LCB Boys Under 17s narrowly miss out on National Title

The LCB Boys Under 17s narrowly lost to Middlesex in the final of the Royal London County Cup at Kibworth CC on Sunday 09 July.

Lancashire having won the toss elected to bat first, however lost 2 early wickets of Crawley and Southworth. This brought captain Udwadia to the crease with Heaton at the other end putting on a partnership of 94 when Udwadia was out for 44. Heaton continued impressively with new batsman Fielding and they posted a partnership of 58, when Fielding was caught for 15. Dorsey and Heaton continued well until Heaton was stumped for 118 (from 139 balls, 12 fours), leaving Dorsey and Dove to conclude Lancashire’s innings at 259 for 5 off the allotted 50 overs.

In reply Middlesex batted well with most of their batsmen contributing to the total, despite an early wicket taken by Udwadia of their opener Shukla for 5. With just 10 overs left Middlesex were only 3 wickets down and whilst spinners Jack Morley took 3 wickets for 52 runs and Lewis Dove 2 wickets for 38 runs, the Lancashire bowlers couldn’t quite break down the Middlesex innings and Middlesex passed Lancashire’s total in the final over of the match to finish 265 for 7 (49.5 overs).

Gary Yates, LCB Boys U17s Head Coach and LCCC Academy Director, said: “It was a great game of cricket on an excellent wicket. The match followed a similar pattern throughout both innings and concluded in a very tense and exciting finish. Our players can be very proud of their performances throughout this 1-day competition. To reach a National Final is an excellent achievement. Furthermore, our players will have gained a lot of learning and understanding from this experience. We can now confidently look forward to the Specsavers U17 County Championship which is a three day competition starting this week against Yorkshire on Tuesday 11 July at Northern CC.”

Bob Dearden, Manager for the LCB Boys U17s, added: “It was a superb performance by our team of 16 and 17 year olds against a Middlesex team that fielded 3 strong 18 year old players, which the new regulations allow. The team, well led by Rehan Udwadia, have been a great credit to the Red Rose throughout the competition.”