The picturesque Valley End Cricket Club played host to the latest Lords Taverners Super 1’s festival, where nine players from Holyport CC and our East Reading hub represented Berkshire.
Joining teams from Surrey and Bedfordshire, the team played in a round-robin tournament, taking on three opponents in an enjoyable day of inclusive cricket.
The first two games of the day saw the team play against Valley End Rascals Yellow and Valley End Rascals Blue. In the opening match, the team chose to field first and were able to produce an excellent display of accurate bowling which resulted in a couple of outstanding wickets being taken. Chasing a modest target, some powerful hitting resulted in a big victory for the team.
That momentum continued into the 2nd game and Berkshire were able to produce a similar performance against Rascals Blue. There was a couple of stand out moments of the game which caught the attention of all those watching. Firstly, wicketkeeper Arvin was able to produce an outstanding stop on the boundary, diving full length to flick the ball back into play and stop four. The other was the opening batter clearing the ropes with a lovely straight drive for six.
After enjoying the barbecue and the delicious homemade cakes on offer, the players returned for their final game of the day against Merstham Cricket Club. Set a challenging 234 to win, Berkshire battled hard and hit numerous boundaries to keep themselves in the contest. Despite their best efforts, the team fell 13 runs short after a couple of risky runs resulted in run outs and a loss of runs.
Following the matches, the players returned to the clubhouse for the presentation. Before the trophy was handed to the winning team, individual awards for batter, bowler and fielder of the day were handed out. Arvin’s fantastic stop in the second game impressed the organisers enough for him to take home the trophy of best fielder.
Winning two out of three was impressive for the team considering it was the first time playing together but it wasn’t quite enough to win the competition as Bedfordshire won all three of their games to be crowned champions.
A massive thank you to Valley End for inviting us to such a brilliant event. Players, coaches and spectators all enjoyed a brilliant day of cricket.
The team’s next Super 1s Festival takes place at the end of August, when Berkshire travel to Buckinghamshire hoping to go one better by winning the tournament.
