The Courier

Crescent School have won the Warwickshire Lord’s Taverners U11 Hardball County Cup and will now go on to represent the County in the Midlands regional finals.

The County competition is played as an 8-a-side pairs format and was hosted by Bablake School on Wednesday 6 June.  Participating were teams from Bablake School, Solihull School, The Blue Coat School and the Crescent School.

Crescent dispatched the hosts Bablake in the semi-final taking 6 wickets easily for 36, they then went into bat and notched up 83 for 3 for a good win.  In the final they faced Solihull School, both teams played well and the match swung first one way and then the other but Crescent’s accurate bowling and fielding in the end won the day.  Chris Gibson was excellent with the bat and scored many runs, Matthew Browne was precise with the ball and Daniel Pinks captained and kept wicket expertly. Daniel also claimed a breath-taking diving catch.  

Head of PE, Matt Phillips, said, “The children have worked extremely hard at their cricket - a sport that has been growing in the school over the last few years - and they deserve the success they are achieving now.  They always support each other and have made great progress with their cricketing skills.”

The Regional Final takes place on Monday 18 June at Shrewsbury School.

On Monday, Crescent travelled to the ISA Midlands Athletics Championships at the famous Alexander Stadium. It was another successful competition for the children, competing against 24 schools. 5 of the 6 sprinters made it to the final of their events.

Olivia Monk defended her Midlands crown and made it through to the National Finals next week. Long jump was a success for the school with George Bell getting 3.60 metres and finishing second by only one centimetre! His brother, Oliver, went one better and won his event with 3.88 metres. He also makes it through to the Nationals. Kyle Kerfoot-Bale was second, Olivia Sarkies fourth and Arabella Dughmosh got a personal best to take her into sixth.

In the high jump, Fin Calder was the victor in his event in a tense head-to-head finish and became the third qualifier for the National Finals. Amelie Edge smashed her personal best to come fourth.

In the 600 metres, Archie Dowling and Eddie Arkesden ran superbly to finish third in their respective heats.

Kyle Kerfoot-Bale and James Wright gained points for the school in the 150 metres.

The relay teams had not had much practice together but both year 4 teams made the final as well as the year 5 and year 6 boys. The year 6 girls came second in their heat with a great run. When all of the results and points were collated, the year 5 boys won their category and were presented with a shield.

Well done all.

Crescent played in a six-a-side tournament at Rugby School on Sunday. With short boundaries and pink balls, the games were exciting and fast paced. Bowling first in the first match against Witham Hall School, Crescent found out that it was not a game for bowlers as they saw their good balls flying to the boundary. However, Mehul Patel amazingly managed to bowl a maiden (no runs in the over) despite Witham Hall scoring 87 in 8 overs. Crescent went at the target with purpose and Chris Gibson played his trademark drives early on. Georgia Dowling supported well by scoring singles. Fin Calder picked up where Gibson had left off when he was caught out and scored a quick fire 18. At the end, Crescent had scored a credible 66.

Crescent won their next match with Gibson and Oliver Bell both retiring on 25. Bell was to continue striking a host of sixes throughout the tournament. Brinklow tried to be aggressive with his running and unselfishly took a risky single to help accelerate the score. Over the tournament, Samuel Lau and Gabriel White were the pick of the bowlers for Crescent. Lau with his extra pace troubled batsmen and White was unerringly accurate. Crescent lost against the eventual finalists - it was useful for them to play against such a strong side for the experience.

All in all, it was really pleasing to see the Crescent children competing with much bigger schools from all over the country, fielding so confidently and batting with aggression. It was a lovely sunny day to cap it all off!