We have had a fantastic week of Cricket, including three tournaments. 
On Monday, several of our girls travelled to Hurstpierpoint College to participate in the Girls’ Cricket U15 Tournament. On Tuesday, the U15 Girls competed in round two of the National Schools Cup and Wednesday saw the return of our annual Mark Benson U10 Boys’ Cricket tournament.
You can read all of the reports below. 

U15 Girls’ Cricket Tournament

On Monday, several of our girls travelled to Hurstpierpoint College to participate in the Girls’ Cricket U15 Tournament.

After a torrential downpour, the tournament finally went ahead. Our first game was against rivals Sevenoaks School. They batted first and got 239. Some brilliant running between the wickets saw SVS win with 261.

Next, we played Burgess Hill Girls. They scored 239 but SVS took the game away with a flurry of sixes to win with 275.

Finally, we played Seaford College. SVS batted first and stacked up a total of 291. Seaford struggled to cope with the excellent SVS bowling and only reached 212.

Due to the rain delay at the start, we didn’t play the last games, but being unbeaten meant that we were overall winners of the tournament.

Well done to Lily Ashcroft (Fourth Form), Caitlin Calverley (Third Form), Olivia Chadwick (Fourth Form), Phoebe Connell (Fourth Form), Freya Gutteridge (Third Form), Darcy Hanna (Third Form), Elizabeth Myers (Third Form), Rosalie Parsons (Third Form), Elizabeth Penfold (Third Form), Maisey Russell (Fourth Form) and Evie Smith (Second Form) for their superb performance throughout the day.

U15 Girls’ Cricket – Round two of the National Schools Cup 

On Tuesday 25th May,  the U15 Girls’ Cricket team travelled to Kent College, Canterbury for the second round of the National Schools Cup. SVS won the toss and elected to bowl first. Having taken to the field, the girls had a solid start with two wickets in the first four overs. This set the tone for the rest of the Kent College innings, with SVS looking sharp in the field. Another two wickets came from runouts after spectacular pieces of fielding, as well as another from a great catch. Our bowlers were on top form as well with Caitlin Calverly (Third Form) taking an impressive five-wicket haul, which included clean bowling four of the opposition batsmen. In the end, Kent College finished their innings on 50 runs.

In reply, we started our batting innings well, but an early wicket in the second over was a blow. We were up on our run rate until the 12th over when we had a collapse in the batting, with one of the Kent College girls also getting a five-wicket haul. In the end, SVS were all out for 43 in the 15th over, falling just eight runs short.

It was a very good game between the two sides and the SVS girls should be proud of their performance.

Mark Benson U10 Boys’ Cricket Tournament 

This week saw the return of the annual Mark Benson U10 Boys’ Cricket tournament. The tournament is six-a-side, and each innings is just five overs long, with five players bowling an over each. This makes for an excellent fast-paced game and is fantastically inclusive.

Seven prep schools attended the tournament and were delighted with the opportunity to play tournament sport again, with all schools getting to play at least three games. The visiting schools were split into two groups with Holmewood House and Dulwich Prep, Cranbrook progressing to the semi-finals as group winners with SVPS and The New Beacon joining them.

In one semi-final, Holmewood House beat The New Beacon by four runs and in the other, Dulwich Prep beat SVPS in another close-knit game, winning by seven runs. In the final, Dulwich Prep batted first, posting a total of 31 runs for three wickets. Holmewood House was able to chase down the total with eight balls to spare, finishing on 32 runs for two wickets. This topped off a commanding day for Holmewood House, going unbeaten throughout the whole day.

Well done and thanks to all involved, hope to see you all again next year!