we held our own admirably. 

Some truly outstanding performances were witnessed most notably:
Ottie G - winning a tightly fought race in the Under 16 800m and achieving a personal best time of 2.38.
Rowan O - jumped an incredible 1.75cm, 7cm over his last seasons personal best. 
Millie V-C - who has just returned after a nasty shoulder injury, threw a seasons best of 9.99 in the Under 16 Shot and also won the Discus.
Maya W - who jumped another amazing 1.45 in the under 16 High Jump.

Other podium places were:-
In the U16 Girls Competition
Sophie G - 1^st - Hurdles, 1^st - 100m and 3^rd - 300m
Izzy M - 1^st - B String Hurdles
Maya W - 1^st - B String 100m and 1^st - Long Jump
Millie M - 2^nd - Javelin
Georgina W - 2^nd - Triple Jump
Lily C - 3^rd - 200m
Davina E - 3^rd - 200m and 2^nd - B String Triple Jump
Rachel T - 1^st B String Shot
Tia W - 1^st - B string Discus

In the under 16 boys competition
Issac P - 1st - Hurdles
Murray H - 1^st - 1500m
Seamus C - 1^st - Javelin with an impressive 40.82m
Javdat M - 1^st - Discus and 3^rd - Javelin
Dimitri M - 3^rd - Long Jump and 3^rd - High Jump
Alex T - 1^st - B String Javelin
Joel S - 2^nd - B String Discus

In the Open Boys
Robert H - 1^st - 800m with a great seasons best performance of 2.13
Felix F - 1^st - Long Jump and 3^rd - Triple Jump
Max M - 1^st - B String High Jump
Tom J - having sustained his horrendous elbow dislocation in the Rugby season threw a seasons best of 28.53 in the Discus
Rodri H - 2^nd - 400m
Huw D - 3^rd - 1500m

In the Open Girls
Esther A - 1^st - Triple Jump
Tash S - 3^rd - 800m
Katie P - 3^rd - Hurdles

Fantastic achievements and amazing team spirit on a cold but beautifully sunny afternoon. Well done to everyone who competed on Saturday.

Pip Atkinson-Kennedy - Director of Sport

Swimming

Queen's College Gala

On Thursday, the swim team had their first gala of the term, away at Queen’s College. We welcomed a number of new swimmers onto the team this year including Cat R, Olivia H, Rafe B, Finlay P-C, Jack F-B, Toby P and Laurie A. Everyone performed with great team spirit and we had a number of fantastic 2^nd places, including Millie T-C in the 50m fly, Hector McA in the 100m breastroke, Jack F-B in the 100m free, Toby D in the 100m IM and Laurie A in the 100m back.

The highlight of the gala was Toby D coming home in first place in the senior boys 50m fly and for this he was awarded our boys swimmer of the match. The girls award went to Katie R for her determination and commitment to her 3 individual swims and 2 relays!

Well done to all of the swimmers, it was a brilliant afternoon in the pool.  
Bethany Griffiths - PE Teacher

Cricket

1^st XI vs Downside

We won the toss and elected to bat. We put 140 runs on the board, with Mike H 40 (34), Adam B-J29 (20) and a cameo from Sam R 15 (8). Our aim in the second innings was to set the standards with the ball in hand and we did just that. Ross T got 3 wickets for 7 runs off 3 overs and a run out, Peter J 2 wickets for 13 runs off 3 and a run out and Sam H got 2 wickets for 3 runs off his 11 balls. We bowled Downside out for 60 in what was an extremely dominant performance.
Man of the Match was Mike H. 

1^st XI vs Blundell's 

The 1^st XI elected to bat and started well, we were 75-1 with Joe G, our eventual top scorer, making 34. We then collapsed to 93-8, with our middle order just simply giving their wickets away, before Sam H made a sublime 21* leaving us on 121-8. I thought we were probably at least 60 runs short and we set the task as a team to be exceptionally attacking in the field. Peter J opened the bowling and was nothing short of excellent, demolishing the Blundell's top order and finishing with 3 wickets for 15 runs from his 7 overs. We kept the pressure on and took 8 wickets in total, including a blinding stumping and catch from Mash and a smart catch from Toby R, but could not dislodge the Blundell's number 7, who just managed to get them over the line.
I am hugely proud of the boys for their performance, in particular when fielding and bowling. To almost defend a total of 121 against a quality side. A special mention must go to captain Harry Macl-A and vice-captain Sam H who have given a masterclass in leadership in these first few weeks. 
Man of the Match was Sam H. 

