End of Summer Season Reports 2024

Belhaven Hill School End of Season Sports Reports 2024

Girls' Cricket: U11B

Belhaven U11b v Fettes U13c won
Belhaven U11d Mixed v Fettes U11d Mixed won
Belhaven U11b v Ardvreck U11b won
Belhaven U11b v St Mary’s U11b abandoned due to rain
Belhaven U11b v Loretto U13c won

Having coached U13 rounders for 22 years this was a new first for me – a new sport and a new team.  As we began the term, the girls were excited to learn a new game and also to be able to train across the year group with the boys. Many of our rounders skills were interchangeable and it didn’t take long for the girls to adapt to a new style of bowling. We spent the first few sessions of term, learning how to bowl and it was amazing at how quickly the girls became quite good at this. Next up was learning how to hold the cricket bat and hit the ball, and finally came the rules of the game.

Our first match of the season was against Fettes U13c down at Winterfield. It was a great match that allowed all the girls to play and become familiar with a new game. We displayed some accurate bowling in this match so our hard work paid off and the opposition were able to place these well to allow our fielders to develop their skills. With our turn to bat, we faced many ‘no balls’ from the opposition but also managed to hit some good balls to score some runs and win the match.

Next up was the U11d match against Fettes. This was our first mixed match of the season and it allowed the boys and girls to play together as a team. What was lovely about this match was the support between the players, whether it was bowling, fielding or scoring runs – a really lovely atmosphere and a win was the icing on the cake!

The third match of the season was against Ardvreck away and after a long journey, the girls soon got into the swing of the game. They faced some good bowlers and were able to strike the ball and score some 4s from the delivery of the balls. It was a really close second innings but the Belhaven team came out on top.

Our match against Cargilfield was cancelled due to the weather and so we looked forward to our next match against St Mary’s. This started off well, with Belhaven fielding. Some good bowling from our girls ensure that unfortunately for us, St Mary’s found it easy to hit the ball. However, in typical Scottish Summer weather the sun shone turned to rain and play was abandoned after two attempts to restart!

Our final match of the season was down at Winterfield against Loretto U13c.   Again, our bowling was accurate and, when batting, we ere determined to go for every ball, even if it was a ‘no-ball’.  Great teamwork led to our final victory of the term.

It has been great fun coaching the U11 boys and girls this term. The girls have improved greatly over the course of the term, working hard on their bowling action to deliver some accurate balls.  I look forward to seeing how they develop their skills over the next few years.

Well done!

Boys' Cricket: 1st XI

Our first match of the season was away at Strathallan on a cold and wet day. We scored 174, with Rollo scoring 51 not out from 53 balls. We restricted them to 74, with Ollie T and Hector taking 2 wickets each, winning the game by 100 runs.

Our second match was against Fettes at home. Despite playing poorly and being sloppy in all departments, we scraped through with a 12-run victory. Hector top-scored with 33, and Wilbur was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4 overs, 2-15.

The third match, against Ardvreck, resulted in another convincing win. We batted first and made a total of 191, with Alfie and Charlie both scoring 50s. We bowled Ardvreck out for 84, with Archie R, Harry C, and Tommy all taking 2 wickets each.

This season, it was great to be able to rotate the boys through the 1st and 2nd teams, with Archie R, Archie S, Harry C, Tommy, Struan, Harry F, Hamish, and Ollie TM all playing for both teams.

The next match was away to Merchiston. Thank you to Mr. Purkiss for taking this match in my absence. Merchiston batted first and made 155-7, with Rollo taking 3 wickets. We made a brilliant run chase, with Alfie playing a proper captain's knock, scoring 42 not out to win us the game.

Finally we faced Loretto for the final game of the seaon. We batted first, making 151 for no loss of wicket, with Sam being the pick of the batters, scoring 51 from 21 balls. We then bowled Loretto out for 68, with Will S and Charlie J taking 2 wickets each. It was a thoroughly enjoyable season, and each and every boy who has played this season should be immensely proud of themselves. I have loved coaching you this year, boys

Thank you.

