We were delighted to welcome members of The Forty Club (Eastern Counties District) to King’s just before half term.
The Forty Club was founded in 1936 “to take Cricket to the schools”. The club offers schools, colleges, universities, and youth teams the opportunity to play against experienced Cricketers. The club is reputed to be the largest wandering Cricket Club in the world. As a wandering or nomadic club, it does not own its own ground, and so always plays away.
Their fixture at King’s took place on Campus Field against our 1st XI Boys, pictured. It was a super match, which resulted in a draw!
Mr Harrison Palmer, who is Head of Boys’ Cricket at King’s, said: “Captain, Rory Brech, won the toss and elected to bowl first on what looked like an overcast and windy day. Our 1st XIs were without Ben Rae and George Mendham due to exam commitments, which allowed future 1st XI players, Charlie Wells and Harry Lefevre, to have the opportunity to make their debut appearances. The boys struggled to find the opening wicket, bowling too short on a pitch that required bowling to be pitched-up to get results. A couple of drop catches cost the boys some well needed wickets, which allowed The Forty Club openers to kick-on to reach 43, before the first wicket fell thanks to some excellent bowling from Harry Lefevre. Shortly after, the other opener fell to a simple catch by Charlie Wells, bowled by Ted Hall. The boys were back in the game at 46-2, until a masterclass from The Forty Club’s number 4, batting incredibly well and raising his bat for his 100* off 94 balls. A couple of late wickets for Jack Jeremy and Max Prince saw The Forty Club declare on 209-4 off 39 overs.
“The experienced Year 13 opener of Will Shaw (39) and his partner, James Barber (17), were shaking hands on a 50 partnership in the 10th over, with the boys looking set for big scores each. The partnership ended on 59, with James Barber getting a ball that skidded on, bowling the Year 11. Rory Brech (27) and Ted Hall (39) were ticking along nicely, keeping the team in a great position to win the game, until both were caught in front of the middle, only for the umpire to give them out LBW. The King’s Ely boys were well in the game, needing a run a ball 50 for the win with 6 wickets in hand. Unfortunately, the required rate increased and the wickets did too, leaving the 1st XIs no choice but to block out the remaining 18 balls of the game. Each ball the Forty Club bowled were asking questions of the tailenders’ technique, but the boys managed to hold on to the draw. A fantastic game of Cricket and plenty of lessons learnt. With only two Year 13s playing, the team has a lot of potential next year to win plenty of games in the 2025 season, with some exciting players coming through the Cricket Programme.”