Lechlade U9s Cricket Festival

THE Poulton Piranhas put in a fine effort at the recent Lechlade Cricket Festival. Having only played two fixtures this season, and playing in their first tournament, the boys exceeded expectations by making it all the way to the final, before bowing out to a strong Dumbleton team.

Playing an 8-overs-per-side game, in the pairs format, Poulton won their first match by a 20-run margin against Cirencester, with fine batting from the likes of Noah Haslam and Jasper Pattison ensuring that only one wicket was lost during the innings.

Poulton then backed this up in the field, the highlights including three catches from Archie Evans and accurate bowling from Charlie Thorn and Alex Ponting.

In their second group game, the boys lost out to a strong team from host club Lechlade, who won by an eight-run margin. The Piranhas were clearly improving with every game, and both Harvey Smith and Charlie Cook contributed well with bat and ball.

The final group game against Great Rissington was to prove a ding-dong affair, with victory in the balance right up until the final over of the match.

Evans bowled with pace and accuracy to clean bowl both batsmen to secure the victory and Poulton took their place in the final by virtue of the conceding the least wickets from the three teams tied at first place in the group.

Despite defeat against a clearly well drilled and experienced Dumbleton team, the boys must take great heart from their performances, with Freddie Meredith keeping his wicket intact throughout the matches, while the all-round performance of Thorn, and two wickets from Leo Jones were the highlights in the final.