The August bank holiday 2024 marked the second fixture of the annual ‘Oakham Gentleman’ vs ‘Framlingham’s Finest’ cricket match. The score is now 2-0 to Oakham with another very average game of cricket and some even worse chat being thrown around by both sides. Framlingham won the toss and decided to bat, and after a very shaky start posted a very strong (albeit slightly dodgy) 190. This was helped by some very poor fielding, with every dropped catch being a £10 donation to the Johnny Reynolds Foundation. Despite a very strong batting performance from Framlingham’s lower order, Oakham stormed to victory in style.

The Oakham Gents was formed in our final year of school as a social team, in which Johnny played a large role as a member of the SLT. Johnny also developed the format of these matches, which adopts a 20-20 over game, with beer breaks every five overs, and food breaks every 10. The aim of the Gents is to ensure that we all keep in contact and come back together for at least a day every year post-Oakham, trying to raise as much money as we can in John’s memory.

After a long day of cricket, all involved enjoyed a barbeque courtesy of Eddie Dickens, and raised a glass to Johnny! This was followed by a very enjoyable evening at the Fairs’ who kindly hosted both the Oakham and Framlingham boys.

This coming summer the Oakham Gents have some exciting plans which could entail a cricket tour down to Cornwall and potentially entering a team in the Bournemouth 7’s.

Thank you to Noah Bowden & Harry Fairs for writing up this report of our cricket match.