Trees take root in Cornwall
 
A representative side of six Sparsholt boys and two Fair Oak boys won the prestigious 28th Cornwall Youth Cricket Festival this week with some blistering team and individual performances. The U15 competition was played out between twelve teams, including three touring teams from Sparsholt, Andover and Walmley (Birmingham), hosted at St Gluvias Cricket Club just outside Falmouth. The Sparsholt side comprised of regular u15's Nick Doubell, George Ellis, Thomas Foster, Tom Procter, Will Rowe and Harry Talks, with Charlie Gwynne and Gregor McKenzie from Fair Oak. Jon Foster managed the side. The tournament was a "Cornish Eights" format with 8 players per side, and matches comprising of 10 x 8 ball overs per innings. In the qualifying league matches, Sparsholt topped their group with comprehensive wins against St Erme (by 4 wickets), hosts St Gluvias (by 7 wickets) and Perranporth (by 8 wickets, chasing 115 without losing a wicket). In the quarter final, Sparsholt beat Walmley B by 3 wickets before facing Walmley A, pre-tournament favourites and winners of the last two events, in the semifinal. The boys excelled themselves in this game with outstanding performances with the ball, in the field and with the bat. Having restricted Walmley A to 92-7 (with wickets shared between Foster (3), Talks (2) and Rowe (1)), Sparsholt chased down the modest total for the loss of only 1 wicket with 3 overs to spare with excellent knocks of 40 n.o. each for Doubell and Rowe. In the final, Sparsholt faced Cornish side Rosudgeon in a 12 over per innings game and having been put in to bat, amassed a huge 198-4 comprising 5 sixes, 23 fours and superb individual performances from Gwynne (50 n.o.), Talks (48) and Rowe (44 n.o.). Requiring nearly 17 per over, Rosudgeon were soon behind the run rate with the Sparsholt bowlers taking regular wickets and fielding keenly to restrict the final score to 138-7. The wickets were again distributed across all the bowlers (Foster taking 2 and Ellis, Procter, Talks, Rowe and Doubell taking one each). Over the competition, the leading wicket takers were Foster (9), Talks (7) and Doubell (5), with the leading runs scorers being Gwynne (162 at an average of 54) and Rowe (121 - and not dismissed in any of his 5 innings). As well as receiving the trophy, the team won a new "Paceman" bowling machine for the club. It was a terrific achievement from a very talented crop of young players nurtured through the Sparsholt youth system. As well as being an excellent cricket event, it was also a great social event with all the families enjoying one another's company in between the cricket at an array of pastimes.