Sports News

Cricket
Bridgwater Cricket Finals 18th July

Nether Stowey retained the cup with a strong batting performance in the second match against Wembdon. They scraped past a valiant North Newton team in the semi-finals, having put in a poor effort in the field. They certainly bucked up their ideas in the final and were deserved winners.

The match was switched, at the last moment from a rain soaked Bridgwater Cricket Club to a surprisingly dry North Newton Crciket Club. The whole of the event was bathed in warm sunshine. In the first match NS posted a fair total of 54 off 10 overs with Jack retiring on 23 and Jonty scoring a handy 10 not out. That should have been more than enough but in the field NS gave away a ridiculous 33 extras and NN were closing in for the kill. Thankfully Olly came to the fore with a brilliant 4 wickets for 2 runs and NN fell just 2 runs short on 52.

Wembdon had edged past Sedgmoor Manor in another close semi-final and they were NS’s opponents in the final. Jack put them in to bat and a better effort kept their score down to 51. They were still 21 extras in that total. This total looked attainable if more than one batsman got stuck in. NS batted very sensibly, playing the bowling on its merits. Jack and Jordan kept the score ahead of the run rate. Jack in particular unleashed a set of mighty blows, two of which cleared the boundary. His parting shot was an imperious six well over the square leg boundary. Fortunately, Olly had his eye in and he polished off the rest of the total with 3 fours in the seventh over. The match was won with 3 overs to spare.

Tag Rugby Festival July 13th.
This was Stuart Woodhouse's last festival as he is returning to Australia in a couple of weeks. He set the event up 4 years ago and it has been very popular with the Bridgwater area schools. Stu also visited the primary schools and ran coaching sessions after school. Nether Stowey School will miss him and at the end of the competition presented Stu with a fantastic cake cards and a little something to remember us. The event is hosted and run by Bridgwater and Albion Rugby Football club, many thanks to the organisers and all the helpers.

For a change the weather was grey and cool for this annual event. That was kinder weather for the players, if not the spectators. As usual we entered a boys and a mixed team.
The boys’ competition was between just 4 schools as more schools now prefer the mixed. There were 14 mixed teams split into 2 qualifying groups. The boys have always won their competition but that never looked likely this time. They battled very hard and won 2 out of 6 group matches but lost to North Newton in the 3rd/4th place play off. There is no doubt that the standard has risen a lot and the worthy winners were Westonzoyland. My pick for best player was Wilkie.

The mixed team looked in with a good chance of success even after losing their first game. They won all the remaining group games to book a semi-final place. They then had to play the always strong Enmore 1 side and it was a game too far. They lost fairly comfortably but throughout played with plenty of determination, effort and speed. The outstanding girl player in the tournament was Georgie Youe who was unstoppable once she broke free. 18 tries is a formidable tally. Hopefully this tournament will survive once organiser and coach Stu Woodhouse departs these shores for his native Australia. .

Coe Cup July 11th
This year Nether Stowey played host for the Coe Cup, an athlectics Tournament between small schools in Sedgemoor. Taking part this year were Woolavington, Puriton, Catcott, Nether Stowey and Western Zoyland. It was a great afternoon the sun shone and the competition was well fought. The winners this year were Western Zoyland (the children in the red). Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, especially the children who were all in good voice.

Cricket

Ewart Hebditch 11 a side cup 1
Monday 11/6/07 Home versus North Newton Nether Stowey 152 for 4 (20 overs).
North Newton 72 all out. NS won by 80 runs.

NN have had some strong teams in recent seasons but it is probably fair to say that this wasn’t one of them. They were almost a one player team – Miles Barham being a useful batsman and a good bowler.
NS won the toss and batted. Jordan and Olly put on 20 fairly comfortably until Olly spooned one in the air for a caught and bowled. He scored 5. That introduced Jack who immediately imposed himself on the bowling with some big hits and put NN on the back foot. These two batted very well together until Jordan was retied for a fine 35. His straight hitting was his best source of runs.

