HABS Under 14 and Under 12 cricket teams faced Hitchin Boys school in their respective County Cup finals at Woollams in St Albans on Tuesday 30th June.
After winning the toss on a glorious, hot, sunny day it was an easy decision for the Under 14’s to bat first. Ollie Nathanson started quickly, but was dismissed by an excellent catch at mid off. Aayush Pindoria and Vinosh Jegatheesan kept up the momentum as they put on 105 for the second wicket. When Vinosh was out for 67, the middle order added some useful runs and HABS finished on an excellent total of 149-5 off 20 overs.
Any hope Hitchin had of chasing down the total was reduced in the first over by a diving stop and direct hit by Taif Choudhury to run out the opening batsman. Wickets continued to fall and the required rate continued to rise after tight opening spells by Harry Cobb and Freddy Nash. Despite a brief flurry of runs to keep Hitchin interested, Sam Warner finished it off with the last two wickets as Hitchin were bowled out for 92.
For the fifth year in a row, HABS will represent Hertfordshire in the ECB ESCA National U15 Cricket competition next year.
Having won comfortably in the earlier rounds, and also taken the St Albans U12 trophy just the day before at the same venue, HABS U12A went into the final with Hitchin full of confidence. Captain Saihaj Singh lost the toss…again, and HABS were asked to bowl first. Hitchin started well and some indifferent fielding allowed them to get to 51-1 off the first 10 overs. Thereafter the spinners took control and Hitchin were only able to add a further 35 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in the second half of their innings. Kiaan Patel with 3 wickets for just 6 runs was the pick of the bowlers, but he was backed up well by Riyan Lakhani, Saihaj Singh, Kyle Perera and Aaren Patel who all took a wicket with excellent economy rates.
In reply Chinmay Mullapudi was sent in successfully as a pinch hitting opener. He struck 45 off just 48 deliveries as HABS for once were able to get ahead of the required rate and ease the pressure. Ably supported by Joe Grainger, and then Arman Malik at the death, HABS eased to 90 for 3 with 3 overs to spare to take the title.
The boys will now go on to represent Hertfordshire in the National Cup competition next year, where we hope that they will have a good chance of at least progressing through the early rounds and testing their ability against some strong sides.