Following the oustanding performances by our U13A team in the U13 South Premier League we qualified to play the county final against Stony Stratford, but unfortunately had an away draw. Monday saw some chaos as the Chenies team, aided by several lift shares, sought to get to Stony near Milton Keynes in time for a 6pm start - no easy feat after a day at school/work! However, our last player arrived with almost 90 seconds to spare so we had a full team as we strode out to field having lost the toss!

On a green pitch the Stony openers started aggressively with a lofted on drive for 4 to start the match. However, our opening bowlers soon pegged them back. Aided by a couple of good catches behind the stumps by Jeevan Brar and a running catch by Noa Fonseka; Neil Chahal (2-21 from 4 overs) and Harry Neal (3-24 from 4 overs) reduced Stony to 30/5. There then followed a partnership of 29 runs but Nishesh Parekh (0/12 from 3 overs) kept it tight and Aarav Majithia (2/15 from 4 overs) chipped in with a couple of wickets to peg Stony back to 70/7. Rafe Alibhai (3/10 from 3 overs) then mopped up the tail as the innings finished with a sharp stumping from Jeevan; to leave us chasing a target of 96 to win from our 20 overs.

Our reply started in aggressive fashion as Ridhmeet Puri hit 4 boundaries on his way to 31no from 20 balls (batters have to retire at 30 runs in the national cup). Amogh Amresh batted solidly before he was lbw for 13 from 18 balls, but Shane Wijesinghe kept us on track with 12no from 12 balls including a huge six; and captain Jeevan applied the finishing touches with a fluent 24no from 15 balls with 3 boundaries to seal a very comfortable victory by 9 wickets with more than 9 overs to spare.

Stony had laid on great hospitality with food and drinks for parents and boys alike; and the match was well attended by Bucks county with the CEO and county age group coach both in attendance. The boys were presented with their trophy and winners medals, which were thoroughly well deserved after such a brilliant all-round performance. We now progress to the last 32 of the ECB National U13 Vitailty T20 Cup where we await the winners of the match between the Berkshire and Oxfordshire county champions, when we have a home draw.

Match Scorecard