Claremont become South of England cricket champions

Last week has seen both the girls and boys in year 8 represent the school in the South of England 8 a side soft ball cricket competition. All the pupils involved have been playing cricket, but predominantly hard ball so playing a softball competition required them to adapt their skills somewhat.

The format of this competition was a league with Stover and Clifton High, the hosts, the teams to beat. Having won their first two games comfortably, Stover provided a much more challenging game. The girls rose to this challenge and were starting to show much more consistency in their skills. This left them with only Clifton High to play in what was effectively a final. With 4 balls of the final over to bowl, CFCS had a very competitive score of 58 but then lost four wickets in four balls reducing their total to 38. Despite a very valiant effort, Clifton posted an excellent score of 70. However, this meant that 3 teams had only lost one game and on a count back, CFCS came runner up by 15 runs. It was a disappointing end, but the girls had a fantastic day.

The boys event took place two days later. This team have had a tough season, but they came into the tournament on the back of a win against Salesians College. This obviously made a huge difference as they swept aside their first opponents in a very one-sided game. The second game was much closer, going down to final ball where Bedstone needed 5 to win. Sixes were being hit consistently so this was more than possible but in the end no run was scored and a very relieved and excited team moved on to the next challenge. Once again they easily overpowered their next opponents which meant they had qualified for the final.

As with the girls our opponents were Clifton High. They had crushed all of their opposition and obviously had some strong performers so it was a game filled with nerves, but obviously our intensity was just right. The boys bowled and fielded outstandingly well. Every edge or mistake was capitalised on and Luke H took 3 outstanding catches right on the boundary. In the end, Clifton finished their overs with a negative score, so well had the CFCS bowled and fielded. Although the batting started with some nerves and indeed a little uncertainty as to how to chase down a score like this, they soon relaxed and the boys finished the game off in some style.

This means that the Year 8 girls finished runner up and boy have finished champions in the Society of Heads Sothern Cricket Festival. Now it will be up to the Year 10’s to do the same in next week’s festival.