County Boys Under 11s enjoy fantastic festival at Royal Hospital School, Suffolk

It was a first for Wiltshire County Boys Under 11s as they competed at the Minor Counties Cricket Festival at the Royal Hospital School, Suffolk.

Driving up through rain on Saturday 5th August and despite two inches of rain falling across the day, the pitches were still playable following a slight delay on Sunday 6th August. This first day proper of the festival saw Wiltshire compete in two fixtures:

Match 1: Wiltshire v Cambridgeshire on Astro. Cambridgeshire batted first and hit 71-7 in their 20 (Thomas Anstee 2-9, Bertie Rudler 2-13). Wiltshire chased the total down in 10.5 overs, for the loss of just two wickets. Highlights: Jaisal Shah 23* off 26. Freddie Jones 30 off 26.

Wiltshire beat Cambridgeshire by 9 wickets

Match 2: Wiltshire v Norfolk on a grass wicket. Wiltshire batted first and scored 75-5 off 20, before then restricting Norfolk to 69-10 from their 20. It was a crucial 12 overs of spin that made the difference; Harry Chaplin 4-1-7-2 (off spin), Freddie Jones 4-1-13-1 (leg spin), Jacob Rowe 4-0-11-3 (left arm orthodox), as well as Fin Ball 3-1-7-2 (away swing). No big scores with the bat, but Jacob Rowe and Bertie Rudler ground out a 31 run partnership for the 3rd wicket.

Wiltshire beat Norfolk by 6 runs

On to the Monday of the festival and it was a different format as Wiltshire competed against Suffolk in a 90 over win/loss/draw game where the team batting first would have to declare after 46 overs maximum. It was agreed that both sides would play to 12 wickets per team.

Match 3: Wiltshire v Suffolk - Wiltshire were 78-5 after 32 overs at lunch, but managed to accelerate from there to end on 127-9 off 46, partly due to the pitch continuing to dry out. In reply, Suffolk needed 35 runs with 6 wickets (and lots of overs) in hand, and 10 runs with 3 wickets in hand, but were bowled out 6 short to end on 121-12 off 34.5. Highlights: Jaisal Shah 34* off 128 (carried his bat), Gene Dunn 5-0-16-3 (inswing) and Asher Osborn 7.5-4-12-3 (pace).

Wiltshire beat Suffolk by 6 runs

Tuesday saw another win/loss/draw match as Wiltshire we put up agaisnt Cleveland Schools.

Match 4: Wiltshire v Cleveland Schools - It was agreed that it would be 11 wickets per side. Cleveland scored 124-11 in 45.3. Wiltshire were 48-2 off 15 when the rain came. Initially there was hope that the teams would get back on, but it didn't clear until about 8pm. Draw. Highlights: Gene Dunn 10-2-15-0 (inswing). Pranav Trivedi 7-2-12-2 (left arm pace). Freddie Jones 5-1-16-3 (leg spin). Still unbeaten, and the Netherlands/CWE match was also drawn.

Wiltshire draw with Cleveland Schools

Wednesday was the final day of the festival and saw teams agree their final fixture. With Wiltshire, Netherlands and Cricket Wales East the only unbeaten teams and with Wiltshire not having played the Netherlands it was agreed this would be our preferred fixture. Thankfully all other teams were happy to accommodate this and so on it was to Wiltshire v Netherlands.

Match 5: 40 overs per side ODI rules, 13 wickets per side match. Wiltshire scored 181-12 in our 40 overs, including losing 2 wickets on the last 2 balls of the innings. Early in the second innings, the news came through that CWE had lost, so our winner would be the only unbeaten team at the festival. Netherlands scored 100-10 in reply. Highlights: Jaisal Shah 21 off 101. Wilf Makin 54 off 67, Jacob Rowe 30 off 24. Gene Dunn 5-2-3-0 (inswing), Alfie Yeo 6-2-13-3 (medium pace). Harry Chaplin 7-1-21-2 (off spin).

Wiltshire beat Netherlands by 81 runs

So, five matches, four wins and a draw. Only unbeaten team at the festival. And all that with only one 50 and no 4-fors. A great team effort.

Wiltshire Cricket would like to say a big thank you to all at MCCF for their hard work in organising such a fantastic festival. We would also like to thank all Wiltshire's parents for supporting the festival and importantly would like to thank the team of Wiltshire coaches, Craig Chaplin, David Norman and Russell Rowe for their hard work across the five days.

Finally, a big shout out to the Wiltshire Boys Under 11s for representing the county so well across the five days: