King’s School first Xl’s annual fixture with the school’s former students produced a thrilling finish last Friday, with the Old Boys team just hanging on at the end to win by four runs.
Winning the toss and batting first, Old Boys were in trouble at 10-3, with all three wickets falling to King’s paceman Dan Gibson. The innings rallied, firstly through Jonny Murdoch (18) and then Alex Sears (21), as Lewis Dann (52) remained solid throughout.
Dan Taylor (25) and Austen Imber (33) played some expansive shots towards the end, enabling Old Boys to reach 168-9 from their 40 overs. Gibson finished with 5-32 and was supported by Joe Bottomley (2-17).
The School’s reply began solidly with Dan Ross (28) and Ewan Coulthard (40) finding the boundary regularly. Dominic Modd (19), Harry Adams (21) and Dan Wilson (25) all continued the momentum, but the return of Taylor (2-33) and Dan Reynolds (2-30) to the attack left King’s just four short of the target.
Gibson’s impressive bowling saw him retain the Alec Weightman Trophy as man of the match.
A 20/20 match between the two sides followed with Old Boys again triumphing, this time by an even closer margin of three runs.
Old Boys made 155-6 with Carl Wilson (57no) the main contributor. In reply, King’s were all out for 152, with Alex Ingram making 57.