Sports Report – 9th June

Tennis 

It has been an excellent week of tennis from both the U15 and U13 tennis teams. The U13 tennis team were in fine form, with wins against Loughborough High School, 6 – 1, Kings Warwick, 5 – 4 and John Ferneley 5 – 1.

The U15 team secured two wins from three, securing victory against Sir Jonathan North 4 – 2 in the Aegon league and beating Kings High Warwick 7 – 2.  Unfortunately, they lost 2 – 4 against Lutterworth College. All players should be proud of their performances but Elise Atkinson and Jessie Bardsley deserve special mention.

Rounders

U12A

The U12As had a slow start against King’s Warwick enabling them to take a 9 to 4.5 lead after the first innings. In the second innings, Ratcliffe had to score 10 rounders to win. With some excellent batting from Jayde Patterson and Zoe Howling, scoring 10 rounders looked to be in sight. Unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be and a very good King’s High team took the win 15 – 12.5. Congratulations to Jayde Patterson who was Player of the Match.

U13

On Wednesday, the combined Year 8 and Year 7 rounders team came runners-up in the County Tournament. Though the team started nervously, they all pulled together and really gelled performing extremely well.  Ratcliffe were eventual runners up in the group stage, losing one game and winning two, both of which were high scoring games, winning Rushey Mead 11.5 – 3 rounders and Hinckley academy 10.5 – 3.5.  Ratcliffe then played Our Ladies Convent who were winners of their group, having not lost a game. The team played excellently, preventing the opposition from scoring and striking the ball well to earn a convincingly victory 7.5 – 3 rounders and qualify for the Final.  Ratcliffe played Loughborough High School, and decision-making was critical as we fielded first and kept Loughborough to a score of five rounders. Unfortunately, we couldn’t quite reach their total and were ½ a rounder short scoring 4 ½ and finishing runners-up. This means the team qualify for the National Finals, which take place on Wednesday 27^th June at Syston Rugby Club.

On Saturday, the girls had their best performance of the year, with some excellent fielding and striking, however, they were pipped to the post by two rounders losing 11 ½ to 13 ½, thanks to some excellent catching from Kings High Warwick.  Joint Player of the Match Holly Clark Pratt, bowled excellently and also struck the ball consistently well. Fisayo Abiodun also voted Player of the Match by the opposition, made some excellent decisions and took some great catches.  The match was played in great spirit by both teams, and really could have gone either way, it was great to watch the girls play so well and enjoying themselves. Well done!

U13B

The U13B team won their match against Kings High Warwick 13.5 -9.5. The girls started strongly with most of the team getting on the scoresheet.  Ratcliffe went into the second innings leading but Kings High came back strongly. The girls then got into their rhythm scoring freely. Again, most of the girls ended up on the scoresheet with Ratcliffe finally taking the victory. Grace Karanja was awarded Players’ Player of the Match.

U14

The U14s had a thrilling match against Loughborough High School. A quick first innings saw Loughborough all out with 12 good balls left thanks to some brilliant fielding from Elise Atkinson and Amy Mason. Loughborough responded with some equally good fielding ending the innings with three rounders each. With everything to play for in the final innings it was left to Ratcliffe who needed five to win. Unfortunately, the girls just fell short losing 7 ½ to 7.

The U14s also had a close game against King’s Warwick. Although they batted consistently well, at half-time they were down by two rounders. Some excellent fielding from Maddi Bryant and Jess Elton ensured that we started to pull back in the second innings and the game was extremely close, however, Kings scored a rounder on the last ball meaning that we lost 17.5-16.5. Player of the match was Annie Bridgwood for her excellent batting and fielding.

