Hampton School completed a dramatic two wicket victory over Queen Elizabeth Boys School to win the Schools Cricket Association of Middlesex U12 Boys Final at Harrow School on 25 June. Chasing 98 for victory Hampton were in all sorts of trouble on 74-8 before Gala and Parthiban came together to guide their team to an unexpected and joyous victory. The pair knocked off the runs with 14 balls to spare.
On winning the toss QEB unsurprisingly chose to bat on a dry pitch and under a hot sun. And their top order got them off to a decent start, bringing 50 up for the loss of just two wickets. 50-2 quickly became 82-9 as Pagnamenta, O’Leary and Potter ran through QEB’s middle order. Pagnamenta was the pick of Hampton’s bowlers taking 3-10 in five overs.
At the half way point it seemed QEB were well short of posting a competitive total but excellent bowling, particularly by Matta (4-24) and Jain (2-14), put their team in a position from which they would have expected to win the game. Pagnamenta completed an excellent all-round game by top scoring with 26, and when he fell, with 37 runs still required, Hampton feared the worst. Yet those fears we quashed by Gala and Parthiban who calmly saw their side home to a memorable triumph.
