Sports Round Up & Stars of the Week

🎽 County Athletics

Over the last couple of weeks selected pupils from Years 4-8 have  competed at the Sussex round of national athletics. At both the Year 4 and 5 event and 6-8 event Pennthorpe have had a great representation with some excellent results.  All the athletes who competed should be very proud of themselves and a massive congratulations goes to the students who have qualified for national finals, which is a massive achieve and the best results we have had for Pennthorpe in a very long time.

• Ayla – 2^nd place in the U10 girls Javelin
• Thomas – 2^nd place in the U11 boys Javelin
• Olivia – 1^st in both Discus and Javelin in the U12 girls
• William – 2^nd in the U12 boys  800 meters and Long jump
• Zara – 2^nd in the U12 girls shot put
• Celeb  – 2^nd in the U13 boys 100 meters
• Harriet – 3^rd in the U13 girls hurdles
• Lexi – 3^rd in the U13 girls Long jump
• Eli – 2^nd in the U14 girls Javelin girls

We wish all those going to national finals all the best for Birmingham and can’t wait to hear how they get on.

🏏 A round up of the cricket matches:

• With House Cricket rapidly approaching, Years 5 & 6 took part in training sessions during their usual games slot to hone their skills ready for their matches. This left year 7 to face Great Ballard across the board in a variety of hardball and softball matches.
• A tight bowling performance by the whole team set the U12 As up for a wonderful victory. Accuracy was on point, delivering minimal wides or no balls, with Caleb bringing the pace and spin with his audacious technique. In addition to his excellent bowling, Caleb made some brilliant catches to help Pennthorpe limit Great Ballard to 107. With the bat, solid performances from multiple batters contributed good scores to see us home comfortably, winning by 8 wickets.
• Bowling prowess was on display for the U12 Bs as well, starting the game strong with superb deliveries that held Great Ballard to 68 runs. Lead by Sam S who gave a magnificent performance, the runs came thick and fast for Pennthorpe when they came up to bat, ending with a fantastic result for the team who took the win by 9 wickets.
• Accurate bowling as the undoing of the U12 Cs team however, with some big Great Ballard batters to immediately strike with a succession of fours and sixes. Beau bowled two superb overs to limit their accumulation, however their ability to hit the ball with power caused Pennthorpe problems in the field. Up to bat we had an unfortunate first innings, conceding three quick wickets off the first six balls. Despite some confident batting, Pennthorpe hit high on too many occasions, setting Great Ballard up to claim some easy outs.
• A roasting hot day on Thursday gave the Year 3 and 4s another fine afternoon for their fixtures, again facing Great Ballard. The U9 As set the tone for their fixture with a well-executed fielding innings to start the proceedings, taking wickets early on to keep their total down, with Edward S delivering pacy, accurate bowls that caused the Great Ballard batters plenty of trouble. For their batting innings, Pennthorpe started clocking up runs at a steady rate, before the middle order showed what they were made of with a flurry of fours and sixes to edge past the oppositions total and claim victory.
• The win streak continued with the U9 Bs, who began their game with plenty of positive attacking batting and decisive runs between the wickets. James R struck each ball with precision and power, ensuring Pennthorpe ended their innings with a competitive total of 253. Thanks to some timely wickets, Great Ballard just couldn’t quite catch us, leaving Pennthorpe in the clear by 22.
• U9 Cs opted to field first, and once again put on a skilful bowling performance with plenty of accurate bowls.  The fielders were incredibly efficient in their trade to get the ball quickly back to the stumps and prevent the opposition from making many runs, Matthew marshalling the boundary superbly. Once batting, Pennthorpe’s teamwork and communication shone through, meaning Great Ballard could only claim a singular wicket throughout the innings and Pennthorpe walked away deserved winners.
• The U9 Ds also had great success in their fixture, hitting lots of fours to quickly garner plenty of runs. Albert read the field superbly to find the gaps in their defence and allow himself and his batting partner opportunity after opportunity to add to the Pennthorpe total. Making the change to field allowed the team to show how well they can work as a unit, closing down any Great Ballard attempts with vigour and determination to leave themselves 17 clear.
• Fielding first, U9 Es faced some strong batters from a confident Great Ballard side. Between Pennthorpe’s accurate bowls and occasional T ball, Great Ballard earnt themselves a handful of 4s amongst plenty of single and double runs. Ella W came to our rescue midway through the innings to bowl an excellent over, conceding just three runs off six balls and claiming a wonderful wicket to boot. With the bat, we built our run total slow and steady, managing to see out the innings without any wickets being taken! Unfortunately, we just couldn’t accumulate enough runs, leaving Great Ballard to take the win.
• Finally, the U9 Fs came incredibly close to a victory, ultimately falling just short by one single run! The team batted with confidence and good technique, Henry leading the way with a wonderfully hit six to set themselves up nicely. Were it not for a few wickets, Pennthorpe would have earnt themselves a sizeable lead, but Great Ballard’s steady progress throughout the innings meant that they just about caught the total with a ball to spare.

The first rounds of House Cricket fixtures take place next week; the mighty Tismans facing off against the ever present Pallinghurst on Monday as Baynards take on Gaskyns, before round two on Wednesday with Pallinghurst versus Baynards and Tismans against Gaskyns in the final house competition of this academic year – the excitement is  building and the tension is mounting – who will come out victorious?