Congratulations to the U14 Cricket Team, who have won the Southern Area League for the first time. Captained by Jack Woods, the team has battled through the season to reach the final playing against Steyning Grammar, St Andrew’s, Sir Robert Woodard Academy, Our Lady of Sion and eventually meeting The Angmering School in the Final.

Every player has shown tremendous determination and never have I seen a team work so hard together to reach a goal. Jake Robinson and James Harrison have been in charge of fielding positions, Jack Woods has overseen batting and bowling orders and I have been impressed with their maturity.

The venue for the Final was the Manor Sports Ground (Worthing Cricket Club) and the boys were keen to play on a grass wicket with a quick outfield. Shoreham arrived early to test the wicket and after the practice, Jack Woods decided that he would like to bat first and use the strength of the bowlers and fielders to apply pressure to the team chasing their score.

Jack Woods and Max Gardiner opened the batting and faced the opening bowlers scoring 31 runs quickly before Jack was caught at mid-on. James Harrison came in to bat next and hit a superb four off the first ball; he later went onto retire. Max unfortunately faced the same doom as Jack and was also caught at mid-on and was replaced by Jake Robinson who has shown great form with the bat and also retired. After 10 Overs, Shoreham were on 72 runs and making the ideal score of 150 which we knew would be good to defend. Ross Ball played himself in well with a straight bat but was caught behind off the glove by the Wicket Keeper. Next to bat was John Williams and he didn’t falter. Hitting solid fours with his pull shot and running quick singles he scored 10 in rapid time. The last two batsmen were Callum Ritchie and James Hardy but time was running out and when Angmering School put their opening bowlers back on, the run rate dried up.

Having reach 136 for 5 Wickets, the Team decided that to win they must field like daemons and throw their body behind the ball to reduce the boundaries. Jack and James opened the bowling and Angmering hit 30 runs off the first four Overs; not exactly the start we had envisaged. Fortunately, Jake Robinson and Callum Ritchie brought more success and picked up 3 Wickets between them bowling consistent line and length. Luke White destroyed the next two batsmen with his left-arm medium pace and at 109 for 7 off 17 Overs, Shoreham were confident that the victory was near; and indeed it was.

The final score was;

Shoreham College 136 for 5             The Angmering School 117 for 8.

As a Coach, I am so proud of each and every player this year, the way they played in the spirit of the game with such camaraderie is outstanding and I hope that they remember that they were the first team to win the Trophy for Shoreham College and no-one can take that away from them; a wonderful feeling and a legendary story for years to come.

I would also like to thank all the Parents who have supported the Team throughout this campaign; their presence on the boundary has been greatly appreciated by both the boys and me.