Taylor Ward Experience

Keen cricketer Rory S, Year 6, was nominated to attend the Taylor Ward Trophy at Uppingham School.

Rory joined fellow cricket lovers from as far afield as Kenya to enjoy a training morning with specialist coaches before splitting into two teams to play a match. The teams were named Taylor and Ward after Uppingham’s director of cricket and cricket professional.

Rory’s father, David, has provided an overview of the day – complete with a superb match report. Our sports department will be asking Mr S to contribute to our weekly match reports!

"We had a wonderful day at Uppingham. Players came from as far afield as Kenya, Jersey and Scotland. The ground wicket and facilities were all first class.

Uppingham provided five specialist coaches for a training session in morning, including fielding drills, strength and conditioning, and batting and bowling sessions in their wonderful grass nets. There were two teams, Taylor and Ward, named after their director of cricket and cricket professional. Rory was in the Taylor team, the Ward team won the toss and decided to bat. Play was played over 30 overs per side, and each player got the opportunity to bowl at least 2 overs each. After 14 overs and with the Ward team going well at the time, Rory came on to bowl and bowled a tidy first over with no wickets. The drinks break was taken and then Rory came on for his second over and took a wicket which was a catch taken at mid-off. Eventually the Ward team were 149 for 9 after 30 overs which I thought was a good score as the standard of batting bowling and fielding was very high indeed. After the net sessions in the morning Rory was given the number 4 spot for batting. The Ward team opened with a young bowler from London who I have to say is the fastest under 11 bowler I have seen and he got two quick wickets. So in walks Rory at 12 for two and I can hardly look, however he acquitted himself very well and batted for a while to get to 23 and was starting to go really well when he danced down the wicket to a spinner missed and was stumped before he managed to get back in his crease. This was a pity as he had done all the hard work. Eventually the Taylor team were bowled out for 80 with Rory being the top scorer so I was very proud of his efforts playing with strangers and having never played a 30 over game before."

Well done to Rory on a fabulous performance and for embracing the experience. Thank you to Mr S for letting us hear all about it.