Little marvels star in nationwide event

Such a remarkable achievement was confirmed at the national final of the ASDA Kwik Cricket Tournament on Tuesday.

Little Common only narrowly missed out on a semi-final place at the world famous Trent Bridge Cricket Ground in Nottingham.

They continued the form shown in winning the Hastings, East Sussex and South East competitions in qualification to resoundingly win their opening two group matches.

North West winners Kew Wood Primary School were their first victims by the emphatic margin of 60 runs.

Some excellent fielding and fantastic bowling from James Bailey, Callum Guest and Henry Smith restricted the opposition to 226-8.

Chasing a modest total didn't stop Common from playing their normal attacking game and the batting of Cameron Smith and Jack Taylor, who hit 21 runs from five balls, saw them win easily on 286-1.

Common again bowled brilliantly and fielded well to restrict their next opponents, North East champions Valley Gardens Middle School, to 239-6.

Pick of the bowling were Matthew Edwards and the impressive Bailey, who gave the batsmen no room to score runs.

Smith and James Vaughan started well in reply before Charlie Bachellier smashed the ball to all parts of the ground with four sixes in one over as Common amassed 269-4.

Things didn't pan out quite so well, however, in their final match which was a winner-takes-all clash between Group C's two unbeaten sides.

A combination of some big-hitting from East Midlands representatives Dale Park School and some friendly bowling meant that Common got off to a poor start. Tight overs from Lara Petty and Guest, however, limited Dale to a good but not ungettable total.

A slow start to the innings saw Common get behind on the run rate and they were always struggling to get back on terms. Bachellier again scored well, but even three sixes in the last over from Vaughan could not steer Common to victory.

Common finished second in the group and fifth overall as they had the best run rate of the 12 teams to miss out on a last four place.

This year 100,000 boys and 15,000 girls in 12,000 teams took part in the ASDA Kwik Cricket Tournament.