Shrewsbury School U18s beaten in national T20 final
Shrewsbury School’s Under 18s rounded off a busy Summer slipping to defeat in their national T20 final after coming up against a team featuring the England Under 19s captain.
They were taking on a Kings Taunton side at the picturesque Wormsley ground featuring Somerset’s Thomas Rew who captained England in the recent U19s World Cup.
The game came after the side had had just a day’s break since achieving victory in this year’s Silk Trophy by beating Stowe School, Eton & Radford College and Australia.
Shrewsbury won the toss at Wormsley and batted first but struggled throughout their innings and only managed to score 117 before being bowled out with just one ball remaining in their innings.
Liam Grindlay 36 (off 34 balls) and Josh Hollinshead 19 (off 20 balls) were the only batsmen to reach double figures.
For Kings, Rew claimed three dismissals behind the stumps and Shrewsbury were not helped by three run outs.
When Kings batted, Shrewsbury did manage to get the prize scalp of Rew relatively cheaply for just 12, caught by Arjan Barard off the bowling of Wellington’s Harrison Vaughan.
However, a third wicket partnership of 57 between put Kings on the road to victory. A mini collapse saw them lose four wickets for 14 runs to reduce them to 107-6, but they quickly knocked off the remaining 11 runs required for victory with 21 balls remaining.
Liam Yahathugoda (2-22) and Gindlay (2-17) were the most successful Shrewsbury bowlers.
Shrewsbury coach Adam Shantry said: “Congratulations to Kings, they were the strongest school team I have ever seen with seen with four seamers who bowled more than 80 mph and in Rew a batter averaging 66 in First Class cricket and 44 in List A for Somerset this season.
“They were fully deserving of their victory but I am proud of the Shrewsbury boys in the way they kept their heads up and battled hard to the conclusion of the game.”
The next day Rew top scored for Somerset in their Vitality Blast T20 victory over top of table Northants scoring 57 off 30 deliveries in the Vitality T20 match.