Under 14 Cricket County Cup Champions!

Lancs U14 cup final v Bolton School

September 9th 2016

Merchant Taylors’ Under 14 team won the county cup for the second year in succession after comprehensively defeating Bolton School at Blackpool Cricket Club.

Bolton won the toss and elected to bat first but made little progress against the opening attack of Alex Barker (2 wickets) and Josh Carberry. Oliver Green took a stunning catch at gully to dismiss the first batsman. The change bowlers, Rob Rankin and Oliver Green ensured that Merchants remained well on top with the run rate slowed down to a crawl. With Bolton under severe pressure Harvey Rankin and Jackson Darkes-Sutcliffe continued to confuse the batsmen with spin and Harvey took 3 wickets to leave Bolton in severe trouble with six wickets down. Rob Rankin’s return for a second spell finished their resistance completely, taking 4 wickets in 2 overs. Bolton’s final total of 88 all out in 32 overs was nowhere near enough to challenge the strong Merchants batting line-up.

Rob Rankin (41) and Jackson Darkes-Sutcliffe (21 not out) put the game beyond doubt with an opening partnership of over 70. With the score on 82 for 2 heavy rain brought an end to proceedings but Merchant Taylors’ were way above the run rate required to win an interrupted game. All the boys should be congratulated on another splendid season which has culminated in this knock-out success. They will now go forward to represent the county in the national stages of the competition as an Under 15 team in 2017.

The squad was as follows:

Jackson Darkes-Sutcliffe (Captain), Robert Rankin, Harvey Rankin, George Politis, Oliver Green, Oliver Meadows, Alex Barker, Scott Thompson, Harry Whitehurst, Josh Carberry, George Hopwood, Jay Singh, Marcus Miller.