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Cricket 2023

strong finish to the season. With exceptional fielding and bowling, the U15C cricket team has an exciting second half of the season ahead, and is poised to bounce back stronger in the upcoming matches. Mr G. A. Wilson Squad: A. Seneviratne (Capt., W), R. Carruthers Hintze, R. Grimshaw, H. Kondaru, S. Kumar, D. Lakhani, I. S. Patel, S. Sacranie, A. Shah, S. Shah, J. Thakrar, J. Sanderson, K. Shah, J. Roetjens, H. Malik, N. Magecha, S. Dhir. U14B The season opened with the predictably challenging fixtures against Hampton and Whitgift. MTS looked on course for victory against Hampton, thanks to some healthy innings from Sen, N. Patel, Waterman, and Embleton, but Hampton reached their target with some huge shots in the final over. Waterman’s attacking approach was not quite enough to deliver what would have been an outstanding victory against Whitgift. However, comfortable victories followed against St Paul’s, Haileybury, and Berkhamsted, with highlights including Embleton’s 2 for 5 against Haileybury, Amay Mohan’s splendid 60 against St Paul’s, and Parekh’s elegant and intelligent 52 not out against Berkhamsted. Mr P. D. Harrison Squad: K. Bhuva, V. Birla, B. Cooper, E. Elliott, S. Embleton, A. Goria, H. Lamb, A. Mohan, A. Parekh, A. Patel, A. Patel, A. Patel, D. Patel, N. Patel, P. Sen, M. Shah, V. Sidhu, Z. Waterman. U14C The season began in cold, overcast conditions. Despite reducing Hampton to 50/5 after 10 overs, MTS yielded lots of wides and no balls that saw Hampton accumulate a challenging total. Ayan Patel led the MTS reply with a dashing innings of 47. Nevertheless, the target seemed out of reach until Avi Patel came in to hit two sixes, leaving MTS needing three to win off the last ball. Sadly, it was not to be, but this was a brave effort and with a little more match practice we would likely have got over the line.

The U14Cs arrived at Whitgift to discover a plastic wicket. This, combined with the pace of the Whitgift bowlers, led to a slow start as the batsmen learned to deal with variable bounce. Scott and Sibbu were unable to fully captialise on their early graft but an exciting innings of 21 from Goria got MTS to a total of 93. Although Santosh’s opening burst accounted for the Whitgift openers, and the MTS bowlers took wickets at regular intervals, Whitgift proved adept at scampering quick singles and squeaked home in a close game that could have gone either way. At home against St Paul’s, conditions for batting were tricky, and the mainstay of the MTS innings came from Sibbu and Scott, who patiently built up a decent total despite the difficulties caused by a skilful left arm leg spinner. Dhana’s long hitting and Sidhu’s sprinting between wickets saw us to a competitive 104. In reply, the St Paul’s top order struggled with the pace of Dhana and Avi Patel, as well the variation of Lamb, which saw SPS reduced to 24-7. Plucky resistance then ensued, but it was captain Scott and his men who returned with the spoils of victory after a very chilly afternoon at Sandy Lodge. MTS invited Haileybury to bat on a bright day on a slow and damp wicket. Bhuva and Vora

accurately bowled out their top order, but it was Sibbu who did the real damage, taking three wickets in a single over. He found good support from Santosh and Gupta, who both bowled accurately, whilst Lamb’s spin and variation kept the batsmen guessing – the visitors were 88 all out. MTS started the chase slowly, but a steady stream of wides and no balls took care of the run rate, and when Sibbu joined the captain, the running and stroke play accelerated. In the end MTS won comfortably by 9 wickets. Away at Berkhamsted, the half term closed with a comfortable 8 wicket win, a welcome present for guest coach Mr Samuel. Dr A. R. H. Clarke Squad: R. Bhular, K. Bhuva, C. Boxall, B. Cooper, A. Dhana, L. Godber, A. Goria, B. Greet-Smith, A. Gupta, H. Lamb, A. Patel, A. Patel, P. Santosh, A. Scott (Capt., W), A. Shah, L. Sibbu, V. Sidhu, T. Souesi, D. Tulsian, K. Vora. U13A The first half of the Summer Term brought with it tough fixtures against Hampton and Whitgift – the team lost by 12 and 44 runs respectively. Early signs indicated great quality in bowling, but batting and scoring runs was proving difficult.

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Taylorian 2023