On Tuesday 19 June, the Eltham College Under 15 cricket side became Kent Champions following a 4 run victory over St Lawrence College, Ramsgate. Having lost to St Lawrence earlier in the season, Eltham went into the match as underdogs, but a superb all-round team performance got the side over the line in a tense finale.
Having lost the toss and being asked to bat first, Captain Joe and Rikin gave the side a good start before Joe was dismissed with the score on 17. This brought Reyha to the crease who batted excellently to score 41 off 33 balls. Rikin scored a run-a-ball 24 and Ben scored 18 as Eltham reached 93-2 after 15 overs. Some good late hitting and running between the wickets got Eltham up to 124-7 from 20 overs which was a good score, but the small boundaries suggested it was about par.
In reply, Rikin took a wicket in the first over as Yusuf took a fantastic catch at mid-wicket. After that, St Lawrence batted well and began to build what looked like a match-winning partnership before Yusuf was brought into the attack. He picked up a wicket in his second over as James took an incredible catch on the boundary and followed this up with a quick second as he finished with figures of 4-2-7-2 from his spell. Again St Lawrence rallied and reached 110-3 after 18 overs to require just 15 off the last 2. Sulaiman was tasked with bowling the penultimate over and St Lawrence managed a single and a two of the first 2 balls. Then a huge moment as Sulaiman induced a top edge from the opening batsman who had scored an excellent 53 and captain Joe held on to a tough chance at extra-cover. A single was scored off the next two deliveries before Reyhan was able to run out the new batsman off the final ball to leave St Lawrence needing 10 off the last over. James Bush was to bowl it, and the first ball went for 1 run before an excellent throw by Rikin secured another run out as they tried for a second. James then bowled 4 great balls to pick up a wicket while going for just 4 runs. This left St Lawrence requiring 5 off the last ball, and James proved too good as a play and miss gave Eltham a win by 4 runs!
There were great celebrations at the end as Joe picked up the trophy last won by Eltham 3 years ago when the current Upper Sixth were Year 10! The team now go on to play Dulwich College in the first Regional Round.
