Old scholars cricket club gets the runs on the board

In 2022, a recently graduated Blackfriars student pitched an idea for a new sporting club.

Former First XI Captain and 2021 Frassati Sportsman of the Year Dylan Bignell quickly got the runs on the board, establishing the Blackfriars Old Scholars Cricket Club (BOSCC).

“I started the club because a few people mentioned they wanted to start playing cricket again, after not playing for years,” Bignell said.

“Quite a lot of players didn’t have a club team to go back to after school, so would’ve stopped playing all together.

“All of the players missed playing school cricket, especially the fun that we had in primary and middle school cricket, playing alongside guys who often spent their entire school lives at Blackfriars as a cohort.”

Making its debut in Division 3 of the SACA Super Cricket T20 Spring series, the team won its way through to the grand final, going down to the SA Smashers by 4 wickets.

Such was the popularity of the new club, it entered two teams in the Summer series – in Divisions 1 and 2. Both sides were undefeated and finished atop their respective ladders at the end of the minor-round season.

The Div 1 side was ultimately knocked out in the semi-final, but the Div 2 side claimed the club’s maiden premiership.

*_{Blackfriars Old Scholars cricketers in action}* *_{and the champion Div 2 side.}*

“The mateship is the thing that brings us together and cricket is played alongside it,” Bignell said. “For me, and the majority of the others, it is by far the most fun we’ve had ever playing the game.”

The club boasts every Blackfriars First XI captain for the past seven years, including Callum Flanagan (BPS’17), who holds the school record for the most First XI appearances – 47, between Years 9 and 12.

Among other marquee players is Braydon Nicol (BPS’16), who made his First XI debut for Blackfriars as a Year 8 student in 2012. The club’s Instagram page described all-rounder Nicol as “possibly the best Blackfriars cricketer in recent times” and said he was a “huge signing”.

*_{Dylan Bignell (BPS’21) during his final Intercol match for Blackfriars.}*

There are also several “international” (AKA non-Blackfriars old scholars) signings, including two former students of our Intercol partner school Christian Brothers College.

Bignell hopes to enter a team in the T20 Winter competition and, eventually, have a side in the Adelaide Turf competition.

Anyone interested in joining Blackfriars Old Scholars Cricket Club can contact them via their Instagram page.