Match Centre

Middlesex Under 11 boys team triumphs at the Ardingly Festival

The Middlesex Under 11 boys team had a triumphant week at the Ardingly Under 11 Festival recently, held at Ardingly College in Sussex. During a very hot week, the Middlesex boys played some scorching cricket winning all five of their games in the festival.

The side's opening game saw them pitched against Buckinghamshire in a thirty overs per side affair, which Middlesex won by 33 runs.This was a great all-round performance by the team to start the festival, but Nikhil Malik starred with the bat and scored 50 in the Middlesex innings.

The second match was a 40 overs per innings game against Berkshire which saw another solid performance by the team - winning by 19 runs.

On day three, Middlesex played two twenty over clashes – against Sussex in the morning and against Kent in the afternoon. Middlesex comprehensively beat Sussex by 9 wickets with Ayaan Sheikh taking 4 wickets for 6 runs in his 4 overs of leg spin, and George Grisdale scoring 42 not out to knock off the 86 runs needed.

In the afternoon, the Middlesex boys played their best cricket of the week against Kent. Runs were hard to come by on a very dry and worn wicket, and our total of 102 for 6 wickets didn’t look enough against a strong Kent batting side. Step forward, Samarjeet Singh, the Middlesex off spinner, who has had a great season, who went on to take 5 wickets for no runs in his allocated 4 overs as Kent were dismissed for 68 runs. This was a thrilling and well-deserved victory.

The final match of the week was another thirty over game against London Schools, who were just not strong enough for a very capable and now ‘battle-hardened’ Middlesex team. Middlesex won easily by 6 wickets chasing only 90 for victory.

The Middlesex boys played some brilliant cricket in the three different formats of the game during the week and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. The Middlesex U11 County Squad, managed by Rod Croucher and coached by Gordon Summerfield and Ian Laney, has developed steadily through the 2018 season but the way they ‘stepped up’ during this festival was fantastic and demonstrated the value of attending residential festivals in terms of both cricket experience and learning to live together as a team. It was a wonderful week and a valuable experience for the young Middlesex team.

This quote from the Ardingly Festival Director of Cricket (Rob Ferley) said it all about the Middlesex party....."Your boys were exemplary off the field and very talented on it. They should be proud of their efforts".

Congratulations to all involved on a hugely successful festival week.