U14s Win The Champions League At The County Ground

Brighton and Hove won the toss and put Eastergate into bat on a sunny afternoon at Hove. Tight bowling from Louis bought the prize wicket of Nick Smith (the Sussex captain). With both openers dismissed cheaply Eastergate rallied with an excellent innings of 60 from Curtis. More tight bowling and committed fielding kept Eastergate to a score of 139, a total they would have hoped to surpass when the innings began. Nick and Curtis opened the bowling and soon had our top 5 in some disarray at 58 for 5. Captain Alec and Samir brought some stability to the innings but with them both back in the pavilion it looked like the game was beyond us. Then a superb partnership of 60 between Stephen and Henry took the game to the brink. Stephen hit two spectacular sixes over square leg in his 39. We still needed 10 to win when Joe arrived at the crease but he and Henry (16no) steered us home with 4 balls to spare.
The 'never say die' attitude of this team has taken us home in tight games before, but to do it on this stage was a really wonderful achievement. It caps a tremendous season in which the U14s have won the league in spectacular style at Nomads, won the cup also against Nomads and then been crowned the best team in Sussex with this fantastic win. A set of talented cricketers has really matured into a brilliant team this season with every player producing performances that have hugely contributed to winning matches. Well done boys!