PUPILS from St Laurence School in Bradford on Avon became U13 South West champions after winning the Chance to Shine hard ball cricket competition hosted at Chippenham Cricket Club.

The champions of Berkshire, Cornwall, Wales, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon and Hampshire were all in attendance.

As the champions of Wiltshire, St Laurence were paired with the winners from Berkshire and Wales.

A poor batting performance against Berkshire meant that St Laurence lost off of the last ball the game ,which meant that the Bradford on Avon school had to win heavily against the Welsh champions to qualify for the semi-finals.

They chased down the total set by Wales in under four overs, thanks to some fantastic batting performances from Rory Howell and Rhys Appleton respectively.

The victory enabled St Laurence to avenge their earlier defeat as they faced the Gillott School from Berkshire in the semi-finals.

A fantastic all round performance, with great bowling from all the team, limited the opposition to 48, which led to an effortless chase within six overs.

A tough test awaited them in the final, where they came up against Somerset’s Heathfield School, who were put in to bat first.

Their batting line-up was strong and had great depth, which showed, but after six overs of fine bowling they got their release with some inventive batting and rocketed up to 64.

This was going to be a tough chase for St Laurence but the opening partnership of Howell and Harris got the Bradford school off to a great start.

Appleton came in and carried on the momentum before Oliver Felstead joined him at the crease to see St Laurence over the line with three balls remaining.

The school have now qualified for the national finals at Northamptonshire’s Wantage Road home on September 15.

They will be presented with a brand new St Laurence one day cricket kit by the Chance to Shine organisers before the national event.

The squad were: Rory Howell (captain), Rhys Appleton, Huge Long, Leo Harris, Will Oxley, Joe Daddow, James Sellar, Oliver Felstead, Ollie Withers and Charlie Hindmarsh.