2^nd XI 

A strong performance from the 2^nd XI against a good Blundell’s team restricted Blundell’s to 171 off their 25 over. Oliver S, Liam W and Theo M lead the way with the ball and Freddie G in the field. Unfortunately some poor shot selection meant that King’s lost early wickets and needed a strong performance from the rest of the order. Oliver B and Liam W stepped up and put on an excellent partnership that included some big hitting and Liam reaching his first half century. With King’s right in the chase they were cruising towards a victory before some late wickets led to a collapse of the tail. Falling 15 runs short was disappointing, but a fantastic effort by the team against strong opposition.
Man of the Match was Liam W. 

3^rd XI 

Lost by 8 wickets. 

Junior A 

After the excitement of a bus that would not start, the U14As came very close to defeating a very good Blundell’s team away from home on Saturday. Bowling first, King’s took a wicket in the first over, courtesy of a good ball from Will O.  Blundell’s scored reasonably steadily as the seamers toiled away, but the Blundell’s number 6 was a big boy who accelerated the scoring rate before being pegged back. The seamers who all took wickets were Will O, Jay T, Oscar C and Archie F. Blundell’s ended on 139 for 8 from their 25 overs.
The batting, which was to come so close to winning the game was measured and sensible throughout. Harry L chipped in with a useful 15 before he was run out. Jay T scored a classy 28 before being stumped, Will O scored a busy 18. Charlie B and Ned F did not really have much time to settle and had to fling the bat in an unselfish manner. However, the batting laurels belonged to Archie F who scored his first King’s half century with a very mature batting display carrying his bat.
In the end King’s were an agonising 5 runs short. In the final analysis some interesting field placings, along with a few fielding mistakes cost them this game. Make no mistake, this was a really good game of cricket and Blundell’s were not expecting to be given such a stern test. The entire team should be congratulated for their performance.

Junior B 

Blundell's won the toss and batted. Good opening spells from Oscar P and Ben F supported by Freddie J and Dillon M restricted Blundell's for the opening 20 overs to just 100. Wickets tumbled and King’s felt they might be on the cusp of quickly dismissing the tail. Sadly however, it wasn’t to be, and a Blundell's fightback began. King’s didn’t adapt to the counter-attacking batting style and bowled too short for too long allowing a pair of physically strong but not technically gifted batsman to hit the ball from hip height into our scattered legside field. Blundell's closed on 215 off 30 overs.
King’s started with two early dismissals however Oscar P and Dillon M came to together with Oscar starting brightly before overplaying his hand and aggression getting the best of him being caught at cover. Dillon produced what might be one of the innings on the King’s summer with 68 off 50 balls including 6’s into both the railway line and the graveyard in the same over. King’s found themselves well ahead of the rate at 20 overs sitting pretty on 143 needing seven and over and going strong. A great cameo form Kit W kept up the pressure on Blundell's however, as wickets fell the rate slowed and King’s finally capitulated on 163 all out with Sam L and Jack B at ‘The Alamo’ as the overs ticked away dancing down the wicket to try and keep King’s in touch.
Overall an impressive effort but lesson could be learnt on how to suppress an attacking lower order and also the art of the run chase and how the power of big attacking shots can be amplified with the odd quick single and looking to place the ball into gaps. 

Junior C

King's won the toss against Blundell’s and opted to bat. A quick flurry of early wickets left KIng's 25/3 but Captain James N (51) aided very capably by Tom H (29) kept the scoreboard ticking over. KIng's finished on 147/6; Ed W’s 11 off three balls before being bowled out was a highlight of the innings alongside James N's half-century. Max H struck early in Blundell’s innings picking off their opening batsmen. The King's bowlers bowled very well, and wickets were shared by seven different bowlers. Angus E’s 3 for 21 off 4 overs was a particular highlight; he also added two catches to his haul. The game came down to the final over. Blundell’s needed six from six balls to win with one wicket remaining. Ed W, having already bowled excellently at the death, stormed in with his first ball of the final over. The opposition captain, on 60 having batted explosively all innings, edged it to Angus E, sealing victory for King's. A very good win against a good Blundell’s side.
Man of the Match was James N.
Louis Corbin-O'Grady - Head of Cricket

Tennis

On Saturday all our teams played against Downside.

The 1^st and 2^nd girls’ clinched a comfortable 9-0, 9-0 victory. Some excellent play at the net meant that King’s dominated every set with very few dropped games. The 1^st and 2^nd boys’ also won convincingly 8-1 and 7-2.

A special mentions for Astrid and Klara  and for Kit and Lluis. The Junior girls A & B’s also won, with the B’s winning a hard fought match 5-4 and the A’s winning 6-3. 

A fantastic afternoon of tennis from all involved!