U15

The U15 rounders team have a had a tough week of fixtures. Mid-week saw the team play Loughborough High School. In the first innings Loughborough batted well, although we fielded well it left them with a good first innings score. Unfortunately, Ratcliffe didn’t produce their best batting against a very quick bowler and were trailing at half-time.  The second innings was much closer with Captain Lauren Brown taking some brilliant catches. Aimee Cleminson (bowler), India Clark and Dannie Hendry at back stop and first post played well keeping the pressure on Loughborough. In the batting innings, Ihu Osuji and Sam Diaz made some great connections with the ball and brought us back into the game. Unfortunately, we couldn’t comeback from our first innings and Loughborough took the win.

On Saturday, the U15 team played a very close game against Kings High Warwick. Warwick turned up with a great set of batting players that really tested our fielding skills. Mimi Khan, Lilly Stevenson and Lauren Brown worked hard in the deep and they made some brilliant rounder saving throws. Again, Dani Hendry and India Clark played superbly at backstop and first post. Maddie Lindop batted fantastically, along with Sam Diaz and Lily Stevenson racking up some last-minute rounders.  However, we lost out on a very close game 22.5 – 16.5. Well done girls for two great matches.

Cricket

U12

On Saturday, the U12 team played a strong Princethorpe side. Ratcliffe put on a respectable 92 for four wickets by the end of the innings, with the top score going to Fin Spencer with 28. The batting was strong but the run rate was not what we were hoping for, leaving us shy of our 120-run target. The opening batsmen for Princethorpe batted well, despite this the fielding remained tight and the bowling was good. Unfortunately, Princethorpe managed to reach their target with just two overs remaining. A special mention goes to Kai Kirk for his wonderful catch in the outfield. Man of the Match goes to Seb Welch for his good display of batting and his phenomenal bowling spell at the end of the innings,

U13

Unfortunately, the U13s lost away against Princethrope. Ratcliffe batted first and faced some extremely good bowlers. The spin bowlers were too much for them to handle and Ratcliffe were all out for 60. Man of the Match was Cameron Mulvihill, managing to take two wickets from two overs and hitting six fours.

U14

The U14s lost by 8 runs. The team competed very well against Princethorpe but unfortunately the last batsman scored 53 runs and took 7 wickets for 6 runs! Ratcliffe bowled and fielded very tidily and Man of the Match Ben Ashford with 21 runs, Guy Heywood with 16 and Joe Davies with 14 almost saw us home.

U15

The U15 team kept alive their hopes of an unbeaten season with a nine-wicket win. Ten players bowled as Princethorpe posted 89 all out. In reply, Fin Back and Anuj Savani were superb, sharing an opening stand of 85. Tom Page scored the winning runs but Anuj took Man of the Match for his three wickets and 43 not out.

Boys Tennis 

On Wednesday, the boys U15 tennis team also faced Lutterworth in the AEGON tennis league, and once again managed to be unlucky enough to lose in a match tie-break shootout, 3 – 4. Special mention should go to Stanley Chell for a great debut performance.

Athletics

County Athletics Reports 2018

It has been another good year for Ratcliffe College athletes who qualified for and competed in the Schools Athletics County Finals at Saffron Lane Athletics stadium in Leicester on Saturday 9^th June 2018. There were a number of personal bests and a number of athletes who were very close to achieving a place on the podium with Connor Foster in the 100m, Wilson Lee in the 200m and Zabier Zanotti-Baranano in the 300m all running superbly in high quality finals and finishing fourth. Tilly Miles in the long jump and Phelton Tandoh in the shotput also performed very well to finish fourth as did the Intermediate boys 4 x 100m relay team of Harry Culpin, Sam Seidu, Josh Wong and Connor Foster. Congratulations on their podium finishes to Harry Culpin who placed third in his high jump final, Dalila Watson who placed second in her triple jump final and Archie Banks who finished second in his 1500m final by the narrowest of margins. The undoubted star of the day was Mia Atkinson who led from the front and ran superbly to win the Intermediate girls 1500m and secure the County title. This has resulted in her selection to represent Leicestershire Schools in the English Schools Athletics Championships that take place on the weekend of the 13th and 14th of July 2018 at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. We wish her well in this prestigious athletics event. Well done to all the Ratcliffe athletes who competed with such effort and determination.