Castle Hall beat St John Fisher in schools cricket final

Bad weather had led to the final being postponed before the school summer holidays, so it was decided to carry it forward to the start of the new school year.

Spen Valley SSP were represented by Castle Hall and St John Fisher SSP representatives were St John Fisher.

In a scheduled 20 overs per side game St John Fisher batted first and made a steady top order start through A Drake, L Harrington and N Kaye.

However, once Drake had departed after scoring an impressive 24, Castle Hall’s bowling took a stranglehold on the match with L Collins (2-0), J Jackson (2-6), J Baldwin (2-10) and M Wall (2-17) bowling impressive spells to dismiss Fisher for 74.

If Fisher were to defend their total they needed to take early wickets and they threatened to turn the game by removing three out of the top four Castle Hall batsmen for just seven runs.

A period of consolidation for Castle Hall was given by C Rowlands and J Jackson, and in keeping their wickets in-tact, the Mirfield school gradually edged towards their target.

Rowlands finished with an impressive 33 not out and Jackson with a patient 15 not out to ensure Castle Hall completed a seven-wicket victory with three overs remaining.

Both School Sport Partnerships would like to thank Moorlands for the use of their ground and to umpires Brian Cooper and Dave Watson, who gave up their time to officiate the final.