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19 February 2024
Congratulations to our three U15 cricket teams for their success at the county cricket semi-finals. With all three teams progressing, half of the teams playing in the finals will all be from St Helen’s – Head of Cricket, Sam Herbert, shared his match report from the two days.
Our three U15 teams were entered in two groups, B and C, in a tricky-looking Group 1 alongside Teddies, Oxford High, Didcot Girls School and Bartholomew, and our As in Group 2 alongside Headington, among other schools.
Our B team got off to a tricky start with a tough game against Teddies A. It was one-sided but lessons were learned for the day ahead and this showed with them being dominant in the rest of their fixtures, coming away with 4 wins and 1 loss for the day. Our Bs made huge progress as a team throughout the day developing with each game and taking lessons through to the county finals.
Our C team started off with back-to-back-to-back wins, before facing Teddies (the group winners on the day) but running them very close losing by only 9 runs – closer than our Bs ran them. The final game of the day was an internal not-so-friendly. Our B and C teams are only that by name, in reality, they are very evenly matched with ‘B’ being our Year 10s and ‘C’ being our Year 9s, so the final grudge match on this occasion was taken by our B team who put on a strong all-round display. Both sides look forward to the rematch at county finals with both teams progressing through alongside Teddies.
In Group 2, our A team were very dominant all day, starting well with convincing wins over Oxford High, Headington B and Cranford House, before facing Headington A in what was a replay of the final when the same year groups were U13 – always tightly contested indoor and outside. On this occasion, we set a strong total of 118 and restricted them to 90, with four of our batters retiring and giving away no freebies with our bowling or fielding it was a tight performance and once again reflected the depth in the team. We rounded the day off with another convincing victory over Teddies Bs to finish top of the group and progress through to County Finals on 29th February.
POMs of each team were Ellie (9K) for the As for her all-round performances with bat and ball, but Mary (9L) with the bat and Sophie (10L) with the ball were also standouts in what was a very impressive day’s cricket. B team POM was Poppy (10K) and C team Scarlett (9J).
Once again, with three teams progressing, half of all teams in the county finals will be from St Helen and St Katharine, reflecting the depth of talent on display, and competitive selection for teams is a recipe for success in the long term!
We roll on!
