A TEAM of young cricketers who were only beaten by the rain in a season which saw them win the double are waiting to hear whether they are the first in their club to achieve the feat.
Whitchurch Wayfarers under-13s won all of their fixtures in the Palladium West Devon Youth League and topped a winning season by racking up a cup final victory into the bargain.
The previous season had been interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and team spokesman Robin Goodfellow said it was ‘wonderful’ to see a fuller schedule of cricket being played this time out, with the younger players bringing home the trophies for local cricket club.
Goodfellow said the team were beaten only once by bad weather, when they were unable to play their scheduled match in a ‘peerless’ league run.
He said parents and club supporters had watched the team take on determined rivals from Plymouth Cricket Club, in an exciting cup final.
In what Goodfellow described as a ‘terrific’ team performance, Whitchurch won the toss and elected to bat, producing a solid 139 for only three wickets after 20 overs.
The game ebbed and flowed, but Whitchurch’s bowling and focus in the field proved to be decisive against a determined Plymouth, bowling out the visitors for 117 for the Wayfarers to win by 22 runs.
Goodfellow said: ‘Sixteen players ranging from 10 to 13 represented the team over the season and all should be very proud of their collective performance — and a feat that has the club’s “historians” scouring their scorebooks to see if this league-cup double is a first.’
He thanked parents, club volunteers, club sponsor Mansbridge Balment and club coaches for creating these opportunities and the Wayfarers’ rivals for playing the game in such a ‘great cricket spirit’.