Berkshire Cricket took six teams to the Street National Finals this month, across three consecutive days in Nottingham. Four age groups, two towns, and a great many very early minibuses out of Slough.
We came home with a national final and two third places, and took more teams to Nottingham than we ever have before.
| Team | Finished | |
| Girls Under 15 | 2nd | Runners up. Won their semi-final in a super over |
| Girls Under 13 | 3rd | Semi final lost in a super over, then won the play off |
| Langley Under 12s | 3rd | National champions last year |
| Reading Under 15s | 4th | Lost the semi final and the third place play-off |
| Slough Young Adults | 11th | Unable to make it out of a very tough group. |
| Reading Young Adults | 15th | First Reading side at this level |
Berkshire Fusion — a new team, and very nearly champions
Tuesday belonged to the girls. This year we entered as Berkshire Fusion, a combined side drawing girls from both the Slough and Reading Street clubs. For most of the squad it was their first national competition of any kind.
The Under 15s reached the final the hard way. Having bowled first, they restricted Blackburn to 55, then posted exactly 55 themselves. A tie, and a super over to settle it. Berkshire batted first and made 15 from four balls. Blackburn managed 8. Into the final.
There they came up against Moseley, batted first and posted 32 from their five overs, which proved too few. Moseley chased it down and Berkshire finished national runners up.
The Under 13s had a semi Final of their own go to a super over, losing that one to Blackburn, before beating Buckinghamshire in the third and fourth place play off to take bronze.
Two super overs, a national final and a third place, from a group of girls most of whom had never played in a competition like this before. It is a remarkable return.
Langley Under 12s back on the podium
Our Langley Under 12s travelled to Nottingham as national champions, having won the competition last year. This time they came home with 3rd place
Defending a title is a harder thing than winning one, and every side in that competition will have had them marked. To come back onto the podium a year later, with a group of eleven and twelve year olds, says a great deal about the standard of Street cricket coming out of Langley.
Reading Under 15s, agonisingly close
The Reading Under 15s reached the semi finals before losing to Durham A and again to Leicester in the third place play off. Fourth at a national final, having lost two knockout games in an afternoon, is a hard way to end a long day. It is also the best result the Reading age group side has produced.
A first for Reading
Wednesday brought something new. For the first time, Berkshire entered a Reading Young Adults team, meaning two Young Adults sides at the finals, one from each of our towns. Reading finished fifteenth on debut and Slough eleventh.
Not the week the Slough side wanted as reigning champions, and they would be the first to say so. But there were two Berkshire teams in that competition where there was one last year, and the Reading players who travelled had never seen a national final before. That matters.
Where these players come from
It is worth saying what sits behind a week like this.
Almost every player who travelled to Nottingham came into cricket through a free session in their own neighbourhood.
Six teams at a national final, across four age groups and two towns, every one of them drawn from provision that costs families nothing. A national final reached by girls who had never competed before. That is the part worth being proud of.
Thank you
Thank you to every coach and who gave three days of their summer, to the young leaders who supported the squads, and above all to the parents and carers who got their children to Slough & Eton School for quarter past six in the morning, three days running.
Street Cricket restarts across Slough in mid September. Sessions are free and open to anyone aged 8 to 24. If you know a young person who would enjoy it, bring them along.