Middlesex crowned Kingston Wharves’ U-15 Cricket champs

MIDDLESEX overpowered Surrey in the final of the 35th Kingston Wharves Under-15 Cricket Competition at the JDF Up Park Camp Cricket Ground last Friday, avenging last year’s shared trophy after bad light stopped play. Surrey batted first but were skittled out for 73, with Ricardo Clarke top-scoring with 19 and captain Rajae McGeachy making 12. Middlesex captain Andino Edwards led the bowling with six for 13 in 9.1 overs, while Najae Wright took three for 27 in 10 overs.

Middlesex reached 74 without loss in reply, with Daniel Wolliston scoring 36 and Jeremiah Johnson 27 to secure a 10-wicket victory. Middlesex coach Oral Simpson said the team had prepared specifically to avoid another shared trophy. “We have been preparing for this from we assembled as a Middlesex team.

We spoke about what happened last year and we did our research. We played them in the first game we won but we analysed certain things that we needed to do. They won the toss, they decided to bat, which we wanted them to do and the bowlers put the ball in the right areas.

We took our chances and got them all for 73. The batters, we know that they were going to get their spinners involved. We worked on that throughout the week leading up to this final and I think the batsmen, they did exceptionally well so this wasn’t about just coming to a final.

We prepared for this final because we did not want to share it like what happened last year so the boys worked extremely hard to get the job done today.” Surrey coach Raymond Hart said his team’s collapse after reaching 37 without loss proved costly. “We started off well at 37 without loss and then the door just break off and everything just fell apart from there but still we got to give some credit to Middlesex who I think bowled well. They weren’t trying to get away with every delivery.

They were in a good area most of the time and we just had to make the mistakes.” Middlesex captain Edwards was named MVP of the final and the winning team, while McGeachy was named MVP of the runner-up team. Johnson won the most runs award with 209, while Surrey’s Ansel Crawford topped the bowling with 23 wickets. Every player on the two teams received a Kingston Wharves bursary for school expenses, a knapsack and a water bottle.