Two cricket teams at Hook-with-Warsash Academy aim to knock out their opponents at the Hampshire finals of the schools contest at the Ageas Bowl.
Both the boys’ and girls’ teams at the school in Church Road, Warsash secured places in the final of the county schools’ competition at the home ground of Hampshire Cricket Club.
The boys will bat first on July 4 among other hopefuls across the county. The following day the Hook-with-Warsash girls’ team will take to the pitch and joining them will be Sarisbury Juniors girls cricket team.
PE teacher Tom Earles put the pupils’ enthusiasm for playing the sport down to inspiration from adult cricket players at Sarisbury, Burridge and Locks Heath who visited the Warsash school two years ago.
“They sparked an interest in the Year 3 and 4 children,” he said. “It’s definitely a legacy of the coaches coming in. We’ve got a massive number of children who play outside of school too.
“Cricket seems to have captured the imagination at school with 60 at training.
“We’ve currently got one Year 5 boy, Phillip Larcombe, who’s a county player.
“To be honest I feel we’ve got a strong chance with the boys’ squad. The boys are playing a very good standard led by the county player and other clubs’ players in the team.
“For the girls we’ve got a couple of outstanding players and a very supportive team to carry them through. So we’re hopeful we’ll do well.
“Having both teams at the finals shows the depth of quality at our school.”
The 10 players in each squad from Hook-with-Warsash will be up against another 15 teams from across the county each hoping to be crowned the winner.
The winning teams will then go on to play in the regional finals on July 16 at the Ageas Bowl playing against winners from eight counties surrounding Hampshire.