Prep School
Prep House Matches by Mrs Gardner
A spectacular sunny afternoon provided the perfect backdrop for our early-season House cricket competition. Having returned to school early, the players have clearly been putting in the hard yards at the nets, and it was fantastic to see that preparation translate into such competitive matches. The focus on bowling discipline was a highlight, with many players finding their rhythm and consistently hitting a good line and length. While a few wides and no-balls crept in—as they do early in the season—the intent from the batters was superb. Their alertness in running byes and “stealing” cheeky runs kept the pressure on the fielders throughout.
Senior School
Cricket by Mrs Foster
We were able to take advantage of getting back to school early and played a number of internal matches to get a head start on grass. Our Junior boys and girls filled three pitches for meaningful match play, whilst our First XI strengthened our growing connection with Trull Cricket Club in a pre-season friendly with their newly formed 2nd XI. Here’s how the teams got on.
First XI v Trull 2nd XI By Mrs Foster
Queen’s took to the field to start the 2026 season under the leadership of new Co-Captains Henry and Digger. The objective was clear, to find our feet on grass in a pre-season friendly. This gave our bowlers a chance to hit their lengths in short spells, brought fielders some valuable match play and encouraged batters to spend time at the crease. We stuck to task well, with wide-spread contributions seeing seven bowlers pick up a wicket apiece, and with two run-outs we took 9 wickets in Trull’s total of 160 runs from 30 overs. The highlights included two brilliant flat catches on the boundary by Felix and Digger, and the theatre Leo caused with his left arm spin, he certainly beat the bat for the most play and misses in his spell.
Our target was 161 to win, but more importantly to gain time in the middle. This started with a flyer thanks to Euan striking three boundaries in the first over showing clarity, confidence and timing straight down the ground. Digger then joined Joe at the crease to build a partnership worth 95 runs for the second wicket. The pair both earned maiden half-centuries which everyone cheered, particularly given their graft over the years as excellent First XI cricketers and characters. They are presented with Queen’s College Baggy’s, an award reserved for those hitting half centuries or taking 5-wicket hauls for the First XI. Their next chase is to hit a hundred to get their names on the board. Meanwhile, their teammates finished the innings by reaching the target with nearly four overs to spare, and more importantly four more batters having opened their runs account for 2026, Alfie in particular showing fluency in his 24 not out off 15 balls.
The sun shone, the huddles gathered, and bats were raised in what was an excellent beginning to our season. We take our promising foundations into T20 Cup cricket next. We plan to build on what we have started, with a resounding faith that early season cricket is all about character, and that we can deliver every time.
U12/U13 Select Combination Game – By Mr Bell
Saturday marked an exciting start to the cricket season as a combined U13 and U12 select side took to the field for a competitive T20 fixture. With a large squad available, the match provided a valuable opportunity for players to stake their claim ahead of the school’s first official fixture next week.
Captains Harry and Max met at the toss, with Harry winning and electing to bowl first. The decision quickly paid dividends as the bowling unit found early rhythm. Henry, Ibrahim, and Toby all struck with important wickets, keeping the batting side under pressure throughout the innings. Despite the steady breakthroughs, Captain Max led from the front with a composed and determined innings, eventually retiring not out and guiding his side to a competitive total of 165.
In response, opening batsmen Owen and Harry started positively, looking to build early momentum. However, regular wickets disrupted the chase and made the task increasingly challenging. Harry again showed leadership and resilience at the crease, retiring on 25 after anchoring the innings during a tricky period.
With the match going down to the wire, Harry returned to the crease with just two balls remaining and two runs required for victory. Tension was high as the penultimate delivery was struck into the air, only for it to be safely caught, bringing the game to a dramatic conclusion.
Although the result didn’t go their way, it was a brilliant and competitive first outing of the season. The match offered plenty of positives, setting the tone for what promises to be an exciting year ahead.
Year 7-9 Boys and Girls Combined Triangular on Sat 18 April By Mr Smith
Several of our Year 7,8 & 9 cricketers enjoyed a competitive internal triangular competition on Saturday with most of the games going down to the last few balls to determine the victor. The pupils were in mixed-age teams and quickly developed great team spirit to work effectively with each other and this was useful preparation for the upcoming fixtures against other schools. It was also a great opportunity for the coaches to be able to help the players work on various aspects of their skills in a match situation, particularly their fielding – walking in, attacking the ball and backing up – and communication between the batters, especially effective running between the wickets. Hopefully they will take these skills into the forthcoming matches.
Girls First XI U18 100 Ball Cup v Wellington at Home on Tuesday 21 April By Mrs Foster
The Girls First XI had to adapt quickly given their first match was the 100 Ball Cup tie against Wellington. Losing the toss we started with the bat and started very well. Both Megan and Eliza struck the ball cleanly and found gaps that made for a fruitful PowerPlay of 45/0 off 25 balls. The next 55 balls that you might call the middle phase was characterised by a very slow over rate, several extras, some variable bounce and a wind chill. We went into the last 20 balls with a healthy 8 wickets in hand thanks to every batter finding comfort in their perceived resources outweighing their perceived demands. It was great to see our top four batters spend valuable time in the middle with encouraging signs for our scoring options that will only get more fluent as the season progresses. Harriet and Charlotte put on an unbeaten 65 runs off 75 balls, making 25 off the last 20 to post 121/2 in our innings. We excelled in a number of ways with an organised field setting to protect boundaries in the PP, and a healthy mix of bowling options used. Teniore returned the best bowling figures of 3 wickets for 16 runs at less than a run a ball. We also smashed their over rate with running between overs and bowling fewer extra balls. With that dominance we took 6 wickets compared to their 2 wickets, but sadly they beat us on dot balls (we faced 70 dots and bowled 54) and boundary count (we hit 7 fours, they hit 11 fours) so despite winning on lots of performance indicators including creating more chances, we overall fell a little short on the key ones. We did however, take the game to the 94th delivery and all agree it was a great match up to get our season underway.
First XI v Blundells in the U18 T20 Cup on Wednesday 22 April by Mrs Foster
We went into bat to start our U18 National T20 Cup shortly after arriving at Blundells on Wednesday afternoon. The openers stuck to the game plan of attacking the new ball and Joe continued his fluency at the crease top scoring with 34. Alfie made a valuable contribution including denting their sightscreen in his innings of 29. Conditions weren’t too easy on a typically slow April wicket and without any significant partnerships we faltered to 99/7 off our 20 overs. It was almost the ideal start in the second innings with a chance created by Munesu. He bounced back well to the batters survival with a great LBW shout the second ball too, but unfortunately finished the first over wicketless and the score on 9. The step hit pinch-hitter continued well for Blundells and with his partner they cleared the rope 5 times. Our responses were at times brilliant, showing smart variation and excellent execution. The fielding let us down compared to our capabilities, and without many runs left for our spinner to bowl at we never recreated the same pressure since those first two balls. Munesu was eventually rewarded by bowling out their opener, but at 54/1 with plenty of overs left, Blundells sealed an early victory. This hasn’t entirely ended our cup run as we now go into the Plate competition on top of our friendly fixtures where we can pursue stringing together our best bits of cricket.