Jack carried on with some support from Gus, then James, Richard, Katie and Sam. Jack cruised on to his 100 (4 sixes) and he was retired after striking the century shot. It is rare to score a century at this level of cricket – it is a great achievement.
The score of 152 was formidable and NN never looked like getting them. The bowling duties were shared amongst all those who wished to bowl and the run rate was kept down. Wickets were taken by Alice, Olly, Gus and Danielle. The fielding was noticeably good and Jonty looked composed behind the stumps. Some areas to work on but a sound all round performance. A harder game against Trinity beckons in the next round.

Batting – Jordan 35 no, Olly 5, Jack 101 no, Gus 1, James 1, Richard 2, Katie 0 no, Sam 1 no.

Bowling – Alice 4-1-7-2, Olly 3-1-11-1, Richard 2-1-1-0, Jack 2-1-2-0, Katie 1-0-6-0, Jordan 2-1-1-0, James 2-0-5-0, Danielle 2-0-7-1, Sam 1-0-10-0, Gus 1-0-3-1.

Bowling award – Alice
Batting award – Jack
Fielding award - Danielle

Netball Matches
Small Schools Tournament Stogursey

On the afternoon of 8th June Nether Stowey's Netball team played in the small schools tournament at Stogursey School. There were 7 schools taking part. It was a very hot afternoon and all the schhols played really well.
Louise Hall wrote the match reports:-
Enmore v Nether Stowey
It was a good match, Rebecca scored in less than a minute, and then Louise scored 2-0 to Nether Stowey. The team played very well. The final result was 2-0 a victory to Nether Stowey.

Cannington v Nether Stowey
Our second match of the day, the weather was very hot. Cannington scored then Georgie scored for us. Cannington then went on to score again and then again good goals.
The end score was Cannington 3 Nether Stowey 1.

Stogursey v Nether Stowey
The game went well the sun shone,we were all feeling the heat. Stogursey scored and then again. After half time Rebecca scored for us and she scored again. Go Rebecca! then just before the end of the match Stogursey scored! The whistle blew, end of the match. The final score was Stogursey 3 Nether Stowey 2.

Otterhampton v Nether Stowey
The game started we all badly wanted to win this one. Sennen Scored! Georgie scored! Half time Otterhampton had yet to score we were back on form then Rebecca scored the whistle blew and yes we had won.
The final score was Nether Stowey 3 Otterhampton 0.

Spaxton v Nether Stowey
We were all very excited we had just won our last match, our legs felt exhausted. After a good challengeing game. Rebecca scored then so did Spaxton. The game finished at a draw, we all played at our best.
Final score Spaxton 1 Nether Stowey 1

Enmore B V Nether Stowey
Our last match so we were all going to give it our best. Alice scored, then Georgie still no score from Enmore. Nether Stowey's passes were brilliant, this showed as the end of the match we won.
Final score Nether Stowey 2 Enmore B 0.

The competion was very good the Final was played by Cannington and Stogursey with Cannington finishing as the winners over all. The only two teams that beat us.

Netball

On Thursday 15th March Nether Stowey played Sedgemoor Manor. Bex Villas was captain and wrote the match report. " We had a really exciting game against Sedgemoor manor with the final score being 5-4 to us. Alice Pike scored 2, Georgie Youé 1, Raglan Meredith 1 and Sennen Meredith 1. There were two girls that were players of the match Louise Hall and Alex Barton. I think we did well considering that Sedgemoor Manor are an excellent team with good players, so it was a great achievement to beat them even if it was only by one goal."
Some members of the Chatterbooks club also wrote match reports and you can read more about this exciting game.

On Monday 12th March Nether Stowey played Spaxton. Alice Pike was the captain and her report follows.
" In the first quarter there were no goals scored and it wasn't very well played for both teams. In the second quarter it was better played but stil no goals were scored!!!
In the third quarter the game got going and Georgie Youé scored 1-0, but then they scored 1-1, then alice Pike scored 2-1, then Georgie Youé scored 3-1. Then they scored 3-2.In the last quarter Rebecca Villis scored 4-2 then to finish off Raglan Meredith scored 5-2. We played well and won. Georgie Youé was girl of the match because she was getting into good places to be passed to."

