U17 Cricketers play long-awaited National Cup Semi-Final

The U17s played Stowe School in their long-awaited National cup semi-final last Wednesday.

After some stellar performances throughout the previous rounds, it was time for this young and exciting team to test themselves against one of the country’s top cricketing schools.

The team were up against it from the off after losing the toss, on a damp wicket. The positive approach the team has played with this year has often set them apart from the sides we have come up against and this looked to be on the cards after a fine opening stand of 47 from Jones and Yip, gave the team an excellent platform to attack from. However, the good work was soon to be undone as the batters failed to get going and eventually saw the U17s bowled out for 125, at least 40 runs short of the target that was needed.

In bowler-friendly conditions, 125 was always going to be tricky and White started where he had left off, taking a wicket with his second ball and creating another chance later in the over. At 0 for 1 Stowe had everything to do and thanks to some more tight bowling the game was really in the balance at the halfway stage. The Stowe innings was similar to ours, as after wickets fell at regular intervals and runs were hard to come by. Unfortunately for the U17s, a fine unbeaten 37 from the Stowe captain was the difference and the visitors chased the score with 4 overs remaining.

Director of Cricket Mr Greenall said, “The National Cup run has seen us have play against some of the top schools in the country and the fearless brand of cricket the whole squad has bought into, was fantastic to watch. Having to wait eight weeks to play the match certainly wasn’t ideal preparation for us and making it to a national final would have been fully deserved, but the U17s have had an excellent season and should be extremely proud of what they have achieved as a group”.