Technically, the cricket season commenced when our first fixture was played, an away win against Haileybury School last Saturday 22 April, but somehow it only truly feels underway when the Randall Catching Competition has taken place, a much-loved event that brings cricketers from across the whole school together.
The contest is named after former cricket professional Derek Randall who worked here at school supporting our then Master in Charge of Cricket, Jeremy Farrell who started the competition during his tenure.
It is quite literally a simple cricket-based catching competition comprising of three rounds of catching:
- Round 1 – catching a flat catch hit by a teacher or coach
- Round 2 – catching the ball off a katchet board, which makes the ball deviate
- Round 3 (final) – high catches.
As soon as a boy drops the ball they are out. Once out, they then sit on the Langham Pavilion benches to support the remaining boys until the last four boys are left standing. This is when the competition ramps up a notch and the ball is hit much higher from the pavilion viewing area and the winner is the last boy left in the competition after everyone else is eliminated for dropping the ball.
This year, congratulations go to Upper Sixth Former Kabir Singh, Captain of the 4th XI, whose legacy will be forever engraved on the Randall Cup. (pictured right)
Director of Cricket, Gary Steer said, “Derek Randall was one of England’s best ever fielders, as well as being an outstanding batsman, and we were very fortunate to have him as the cricket professional for many years. Since Derek retired, we have held the Derek Randall catching competition every year in the Upper School and it’s certainly something the boys and staff look forward to. The best thing about it is that it brings the whole of the school cricket club together from the Fourth Form right through to the 1st XI and it was fantastic to see Kabir win it this year.”
