Early on Tuesday morning, our excited but slightly nervous table cricket team headed off to Durham Cricket Ground to compete in the Lord’s Taverners North-East Table Cricket Regional Finals. The games got underway at 10.30am with the top six teams from the North-East of England all competing against each other.
In their first match, they played Cleaswell Hill from Northumberland and scored one of their highest batting scores ever, winning 294 runs to 248.
In their second match, they met Whinfell from Kendal – the team who had reached the National Final for the last two years. Unfortunately, our team lost their focus a little in this game and lost.
A little disheartened, our team refocussed and went on to win their remaining three games, growing in confidence with each match. They won their third match against Cockermouth 243 runs to 232, their fourth against Hilltop from Gateshead 259 runs to 222 and their final match against Barndale House from Alnwick 295 runs to 243.
At the end of the competition, the results were very tight with only three teams having lost one match. The final result came down to runs for and against and our William Howard Team took the Gold by two runs with Cockermouth coming second.
Our team were ecstatic! They couldn’t believe they had earned themselves a place in the National Finals at Lord’s. Their elation endured all the way back to school, where they showed off their trophy to their families.
A huge congratulations to the team – Nicky (Captain), Samuel vice-captain), Eve, Summer, Emily, Amy, Harry and Lewis – who all played brilliantly.
Andrew, our team’s usual captain, couldn’t take part on this occasion as he had his first A Level exam, but Nicky did a fantastic job taking on the role of captain with the support of Samuel. Together, following in Andrew’s footsteps, they kept the team focussed and gave them encouragement throughout the day.
Well done to everyone who took part and to all the sports leaders, staff and organisers who gave their time to support the day today. These opportunities clearly mean so much to the students.
