MOSPS Mixed Cricket Team Do Us Proud At County Finals

It really has been a week full of fantastic cricket this week. There was, of course the entertaining first test of the men’s Ashes series and the start of the women’s Ashes series, today; but more importantly for MOSPS there were two County Final tournaments at the Ageas Bowl!

On the 21^st it was the turn of Milford’s Mixed Squad to test themselves against the county’s finest.

17 school teams from across Hampshire were split into 6 pools to open the tournament, with all schools dividing the total number of runs scored by the number of matches played to determine their averages. The two schools with the highest averages went straight into the semi-finals, while the top teams from the other four pools were drawn against each other in a round of quarter finals.

Team Milford were certainly leaders in fielding a ‘mixed’ team, with 6 girls in the squad, but many schools fielded teams without any girls and MOSPS were drawn against two of those in their pool. The first game could not have been closer, with our team needing to score two runs off the last ball, and with a combination of luck and uncharacteristic fielding errors form the opposition, they did it! The final score was MOSPS 83, Velmead Junior 82.

Game two was an equally close affair with MOSPS losing to Droxford Juniors by just 7 runs.

Velmead then went on to beat Droxford by 3 runs, so all matches were incredibly close and the pool finished with each team having won and lost one match each.

When the runs average was calculated, Droxford took top spot and progressed through to the quarter finals.

Although disappointed at not making it through to the quarter finals, team MOSPS took the chance to play some more cricket, with a friendly against Rowledge Primary. They put on another super performance and came away winners by just under 40 runs, which was a lovely way to finish the day.

Coach Brown said, “It would be really difficult to pick any individual out for a special mention, as it was the most incredible team effort. The organisers commented that all 3 teams in our pool should and would have won their Pools had they not all been in the same one!  I know they were disappointed not to get the chance to play for some medals, but they should be VERY proud of what they achieved. They are all fantastic cricketers and their performances definitely got MOSPS noticed by the Hampshire coaches. More importantly, though, they are a super group of children and Stuart and I are immensely proud of them.”

Well done to all the children on the team – we are proud of you all too!

Thank you so much to Coach Brown and Stuart for giving up their time to coach and manage our Milford Cricketers and to the army of parents who transported and supported. A particular thanks to Mrs Barber for her valuable help with the team and for keeping the scores, so that the parents in the stands could be updated and share in the excitement of those close matches!