Year 7 cricketers win Bristol & South Glos Cup

The route to the final was a short one for us as our side of the draw was rather limited with the number of teams. In the first round we were drawn against Collegiate School. After being put in to bat we scored fairly freely after being restricted in the early overs to amass 126-5 with Dom H making 32, Ernie E 20 and Owen F 24 n.o. Collegiate were then restricted to 58 – 5 in their 20 overs by some miserly bowling from Billy M, Tom F, Ernie E, Barnaby B and  Herbie H while Henry B took 3 for 10 in 3 overs. In the semi-final against Beechen Cliff we were restricted by some tight bowling to 112 for 8 in our 20 overs with Tommy B and Ernie E excelling with 33 and 20 runs respectively before some outstandingly accurate bowling meant that Beechen Cliff were all out for 36. Herbie H, Tom F, Nathan M, Dom H, Ernie E and Henry B all taking wickets whilst bowling very good lines and lengths.

This led us to the final where we were pitched against a very well organised and talented Churchill Academy and Sixth Form school. Despite their talented batsman we bowled with great discipline backed up by excellent fielding to restrict Churchill to 103 for 3 from 20 overs. Billy M bowling 4 overs for just 7 runs and Dom H, Barnaby B and Nathan M all economical too. The tense runs chase started slowly as we lost a couple of quick wickets and were put under pressure by some quick and accurate bowling. However having absorbed that pressure Tom F and Rory N grew in confidence and expanded their stroke play to get us back on track with 25 and 32 runs respectively. Owen F came in with a quick fire 10 before Henry B and Nathan M carried on the charge to victory with Herbie H scampering the winning run with 2 balls to spare.

It was a fantastic game of cricket played in a wonderfully competitive but respectful atmosphere by both sides. It is a shame that there had to be a winner and a loser in this game as both sides played with such skill, enthusiasm and commitment but we held our nerve under tremendous pressure to see the game home. The boys have improved their skills and techniques throughout a wonderfully successful summer term of cricket and it was there strength in depth that proved to be the difference in the end. In a tight run chase the pressure will always be on numbers 7, 8 and 9 as they will probably be the ones who need to score the last few runs and so it proved in this wonderfully exciting game too. I know all the parents and I are so proud of the boys and they were so excited to win.

Mr A Clements