6th June
Harrow Way travelled to Costello hoping to start the cricket season with a win. With our strongest year groups together and our first eleven-a-side match in a few years the Harrow Way under 15’s elected to bat first.
Our opening pairing of Josh Banks-Williams and Neo Black looking to stand strong for the opening overs, sadly Black was dismissed early and then Banks-Williams fell cheaply afterward attempting to make up for time. Captain Joel Hesslegrave and James Potter steadied the ship with Hesslegrave retiring on 30 runs and Potter remarkably putting on an individual total of twelve before a surprising dismissal. Brief cameos from Macca Crook and Will McDermott added to the scoring and Harrow Way set a total of 98 for the home side to chase.
With the ball Harrow Way started brightly, Hesslegrave and Banks-Williams keeping the scoring down in the opening overs. However, Costello weathered that early storm and escaped good catching opportunities for debutants Alex Enright and Caden Ash. When the Harrow Way openers retired their arm Costello were able to put bat to ball very successfully and were shortly exceeding the required run rate. Eventually Harrow Way were caught up and lost the game in closing overs. Costello beat Harrow Way 99-98 with 4 wickets remaining.
7th June
Harrow Way returned to action for an eight-a-side festival looking to bounce back from defeat. It was not to be our day.
Bowling first against Oaklands School, Harrow Way set about trying to keep scores low in an unfamiliar short game format. Oaklands were strong with the bat and used the pace of the Harrow Way opening bowlers to play clever shots for boundaries. With each of the Harrow Way team having a bowl some of the less experienced players were having to learn fast and were soon being dispatched for regular boundaries. Oaklands set a formidable total of 61. Harrow Way stuck in the game and took it to the Oaklands bowlers but another early dismissal for Banks-Williams meant our runs had to come from elsewhere. After Hesslegrave was caught out, the lower order were struggling to get bat to ball and Harrow Way eventually fell short by 17 runs with a total of 44.
Our second game required a victory over the feared Kings School if Harrow Way had any hopes of progressing into the next round. Electing to bat first and putting Black and Potter in to open Harrow Way soon realised the gulf in skill between the two teams. Potter was dismissed in the opening over for a duck and Black fell shortly after. Wickets in the following overs left Harrow Way struggling to get any rhythm and runs were of an absolute premium. Bravely seeing out the overs Harrow Way limped to a total of 16. With the ball Harrow Way fared little better as the experienced King’s side took their opportunities and reached a total of 17 with the last ball of the third over.