Hammersmith & Fulham girls retain Youth Games cricket title

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Hammersmith & Fulham girls’ team have won the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games Indoor Cricket Finals at Lord’s for the second year in a row.

The defending champions had been hugely impressive in the qualifying rounds at Harrow in February, twice posting scores over 130 runs.

In the opening tie they justified their billing as favourites by putting 129 on the board against Bromley.

However, Bromley fought hard and pushed Hammersmith & Fulham all the way before falling short by 16 runs.

In the semi-finals they were up against Hackney, who had bowled and fielded well in their quarter-final.

Hackney set them a potentially tricky total of 114 to chase, but the girls never looked in trouble and made sure of their place in the final.

They then faced an Ealing side who were set a total of 128 to chase and then found themselves under pressure at 6-3 after two overs.

Despite a spirited Ealing fightback, there was no way Hammersmith & Fulham were to be denied and they were deserved 41-run winners as they bowled out their opponents in the ninth over.

Team manager Buddy Mason declared: “I felt always that our batting was pretty strong. In the first round at Harrow Leisure Centre we showed that.

“But really it was the bowling I was most worried about and I think in the finals they learnt a lot with each game and bowled pretty tight when it mattered.

“A lot of the girls are actually still year-seven. Some of them have a played a bit of soft-ball cricket in their primary schools.

“For a lot of the year-sevens this is the first year at secondary school where the tournaments have meant a little bit more and this has been their first experience of it.”

He added: “I think it’s fantastic what the London Youth Games does. For the girls to have been through an experience and to win will hopefully get them to fall in love with cricket.

“I think the growing success of the England women’s team definitely helps too. I’ve had a few people say to me already the girls should be playing for Middlesex so it’s good to get that kind of feedback and maybe send them along for trials in the winter.”

Hammersmith & Fulham Council deputy leader Cllr Greg Smith said: “Congratulations to the team on such a fantastic performance.

“This borough has an excellent track record when it comes to the London Youth Games and we are very proud of all our young sports stars. I look forward to victory in the competition next year!”

Indoor Cricket is one of over 30 sports in the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games – Europe’s largest annual youth sports event.

For more information on the London Youth Games, visit www.londonyouthgames.org

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