on both occasions. My thanks go to Nick Brown and Simon Middleton for their help during the season. At 1st XI level it was a tough summer for a very inexpe- rienced group of cricketers, which rarely featured more than two pupils from Year 13 on any given day. They often fell away in matches when the game was in the balance for long passages of play, but the experiences and exposure that the players in Years 12 and 11 were afforded should be invaluable going forward. The captain of the 1st XI, Rhys Saunders , led the way with the bat, accumulating 649 runs across all formats at an average of just over 30. The high point of his season was a wonder- fully crafted 101 on the 1st XI square against Hampton in early May, where he displayed his array of stroke play and sweeps. Mention should also be handed to Jacob Emler and Robert Keaton who both surpassed 400 runs for the season; Jacob also collected 23 wickets in an im- pressive all-round display over the term, and both he and Robbie will be looking to be senior figures in the 1st XI for the 2023 season. The conclusion of the season The conclusion of the season saw the departure of the Master in Charge of Cricket, Richard Coughtrie , who left his post to take up a new role at Eton College. He de- serves a huge amount of credit for the work he put into the cricket programme over the last four years. Having to navigate through two extremely tough seasons which were either cancelled or heavily curtailed by Covid was not an easy task but he was able to oversee the delivery of online learning and later some fixtures in both the affected terms. The fact he was able to enjoy some ‘proper’ cricket in 2022 was a fitting way for him to leave the College with our best wishes. Robert Craze has taken over as Master in Charge, in what will continue to be an exciting time for cricket at the College; the depth of enthusiasm and talent for the game is shining through, from Junior School into the Senior XIs. My final thank you goes to the numerous staff across the PE Department and wider Common Room who continue to make a huge contribution to the cricket programme. Mak- ing cricket accessible to the number of pupils we currently have means we need a significant number of staff to be present at both Games and co-curricular sessions, pro- viding high-calibre coaching. Although we can never have enough help, my personal gratitude goes to all those who have contributed to the cricket programme during 2022.
at Taunton Prep during a challengingly tense run chase underlined the quality he was consistently able to display across the season. However, cricket is a team game, and the cup squad also had a sprinkling of players coming across from Year 7, with the likes of Max Count, Krish Thapar, George Gooderham and Arun Slatter playing in every round. As these pupils move into Year 8 they will be hoping to go one better in the ESCA Cup in 2023. Aside from the exciting cup cricket, it was another excel- lent year of cricket for the Lower School as we were able to provide fixtures for A to D squads in Year 8 and A to E squads in Year 7. A continued strength of ours is the ability to host as many games as we can in the mornings on the main site at the College. It really is very special to look out over the playing areas from the Pavilion Salle and see all of the Lower School XIs competing at the same time. Thanks to the efforts of the staff and their ‘apps’, we are able to record the achievements of the players more accurately, and the before-mentioned Roan Kennedy surpassed 1,000 runs in all school cricket in the final week of term, whilst Krish Thapar compiled 686 runs across all Lower School matches, as well as collecting 19 wickets. In Years 9 and 10, we were once again able to have some competitive block fixtures against St Paul’s, Hampton, KCS Wimbledon and RGS Guildford before half-term, completing the fixture list with Brighton College, Whit- gift, Trinity and Merchant Taylors. In the various cup competitions these age groups did not fare as well as the Lower School, but individually there were still some strong performances. In the final week of term, a number of cricketers across Years 9 and 10 supplemented the U16 team in the annual King’s Cup, which was hosted at the College. A particular highlight of this day was their victory over St Paul’s, where the Dulwich XI successfully chased down a target of 129 in their 20 overs, with Edward Brydon (Year 9) finishing 35*. Senior XIs The Senior XIs competed across the term in the same block fixtures as the Middle School, with the weather much improved from 2021 and thus very few fixtures affected by rain. The 2nd and 3rd XIs battled gamely throughout the summer, with the 2nd XI enjoying entertaining and close- run victories over St Paul’s and Brighton College. Daniel Pinkney was the stand-out batter for the 2nd XI with scores of 97 and 91, falling agonizingly short of a century
Swimming and water polo Seb Wakely and Tracey Palmer The 2022/23 season has been a bumper one for swim- ming and water polo at the College, with record numbers of boys participating at every level. Early morning ses- sions have regularly seen in excess of 40 boys in the pool, ready to start their day with a thorough workout, and more than 100 swimmers have represented the school over the course of the year. After the doldrums of Covid and last year’s rebuilding of the programme, our boys have been able to compete well in all competitions.
Hockey Steve Kelly
The 2022/23 pre-season kicked off at the end of the Michaelmas term with a trip for the senior hockey players to Barcelona, Spain. An enthusiastic and committed group of tourists enjoyed matches against local opposition, alongside plenty of training and some sightseeing. As the New Year came and went, pre-season for all year groups commenced in earnest, with sessions on the main Astro placing the groups in good stead going in to the start of the Lent term. With our Head of Hockey, Mr Kelly, in India competing in the Hockey World Cup for the duration of January, it was left to those at the College to lead the ambitious hockey programme. Over the course of the season, we saw Dul- wich compete in nearly 150 matches across the 18 school teams, ranging from the 1st XI to the U10B team. The 1st XI was ably captained by Finbar Percy and coached by Justin King. Highlights of their season in- cluded a superb 4–1 victory over Caterham School in the Boys U18 Schools Tier 2 Championship, with goals from Ed Warren, Max Constantinou and two goals for Finbar Percy . Disappointingly, one of the highlights of the year, the St George’s 6s competition, was cancelled because of overnight snowfall. The Junior and Lower School hockey programme had an excellent season led by the ever-enthusiastic Calum Basey and Richard Oubridge . Highlights included: the U10s competing in the In2Hockey London Cup at Colfe’s School, where an excellent performance ended in Dul- wich taking home the gold; the U12s who attended the co-curricular club competing against Langley Park School for Boys and gaining the first win of their hockey careers; the U11s competing determinedly in their London County Cup, where a tremendous performance against Whitgift School led to a win, followed by a hard-fought defeat to a very strong Trinity School team. Overall, this has been a fantastic season across all age groups with a tremendous atmosphere built around the sport. We hope this will continue next season and hockey will go from strength to strength.
Secondary Schools Team Relay Championships
In November, 11 swimmers from Years 9 to 13 competed in the finals of the Secondary Schools Team Relay Cham- pionships at the London Aquatic Centre. Over 130 schools across England had competed in the regional rounds, and Dulwich were one of the top 30 teams who got the oppor- tunity to travel to the iconic Olympic venue for the finals. The intermediate team improved on their qualification position of twenty-first-fastest school in both their events, to finish ranked sixteenth-fastest in the medley and seven- teenth in the freestyle. This achievement was all the more impressive given that four of the five members of the team are in Year 9 and will be able to compete again for the same age group next year. The senior team finished four- teenth in the medley but did even better in the freestyle, finishing seventh in the final, in a very strong field. Bath Cup The highlight of the year came in the Bath Cup, a na- tional event for public schools, which sees teams from Scotland and Northern Ireland travelling to London to compete. Our team of Tom Jerman (Year 13), Kamran Din (Year 13), Oliver Warner (Year 11) and Andreas Kokkini (Year 11) swam superbly in the 4x100 metre freestyle event to qualify for the final in second place. A tactical substitution for the final saw Justin Fu (Year 11) replace Oliver, and the boys swam out of their skins to secure their silver medal position, finishing behind a very strong Harrow team but extending their lead over the other teams and coming very close to equalling the time of DC’s victorious 2020 team.
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THE ALLEYNIAN 711
SPORTS
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