Wales’ U11 boys cricket team finished a close second in the prestigious Taunton Festival.
Their impressive result follows the success of Wales U17 girls and U12 boys, who both won their age group championships at Taunton.
The U11s lost a pre-festival warm-up game to Kent by five wickets, but opened the competition itself with a win over Barbados, as Wales passed their opponents’ total of 150 all-out for the loss of five wickets.
Next day, Wales lost by three wickets to Middlesex – Wales’ total of 172-4 proving insufficient.
In the match against Devon, Wales posted 168-3 in an innings reduced to 30 overs, but the match was abandoned as a draw, with Devon on 13-0.
Wales scored 160 – 9 against Bucks for a winning draw, with Bucks reaching 77 – 9 in reply, and in the final match, Wales beat Yorkshire by three wickets to finish just behind them in the final table.
Final places:
1. Yorkshire = 62
2. Wales = 59
3. Barbados = 57
4. Middlesex = 46
5. Devon = 27
6. Bucks = 13
This was the second year running that Wales has finished runners-up to Yorkshire, but this year’s margin of just three points was much closer.
By the end of the week, Alex Horton (Gwent) had scored a total of 1,006 runs in the U11s games this season, a new Wales U11s batting record.
“This was another great achievement for one of our age-group teams,” said Cricket Wales performance manager, John Derrick. “The U11s really hit form at the right time, as they started the season with four straight defeats.
“Congratulations to Alex on a tremendous batting achievement, and to the whole team and management for turning their season around so conclusively.”
Cricket Wales is the national governing body for junior and recreational senior cricket in Wales. It works closely with Glamorgan County Cricket Club, which governs the men’s professional game. For information visit www.cricketwales.org.uk