On Friday 9th March Nether Stowey played Otterhampton. The Captain was Chloe Bruce who wrote the match report-" In the 1st quarter Sennen and Rebecca scored 1 each, making the score 2-0 to NS. In the 2nd Otterhampton scored 1, NS 0 score 2 -1. In the 3rd quarter Georgie scored 1 for NS so the score became 3-1.

However in the final quarter Otterhampton scored a goal and the game became very exciting as nether Stowey tried hard to keep their lead. There were many attempts to score and finally just before the final whistle Raglan scored.
Final score was 4-2 to Nether Stowey.
The Girl of the Match was Alice Pike because she had very good defending."

On Thursday 15th February Nether Stowey played St Mary's Bridgwater Louise Hall was captain and wrote the match report. Here is her report:-
"We had a netball match on Thursday 15th February against St Mary's school. It was a very good match everybody nearly scored at least once.We worked as a great team, our girl of the match was Georgie (Youe).

I was very proud of our team because we all worked well together, on the way we were very nervous because they have a good reputation for being excellent players. The score was 9/2 to us. Our passing was fantastic. The weather was very windy it did not rain but at one point the wind helped us."

On Wednesday 7th Feburary Nether Stowey played at home against Puriton and won 8-1.
Georgie Youe was the captain of Nether Stowey's team and wrote the match report...

"It was a very successful match, we won 8, 1! Rebecca Villis scored 1 in the first quarter, Puriton scored 1 in the second quarter, Alice Pike scored 2 and Alex Barton scored 1 in the third quarter , and the in the forth quarter Raglan Meridith scored 3 and Rebecca Villis 1. It was a good match and everyone played well, but the girl of the match was Leah Downey."

Thursday 25th January Nether Stowey played at home against `Eastover and just won in the last few seconds of the game. Raglan Meridith was the captain of the team and wrote the match report..." This was our second game of the season the weather was not as good as we wanted it to be. The team came together magnificently it was the best I have ever seen them play. The score was very god but close. Score- Nether stowey 4 Eastover 3.
It was Eastover's first match of the season, our passing was great and we were spacing out phenomenally. We had possession with the ball for much of the time. Also we had a lot more attempts at scoring but missed a lot. We put all our effort into the game every single person. The win boosted all our confidence."
Scorers -: Sennen Meredith 3, Rebecca Villis 1
Girl of the match -: Sennen Meredith

On the 15th January 2007 Nether stowey played their first netball match in this years touriment. It was away at St George's School Wembdon. It was a very close match which Wembdon won 4-2, all the girls played really well. Becky Villis was the captain of the team and here is her match report...
" It was very tight match between Nether Stowey and St George's unfortunately St George's won. Nether Stowey 2 St George's Wembdon 4. The two players who scored our goals were Raglan Meredith and Georgie Youe. The Captain of Nether Stowey was Rebecca Villis. Both teams enjoyed the friendly match and we hop to do it again some time. It was our first match this year because of the weather being so horrendous. The girl of the match was Raglan Meredith, she was the girl of the match because she was really good at getting the ball off the other team so she was our start player. We played for twenty four minutes and changed positions every 6 minutes."

Football Match Reports
League Match 7/03/2007
Nether Stowey 2 Somerset Bridge 4
NS Fielded an experimental side because the coach of SB had described his team as very wesk. They certainly weren't that. They completely dominated the first half and NS were lucky to turn around only 2-1 down. Jonty was probably the pick of the home team with a few good saves which kept his team in touch. NS had only two shots at goal in the first half and the first of these was neatly converted by James Baker after a through ball by Joe Forshaw. SB had 13 cornors in the first half and that demonstrates how much on top they were. Giving the ball away from odd kicks was a problem.

For the second half, Olly , Wilkie and Jordan were brought on. Now NS had most of the pressure but they couldn't convert it into goals because of some fine goalkeeping, tough tackling and interceptions. James Baker did bring the score level with 10 minutes to play but SB were quick and skillful on the break and they notched two more for a well deserved victory.
Best players -: Jonty and James.

Click here for Sports news for Autumn 2006/7 and 2005/6