The Old Cranleighans reached the third round of the 2013 Halford Hewitt, our best performance in more than two decades, beating Haileybury and Cheltenham before losing to 17-time winners Charterhouse 3-2.
The following report from Marcus Ferguson Jones appeared on the OCGS website:
We beat Haileybury comfortably. We made slightly heavier weather of Cheltenham than we should have but everyone got at least a point in those games. Then we came up against Charterhouse – 17 time winners, holders, number 1 ranked school of all time (never finishing any decade worse than 2nd in the ranking) etc etc etc. And we had them terrified! At the hut they thought it was all over! Now I appreciate that we didn’t get the result we wanted or deserved but I’d rather focus on the golf that Harry and Jamie ‘The Shed’ RIchards played to get themselves into the position and the way in which James and Adam decimated the opposition. I’ve never been in a OC Hewitt team when people have played anything like that.
We’ve talked frequently over the last few years about how we have so much potential. We are now realising it. We have a great blend of youth and experience and the best news is that we are only going to get better as we learn from our experiences this year. In 21 years I’ve never made it to Saturday pm before. In the next 3 years I would like us to go further than that and target getting to Sunday. That for me is a very realistic objective bearing in mind the team we now have the level we played at. It’s worth noting that Charterhouse beat Merchant Taylor’s 4-1 on Saturday and advance to the Semi finals on Sunday am.
However the other important thing is to thank everyone beyond just the team for the fabulous spirit that permeated the week. A huge thank you to all of our supporters for making the effort to come down and cheer us on. We are hugely grateful of that. In particular i would like to thank Martin as our 11th man and for his caddying and sponsorship of wine, Matthew for his roving captaincy duties and timekeeping(!), Braz for making such a huge effort to come down and support, ‘The Captain’ for missing a Brentford game to be with us (and chauffeuring Braz), our President for purchasing the wine and winding up the oppo, and of course Williams for also buying the wine and for just being Williams! My fondest memory was the huge table we had to construct at RSG to accommodate the sea of stripey navy-gold-white blazers! We have an excellent society and long may that continue!
The 2013 HH was great but I fully expect 2014 will be even better. Marcus
1st round – Cranleigh v Haileybury – Cranleigh won 3.5 v 1.5
1. A.Kendrick and J.Boyle – won 2&1
2. J.Davies and M.Ferguson Jones – half
3. T.Whitty and C.Moore – lost 2&1
4. J.Richards and H.Millburn Fryer – won 2 up
5. W.Porter and G.Pickford – won 3&2
2nd round – Cranleigh v Cheltenham – Cranleigh won 3 v 2
1. A.Kendrick and J.Boyle – lost 19th
2. W.Porter and G.Pickford – won 4&3
3. J.Davies and M.Ferguson Jones – won 1 up
4. T.Whitty and C.Moore – won 21st
5. J.Richards and H.Millburn Fryer – lost 19th
3rd round – Cranleigh v Charterhouse – Cranleigh lost 2 v 3
1. A.Kendrick and J.Boyle – won 8&7
2. W.Porter and G.Pickford – lost 3&2
3. J.Davies and M.Ferguson Jones – won 4&3
4. T.Whitty and C.Moore – lost 2/1
5. J.Richards and H.Millburn Fryer – lost 19th