Ilford County High School 1st XI vs Old Parkonians Presidents XI

It was with great pleasure that we welcomed everyone to Oakfield for the School Centenary Cricket Match between the School XI and an Old Parks President XI. It was showery, windy and bitingly cold for most of the day, but what a game!

ICHS cricket has never been stronger. Currently Essex U13, U14 and U15 Cup holders and London Champions at U13 and U15, the School is recognised as one of the cricket centres of excellence throughout Essex and London. The Centenary Match provided an ideal opportunity for the School team to demonstrate their talents against a strong and considerately more experienced Old Parkonians XI. Nine of the Parks team were former ICHS pupils. The other two were Kieran Jones, who, apart from being a key member of the Old Parkonians 1st XI, also taught at the School for a term and John Lever, the former England and Essex bowler. John is a great friend of the club and we were delighted that he agreed to join in the celebrations.

Ben Bacon, the School captain, won the toss and with skies overcast and the pitch a little damp, invited the Old Boys to bat first. This proved to be a good decision as batting was difficult against some tight bowling and good fielding. In a rain interrupted innings, the scoring rate was slow and wickets were difficult to get. Built around an excellent innings of 115 not out by Kieran Jones, with captain Kris Bostock and Andy Barnes scoring a quick 25 and 21 respectively, the Presidents XI declared at tea on 211 for 3.

Following the interval, the School set themselves a target of being as close as possible to needing 100 runs in the final twenty overs. Rising to the challenge, the top order of Amar Patel (30), Varun Chopra (57) and Dip Patel (53) put their team in control having scored 108 for 2 as the game moved into the final twenty overs. Wickets began to fall steadily - with Alan 'Mad Jack' Durrant taking his 1000th career wicket for Old Parks - but the run rate was maintained as the game reached a nail-biting climax.

With two new batsmen at the crease, seven runs were needed to win the game from the last over. Anuj Chopra scored two over mid-wicket off the first ball, then repeated the same shot for three off the second ball, leaving Ben Bacon to score the winning two runs through mid-off.

A thoroughly enjoyable day and a great game of cricket - we look forward to the return match in 2102!