Mr Brown

U9 Mixed : 'Bouncers' and 'Yorkers'

This U9 cricket season saw a huge change from previous years, as the girls played cricket for the first time in the school’s history, and furthermore the boys and girls played in matches together.  The matches were mixed both by gender and ability and as such, rather than traditional ‘a’ and ‘b’ teams, two new teams were created – 'Belhaven U9 Bouncers' and 'Belhaven U9 Yorkers'.

We started the season with two straightforward matches against Strathallan.  Both teams won comfortably, the Bouncers by 79 runs and the Yorkers by 53.  In the Bouncers’ match, Archie, Flora, Clara, Mary and Finlay all took wickets with Archie (2), Sandy, Mary and Finlay all creating run-outs, such was the indecision in the Strath batting.  Although we won comfortably most runs for both sides came from wides and no-balls, which we identified immediately as being the main point for us to work on at the start of this season.

There followed a win and a loss against Fettes, a fair reflection on the two games.  For the Bouncers, Archie/Clara, and Monty/Delphine worked well in their pairs to score heavily when in, and Archie, Delphine and Monty were the pick of the bowlers as we won by 54 runs.  Monty’s day was notable for two catches, one a superb dive off Noah’s bowling.  The Yorkers lost by 27 runs in the other match an entertaining and close-run affair.

Next up were Ardvreck, a school we normally beat comfortably and amazingly we contrived to lose both matches.  The Bouncers were roundly whacked off the field, as we allowed Ardvreck to score 91 runs from their 16 overs, which was not a huge score on a tiny boundary, though worryingly we took only two wickets, Heidi and Flora both taking their batter cleanly.  We had precious few chances for catches and made poor decisions when attempting run-outs, often throwing to the ‘wrong’ end.  Our bowling was not inaccurate but was slow and deliberate, meaning that runs could easily be knocked up against straight but soft deliveries.  With the bat we simply did not register, as we missed easy chances to score by not being brave enough and as such got nowhere near our target, losing heavily by 74 runs.  The Yorkers fared much better, losing by just four runs despite the loss of 7 wickets to Ardvreck’s 1 – saving a single wicket would have given us victory but it was not to be.  Archie, Monty and Mary were the pick of the players today.

With the Cargilfield match rained off St. Mary’s were up next and ambitiously we tried to field a sextangular tournament which had all the makings off a classic but sadly the weather got in the way again and we had to hide in the trees at one point and rush on again to get the last couple of overs completed before the clouds collapsed in on us again, all teams completing just one single fixture.  Both Belhaven teams won, by 27 and 30 runs respectively, the Bouncers starting poorly. St. Mary’s raced to 19 runs off the first two overs but Jules and Sandy calmed the storm by taking three wickets in five balls, Jules forced a run-out off his own bowling, then took a wicket cleanly, and then finally Sandy did the same.  The rest of the innings was nondescript, though our bowlers deserve credit for inexpensive overs, giving away few runs.  Belhaven, in response, soon racked up the required runs.  Flora and Petra – on her début – notched up nine runs, before Sandy and Jules hit a wonderful 19 from their twelve balls.  Monty and Mary scored fifteen and Delphine and Atticus fourteen runs, all without loss though overall Jules caught the eye the most for his play.  The Yorkers were consistently ahead and thankfully took on Miss Watt’s advice about playing with more confidence after the previous week’s horror show in Perth.

Our final match was an absolute stonker.  What.  A.  Game.  In the Bouncers’ match, winning the toss in his last match for Belhaven Hill, captain Harry D. put Loretto into bat in a decision which would prove crucial to deciding who would win this tightest of tight tussles. From their opening pair Loretto put on 20 runs for no loss, our bowlers giving away more runs in wides and no-balls than the batters managed from the willow.  Cometh the hour, cometh the captain, however, and from his first bowling over Harry took two wickets in two balls, one well caught and one clean bowled, leaving him on hat-trick ball.  And with the hat-trick ball he took a wicket, but sadly, meany old Mr. Curry had to disallow it for overstepping the bowler’s crease!  In the next over Monty smashed through the Loretto defence middle-stump and then Mary caused a run-out off her own bowling and things were looking rosy at just 17 runs halfway through the innings.  How things changed.  A couple of big hitters smashed their way through our accurate, but soft bowling, combined with the ever-high numbers of wides and no-balls to give Loretto a reasonable score to finish on.  We missed a couple of catchable chances – would we come to rue them?

