Queen Elizabeth School, Barnet won the Schools Cricket Association of Middlesex U13 Boys Final on Monday 24 June with a comfortable 80 run victory over St James Senior Boys School.
On a hot afternoon at Harrow School Mayank Jagetia chose to bat on winning the toss and his top order did not let him down as they raced to 45 without loss in the initial eight overs. The loss of the first wicket allowed St James to get some control of the run-rate as the QEB innings ebbed and flowed. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals but a fast outfield meant the run rate did not come to a halt. There were a couple of occasions when it appeared as though St James may restrict QEB to a more manageable score but strong late innings hitting and good running between the wickets by QEB’s lower order allowed them to add 25 in the last six overs and post a total of 150 in their 30 overs.
It soon became apparent that QEB’s total was going to be difficult to chase down when their opening bowlers claimed four early St James wickets. There was no let-up for the St James batting line-up when the seamers were taken off as they were replaced by four very capable leg-spinners. The pick of these was Akein Athukoralage, who took three good wickets. Neel Sinha had the honour of taking the wicket that won QEB the trophy when he bowled St James’ last batter with his teams total on 70.
Jagetia collected the trophy from MITC’s Angus Fraser, who thanked schools for entering the tournament and congratulated both QEB and St James for reaching the final.
