Lord’s Taverners vs Warwickian XI, 5 July 2009

While Roger Federer and Andy Roddick battled it out on Centre Court on Sunday 5 July, nearer home a Warwickian XI took on the Lord’s Taverners in their second charity match.

The Lord’s Taverners raises money to help disadvantaged children throughout the UK and the rest of the world. This year’s Taverners celebrity team comprised Dion Dublin, Ashley Giles, Alan Donald, Dougie Brown, Peter Polycarpou, Lloyd Scott, Steve Ogrizovic, Mike Umaga, Neal Radford, Nick Cook, MJK Smith and Simon Francis.

Sadly, as in 2008, the Lord’s Taverners won by a fairly comprehensive margin.

The OWs batted first, scoring a solid 236 thanks largely to 100 from Sam Wood after Mike Umaga had destroyed the top order taking 3 quick wickets. The rest of the Lord’s Taverners attack struggled, with Ashley Giles being struck into the lime trees on more than one occasion.

In reply, the Lord’s Taverners got off to a solid start with Dougie Brown finding Simon Holdsworth’s bowling to his liking… until Simon got one past him and clipped off stump. A powerful 71 from Dominic Ostler saw the Taverners home with 3 overs to spare.

This was another very successful day, with 200 guests enjoying lunch in the marquee, a further 100 supporters also enjoying the game and over £5,000 raised for the charity.

This year, the Taverners fixture coincided with the OW weekend and linked in with John Stone’s Twenty20 competition. The Twenty20 tournament included two OW teams, a leavers XI and a staff XI - who played 2 and lost 2.

For information regarding a Taverners 2010 match, please contact Neil Smith, E-Mail: nmks@warwickschool.org