Belhaven, in response, started slowly, Mary and Finlay adding only 9 runs combined as Mary was both caught out and clean bowled.  Grace and Eliza put on 34 runs without loss, of which they ran only two themselves – Loretto conceding the rest in wide deliveries and no-balls.  This left Monty and Harry the achievable task of scoring 15 runs from their 24 deliveries (4 overs).  Never straightforward, Monty ran Harry out first ball and Harry, on strike, scored slowly.  However, we reached 58 runs with two overs remaining.  All we had to do was stay in and we had won.  Monty got himself out next ball, caught well at the third attempt.  One over left though and 60 on the board.  Second ball in, Harry ran Monty out in a great display of crazed running between the wickets and poor communication.  That left Belhaven on 56 runs with two balls to go – one run short of the draw.  Penultimate ball – one run.  Now we’re drawing.  Last ball to Monty, good hit, one run, Belhaven win on the last ball by one run!  Cue elation and jubilant scenes in the Dingly Dell.  So, we lost our heads a bit at the end but just fell over the line to win in the tightest finish I have known in eleven years of under-nine cricket.  What a match.  The Yorkers, sadly, lost by 37 runs in a less tense affair, leaving both teams with a combined 6 wins from 10 fixtures, a more-than-respectable return for mixed ability matches.

Player reviews:

Eliza: Keen batter and has good power, though she is susceptible to the straight ball and needs to remember to keep a straight bat when necessary.  Eliza's bowling technique needs work, for she twists her head away from the target and looks away as she twists just before release but at least she is in fact opening her body before delivery.

Noah: Started the term slowly as the communication between his brain and his arm needed fine-tuning to get his throwing action better.  In the middle of the term Noah showed promising signs of improvement but these were sadly cut short as he missed the last two matches of the season through illness.

Bertie: Progressed well at cricket this year.  He is a strong boy and his target has been to work at his technique.  Although this still requires refinement (particularly Bertie's bowling), it has improved well as the term has worn on.

Archie: Oone of the stand-out players of the U9 cricket squad.  He bowls quickly, and generally accurately and has taken many wickets in the matches this term.  His fielding is good and he trusts his hands to catch.  Archie loves opening the bat to score runs and has many to his name this term, coming in second in the list of runs scored.  He is guilty of opening his bat in order to attack every ball, which has led to the odd dismissal as the ball has slipped underneath his bat for a wicket and so Archie needs to remember to keep a straight bat when necessary.

Grace: Suffering an arm injury right at the beginning of the season was a huge shame for Grace but gladly she returned to the U9 cricket squad in time to take part in the last couple of matches.  Naturally her skills did not come on to the same degree as others' but Grace can bowl fairly well.  Her target is to put speed into her run-up.  In terms of batting Grace needs to remember to defend the straight balls as her feet got in the way several times which, in Form 4, would count as lbw and a wicket against her.

Harry: It is pleasing that Harry saved his best term's sport for his last term at Belhaven, and his best performance for his last fixture, against Loretto.  Harry struggled all season when bowling, as his arm was too wayward but this got steadily better as the term wore on.  In terms of batting, Harry started cautiously but by the end was hitting the ball well and looking to run cheap singles where he could.  Harry's memories from his last match should live long in the memory as he took two wickets in two balls and then, on a hat-trick, also took a clean-bowled wicket but overstepped the bowling crease, and was also part of the final pair which chased down the total to win on the last ball by one run.

Jules: A naturally competitive sportsman, Jules took to cricket immediately and achieved well in the term as one of the squad's outstanding players.  Jules scored the third most runs and has a natural and effective batting technique.  Jules' bowling is more in need of work, yet he has improved well from simply throwing the ball as he did when first he began cricket in April.

