Luke Hollman captains London and East to ECB Super Fours T20 victory
T20 Semi Final Scorecard – London & East vs The South West
T20 Final Scorecard – London and East vs The North
Congratulations to Middlesex trio, Luke Hollman, Blake Cullen and Rishi Wijeratne, who were all part of the London and East squad who made history at the weekend by winning the T20 competition on the closing Saturday of the ECB Super-4s in Loughborough – the first time in six years of competition for the country’s outstanding Under-17s that either the T20 or 50-over champions have come from south of the Midlands.
Of the three Middlesex youngsters, it was Luke Hollman who stole the headlines, with the Middlesex leg-spinner captaining the side to victory in the final and lifting the trophy for his London and East side. In the semi-final he had earlier showed his all-round ability when smashing a remarkable unbeaten 140 from only 66 balls in their victory against the South West.
“This has been my first time at a Super-4s, and it’s been extremely worthwhile,” reflected Jon Lewis, the former England seamer who took over as Young Lions coach during the winter – and had identified the week as a significant early step in his preparations for the ICC Under-19s World Cup in South Africa in early 2020.
“The standard of play has been encouraging – some spectacular batting, but also skilful bowling and importantly some really promising fielding, with a good level of athleticism.
“We have already seen most of the guys play through our scouting network. However the format of the Super-4s is great as it gets the best lads from all around the country competing against each other for a week – we learn a lot more about them that way.
“And it’s also proved a really useful chance for us to work with Academy directors and coaches from the first-class counties. I’ve really enjoyed it, and it leaves us in a much better position to pick our Young Lions squads for the winter programme.”
The Young Lions have a training camp in India before Christmas, followed by Under-19s internationals in Bangladesh in the New Year – with the squads set to be announced in mid-September.
Mo Bobat, the ECB’s Player Identification Lead who played a leading role in setting up the Super-4s in 2013, said: “The number of counties we had represented through the week was really encouraging in terms of reflecting the relationships we’ve built at this level, through the County Talent Pathway.
“We’ve always thought it is a great chance to get county Academy Directors involved coaching the four teams and helping us to identify the highest potential players – this year Richard Halsall was involved for the first time with London and East, following his appointment as Academy Director at Sussex, and he’s the sort of guy who is going to bring different ideas that can only benefit the players and also the other coaches.
“We were also pleased to see a few Directors of Cricket attending through the week – Ashley Giles from Warwickshire, Paul Downton from Kent, and Paul Allott from Lancashire.
“Of the 267 players who have now been involved in the Super-4s, 71 have gone on to play for England Under-19s, 49 have made five or more senior appearances in county cricket, eight have played for the Lions, and this summer Ollie Pope has become the third to play Test cricket for England, following Haseeb Hameed and Mason Crane.”
