Commonweal win Chance to Compete Boys Under 13 indoor competition
The Spring Term competition programme began in earnest with the inaugural Chance to Compete Indoor County Final for Boys in Years Seven and Eight.
The eight qualifying teams were split into two groups of four, with each team playing the others in the group phase of the competition. With the group winners and runners up progressing to the semi finals and final, the day consisted of 15 matches in total.
For the first time, the games were played under a new “40 ball” format with additional rules:
- Five ball overs with bowlers able to bowl a maximum of two overs.
- Bowlers were able to bowl consecutive overs, if they so wished to.
- Power Play 1 – Balls 1 to 10 – No fielders stood behind the line of the umpire. Four runs for every “single” taken
- Power Play 2 – Balls 36 to 40 – Double runs for boundaries
Group A
Despite scoring the least number of total runs from any of the group sides, St Laurence easily topped Group A with emphatic wins over all the other three schools. Deciding the other semi final place proved to be almost too tight to call with the Commonweal School and Royal Wootton Bassett Academy game ending as a tie with both teams scoring 85 from their 40 balls.
However with Commonweal having won one, lost one and tied one game, they finished the group stage as runners up.
Group B
The second group provided to be even tighter with no team going unbeaten across the qualifying stage. Bishops Wordsworth School dominated the early rounds of the event, until they came a cropper against the previously winless Corsham School. At the same time, Trafalgar School looked to have their place in the semi finals wrapped up after posting 77 runs in their final group game. Despite this, Clarendon Academy were on top of their game and raced home with eight balls to spare.
Knockout Rounds
As can be the case, one semi final was a classic, the other more straight forward. Undefeated in the group stage, St Laurence School dominated their semi final, posting the highest total of the day (116) ahead of beating Clarendon Academy by 65 runs.
In the other semi final, Bishops Wordsworth School looked to have made good progress scoring 33 off the first three overs against Commonweal. However they were pegged back by some tight bowling to finish the 40 balls on 55. Commonweal took things nice and steady, saving their wickets for the end and scored the winning runs of the penultimate ball of the game.
The final proved to be a tense affair with neither team making too much headway over the other. Commonweal saved their wickets for the final over push, only to lose three wickets in the final three balls and ended on 52. St Laurence tried to keep wickets in hand, but couldn’t help but to get out on a regular basis. However runs were hard to come by again but with ten balls to go, only 13 runs were needed. The Commonweal bowlers were miserly and with only 8 runs scored, Commonweal were winners of the first Secondary School competition of the season by 4 runs.
Results
Group A
Kingdown School beat Royal Wootton Bassett Acacemy
St Laurence School beat Commonweal School
Commonweal School beat Kingdown School
St Laurence School beat Royal Wootton Bassett Academy
Commonweal tied with Royal Wootton Bassett Academy
St Laurence School beat Kingdown School
- St Laurence School – 9 pts
- Commonweal School – 6 pts
- Kingdown School – 5 pts
- Royal Wootton Bassett Academy – 4 pts
Group B
Bishops Wordsworth School beat Trafalgar School
Clarendon Academy beat The Corsham School
Trafalgar School beat The Corsham School
Bishops Wordsworth School beat Clarendon Academy
The Corsham School beat Bishops Wordsworth School
Clarendon Academy beat Trafalgar School
- Bishops Wordsworth School – 7 pts – RR – 2.182
- Clarendon Academy – 7 pts – RR – 1.991
- Trafalgar School – 5 pts – RR - 1.886
- The Corsham School – 5 pts – RR – 1.817
Semi Finals
St Laurence School 116 beat Clarendon Acaedmy 51 by 65 runs
Commonweal School 56-6 beat Bishops Wordsworth School 55-5 by 2 wickets
Final
Commonweal School 52-3 beat St Laurence School 48-6 by 4 runs
