Andy Rowsell's U15s team once again came tantalisingly close to winning the National Final at Oakham School. However, they came up just short against Surrey in a gripping encounter. Here are Andy's match reports.

The first day of this tournament was lost to the weather with opponents Somerset having made 94-2 from 24 overs when the rains came. The organisers decreed the match be replayed and reduced to 20 overs per side on the second morning with the winners playing a final in the afternoon of 35 overs per side.

v. Somerset (Semi Final)

Yorks 117-8  (20 overs) (D.Budge 31)

Somerset 116-5 (20 overs) (J.Thompson 2-32)

Yorkshire won by 1 run

Not a match for the faint hearted. Yorkshire won the toss and made first use of a good pitch. They started brightly and had amassed 66 at the half way stage with Dylan Budge showing good intent for a well played 31. All the batsmen reached double figures but fell to some rather injudicious stroke play and wickets tumbled quite regularly. Hence a score of 117 was perhaps short of expectation. The Somerset reply was brisk but the introduction of left arm spinners Leyshon and Carver saw the break applied. They bowled seven overs between them for only 30 runs. Boundaries were kept to a minimum although some lax fielding almost allowed the opponents back in. Ten runs were needed from the final over bowled by Josh Shaw. Effectively only nine were needed as Somerset had lost fewer wickets if the match was tied. A fielding lapse allowed a boundary from the fourth ball. Two were scored from the fifth which required two from the last ball to ensure a tie and a Somerset victory. The result was a scampered leg bye and Yorkshire had reached the final by the narrowest of margins.

v. Surrey (Final)

Surrey 195-6 (35 overs) (K.Carver 2-18, J.Thompson 2-22)

Yorks 190-8 (35 overs) (J.Shaw 69,C.Elliot 32)

Surrey won by 5 runs

With only 50 minutes for lunch the boys were back out contesting a final which was a repeat of last year’s. In the early exchanges tiredness and the effects of a tense semi final in the morning began to show as the Surrey batsmen, on winning the toss, picked off the Yorkshire bowlers with ease. Up to the drinks break Surrey scored in excess of five runs an over but the introduction of Karl Carver and Jordan Thompson stemmed the flow of runs. The former took two wickets in his fourth over to leave the Surrey innings on 138-5 with only six overs remaining. The fielding had been enthusiastic throughout and there was a sense that, with two new batsmen at the crease, if they could keep the score to under 170 the match was there for the taking. At this level, though, batting sides bat all the way down. In the event 58 runs came from the last six overs a failing that has beset the side all season. On this occasion the struggles in bowling at the death cost them dear. A target of 196 was always going to be a tall order.

The loss of openers, Goldthorp and Budge, with only twenty on the board did not bode well. The middle order of Charlie Elliot, Ryan Gibson and Josh Shaw did gradually increase the tempo but although singles were easy to come by the boundaries proved more elusive. Gibson and Elliot perished as a result but Mosun Hussain together with Shaw built a partnership of almost fifty in nine overs.

The latter was quietly pacing his innings with 77 required from the last eight overs. Shaw and Jordan Thompson made victory a distinct possibility with a partnership of 43 in only four overs. Such was the expectancy that twenty runs were needed from the last thirteen deliveries. Sadly, in cricket, matches can turn in the cruelest of ways. Thompson drove fiercely at the last ball of the 33rd over only for the bowler to deflect the shot onto the wickets at the bowler’s end and Shaw was run out backing up. His innings of 69 was magnificent given the circumstances, not just of the match itself but given the format of the day. A superhuman effort. In the closing overs Thompson was run out and although Nathan Firn played some big shots in the last over but it proved just beyond the side to score the fifteen needed for victory.

Last year’s side had lost by six runs in the final this was déjà vu in what was a fantastic game of cricket. The Yorkshire boys can be justly proud of their efforts.