U12 Boys enjoy Festival days
Cricket Shropshire’s Under 12 Boys enjoyed a week of cricket at the Shrewsbury School Festival – picking up three wins along the way.
It was a notable week for Reuben Kundu who picked up the Festival batting award for his 210 runs across all the games.
Day One saw them take on Northamptonshire and skipper Ruben Pembleton won the toss and decided to bat first.
Shropshire were in early trouble before the skipper (32) combined with Kundu (68 not out) combined to push the score on to 164-9 from their 45 overs.
But they found the Northants batters a tough nut to crack as they eased to victory by nine wickets, Louis van Custem picking up the only wicket to fall.
Day Two saw the boys take on The G Force Academy who won the toss and decided to bat, only for Pembleton to take control early on picking up two wickets and executing a run out as they were reduced to 8-3.
The Shropshire bowlers continued to keep it tight, and Noah Quin led the way picking up 4-28 backed up by Joshua Ainsworth who claimed the last two wickets to fall in his first four balls as the academy side were dismissed for 111.
Shropshire’s top order again failed, but Kundu continued his fine form with an unbeaten 49 as he and Pembleton saw their side home for the loss of four wickets.
Day three saw them play two T20 games, the first against Cricket North Wales who batted first and were restricted to 101-4 from their allocation, Sam Lever Pearson picking up two wickets.
Skipper for the game Kundu led the way in the reply with 20 off 16 deliveries and Josh Hulland hit 19 before he was run out as Shropshire reached their victory target in the 18th over.
That saw them take on Gloucestershire in the group final who batted first and made 149-7 from their allotted overs with Sam Lever Pearson and Ainsworth picking up two wickets apiece.
In the reply, Quin hit 30 from just 19 balls, but his side were dismissed for 97 in the 19th over as their chase faltered.
It was back to the 45-over games on Day Four with Shropshire facing Cricket Wales South who won the toss and elected to bat first, finishing on 222-5, the wickets shared around as all the players got the chance to turn their arm over.
In the reply, Morgan Thompson hit 23, Rufus Davies 20 and Kundu 35, but with wickets falling Shropshire were still some way from their victory target on 128-6.
But Quin (51 not out) combined with first Hulland and then Ainsworth to see Shropshire to victory by three wickets with 17 balls to spare to see the boys finish second in their group.
The final game of the week saw the boys up against the second-placed side from the other group, Derbyshire, who batted first and were bowled out for 212 with Davies picking up two wickets and the rest shared around the bowlers.
Unfortunately the reply failed to get going with Kundu top scoring with 19 as they were dismissed for 73.
Pictures courtesy of Brian Clarke at KidzInFocus – website https://www.kidzinfocus.co.uk or email brian.clarke@kidzinfocus.co.uk