Mary: Performed admirably at cricket this term.  She is keen on batting, and her ability to look for a quick single is good.  She does open her bat more often than I would like to see which has led to the loss of wickets for her in some matches.  Mary's bowling action is good and has got better as the term has worn on as she has managed to put some power into her release.  She has taken several wickets and can be pleased with her overall progress.

Flora: Listened well and developed her skills progressively as the term wore on.  In bowling I would like to see her incorporate speed into her run-up in order to get power into her deliveries.  Flora bats cautiously and I think simply exposure to more bowling will get her used to seeing how a ball travels as it approaches the bat.

Sandy: A left-hander, Sandy has played the game well.  He is one of the stand-out players in the U9 squad and bats particularly well, hitting many good runs this season.  Sandy's bowling is strong but he can be inconsistent, bowling high and wide at times and it is this I suggest he look at next year.

Petra: Arrived late into the U9 kwik cricket team, Petra threw herself into the sport this term.  She has played with confidence from the outset.  When batting Petra looks to hit each ball for a boundary!  While I admire her enthusiasm, it is important for her to remember to defend her stumps as well.  Petra's bowling technique, quite understandably, lacks practice but I am encouraged by the progress Petra has made since picking up the ball for the first time, and now she has developed a three-step run-up she is getting more power into her delivery.  Just keep your head looking at the stumps, rather than turning around, Petra!

Dougal: Enjoyed himself.  Dougal is keen to play and confident.  When batting Dougal needs to ensure he does not miss the straight ball onto the stumps, as he has lost some wickets this season trying to hit good deliveries.  He should also look alert when trying to score quick singles.  Dougal's bowling is developing and he has made fair progress in this regard though he is often prone to giving away wides if he is not fully focused.

Atticus: Had a solid term's cricket and has developed his skills well as the term has worn on.  Atticus is bright and alert and should keep thinking and questioning in order to better himself next term.  Both his batting and bowling are fairly strong and these have improved well.  Atticus has scored well in several of the matches we have played and can be proud of his progress this year.

Clara: Keen to learn cricket this summer and this positive attitude has helped her develop her skills well.  Clara has both batted and bowled promisingly, and indeed scored runs and taken the odd wicket in the matches we have played this season.  When bowling, she is guilty of turning her head around away from her target, which she will need to correct, as it leads to her bowling often becoming high and wide.  She enjoys getting bat to ball and running between the wickets.

Monty: The stand-out cricketer in the U9 squad this year.  He has scored more runs, taken more wickets, made more catches and caused more run-outs than any other U9 and has been our go-to player when we need the game to turn in our favour.  Monty is confident with the bat in hand, be it hitting singles or boundaries and is exceptionally good at spotting and forcing a quick single where he can.  Monty's bowling is very strong but one point to make is that halfway through the season he changed his run up, which now includes a hop.  He needs to cut this out; furthermore he has changed to delivering the ball square on to the wickets, meaning that he is not getting his arm up straight.  Nonetheless - a great term's cricket.

Delphine: Skills have developed over the course of the term and she is now capable both with bat and ball.  I would like to see Delphine put more pace into her run-up when bowling in order to have more power in her delivery and also to play with greater freedom and confidence when batting; she is still a little meek and hesitant to run.

Finlay: Had a superb cricket season and is one of the top three or four players in the U9 group.  He is confident with the bat and has scored well in our matches this term.  He is also an effective bowler, though when he tries too hard for pace his balls can have the tendency to drift down the off-side.

Heidi: A pleasure to teach cricket to this year.  Her bowling has improved well but I would like to see her incorporate some speed into her run-up in order to have more chance of getting the ball to the target.  She also releases the ball a fraction too late which encourages it down to the ground, which she should think about.  With the bat Heidi is tentative but I am hopeful that with exposure this will improve.

Player of the Year: Eliza, Mary, Sandy and Jules deserve mentions for their prowess but just pipping them, and the hugely impressive Finlay and Archie to the Player of the Season award, due to his scoring more runs, taking more wickets, catches and run-outs than any other player - is Monty S.