At the commencement of the season, practice to the Atoms XI was confined to Inter-class fixtures, where the Atoms team, comprising players from classes V, VI and VII, played senior classes and for match practice.

In the first practice match against class VII, Atoms lost by 10 runs, putting up a very creditable performance. After winning the toss, they put class VIII in to bat had them all out for 87 runs, which included an aggressive 42 runs by Anand Pal Singh. Sanjiv Sahani was the most successful bowler 8 class VIII wickets for 36 runs. Atoms, in reply, made 77 with Sanjay Kapoor being the scorer with 35 very valuable runs.

In the next practice match, Atoms played class IX and in doing so, took on more than they could handle, as Atoms could only muster 53 runs with P. Bahuguna being the only batsman to reach double figures. Class IX in reply knocked up 55 runs for the loss of two wickets with Narayan and Sahani sharing the bowling honours.

In the return match against class VIII, Atoms batting first were all out for 87 runs, with V. Narayan batting extremely well for 39 runs and Sanjiv Sahani making an aggressive 21 - the rest of the batsman were out cheaply due to lack of application and concentration. Class VIII in reply declared their innings closed 97 for five wickets due to an aggressive 69 runs by Sanjay Mishra who after having got himself set, hit everything that pitched up to him.

With these three practice matches under our belt, we undertook our first Inter-School fixture against St. Joseph's College on 10th April, 1979. If was intended to be a practice match for our Atoms team in preparation our match against Welham's Preparatory School, Dehra Dun. In this match we were to play boys from classes 6,7, and 8 on their ground.

The outcome of the match was that we lost in a very close finish by one run or one wicket. They won the toss and put us into bat. Sanjay Mishra batted well making 30 before being bowled and Vidyut Narayan after reaching double figures was run out 12 'Sem' managed to restrict us only to 86 for 10 and in reply made 87 for 9 in an exciting finish.

The result was not bad considering the size of our opponents and to say they were big would be putting it mildly - 'enormous' would be more apt a description of team which we understand are from classes VI, VII and VIII, with their largest member, R. Punjabi, making our players appear as dwarfs in comparison. This strong man was mainly responsible for puling them out of danger with some blind but effective hitting and emerged as their top scorer with 27 runs as their No. 8 batsman - thus making it possible to overtake our score in the last over of the day.

Our 'Atoms' very nearly brought off a win as throughout the game we were right on top having Sem's reeling when they were one down for five runs, then 2 for 10,4 for 15, 5 for twenty runs 31, 6 for 31, 7 for 42, 8 for 77 and 9 for 87 with their Captain, M.I. Khan, facing the bowling. In the last over of the day, we were equal and in the penultimate ball of the over he was able to steal that additional run required to beat us. Bansal bowled extremely well taking 5 wickets for 30 runs in 14 overs, 4 of which were maidens. In his third over he took three wickets nearly performing a hat-trick.

Every boy, except one who is medically unfit, is expected to participate in the 'marathons', an euphemism for the cross-country run at Sherwood.

As in 1978, this year, too, it was decided to hold the finals in first week of May as it was felt that this was the most suitable period for training. Apart from the course being in a better condition than at any other time of the year, there are other advantages in holding the finals in early May. For one, it provides the boys useful exercise during the cricket season when not many boys can be occupied on the games field. It also assists in building up stamina for the hectic period of activity to follow in the month preceding the Founder's celebrations in early June.

Training is organized on a House basis and much depends on the initiative taken by the boys themselves, and on the interest shown by the Prefects in organizing and supervising the training of the boys in their respective Houses. In recent years training has been taken more seriously and the credit for this must be given to the senior boys who have adopted a more positive attitude themselves, thereby contributing to a marked improvement in the general standard.

In every division a qualifying standard has been set and all those who 'qualify' contribute a point to their House. This system has helped to put before the boys, in general, a standard which they are capable of attaining with serious training. This year, as last year, 2/3 of all those who ran, attained the qualifying mark. Those who may feel that the qualifying mark has been set too low need to be reminded that when the 'standard' was first laid down not more than 1/3 of the boys qualified, and prior to this when negative points were awarded to those who came after a specified time, it made little difference to those who preferred to walk round the course. Today, it is a matter of pride of a boy to be able to assert that he qualified in the marathons.


With this change of attitude, it was not surprising to see the competitiveness that was evident during the qualifying round. A.D. emerged ahead of others with 54 points, followed by R.H. with 48 points, L.J. with 47 points and F.T. with 43 points.

All those who qualified were eligible to participate in the finals run on the 5th of May. In less than an hour and a quarter the finals were over with two new records being set up, one in the 'C' Division by Harpal Singh (A.D.) and the other in 'D' Division by S.S. Nehra. The 'A' Division record was missed by 16 seconds by A.K. Gupta who was running in this Division for the first time and still has a year to better the mark. It should be possible for him to break the record as he has to improve 16 seconds over a distance of nearly 5 miles.

The trophy was won by A.D. scoring 131 points. F.T. came up to second position (109 points) from being last at the end of the qualifying round. L.J. stood third and R.H. brought up the rear with 81points, their finalists not doing as well as they ought to have done.