THE sixth annual Blackburn and Darwen Schools U13s Cricket festival was held recently were teams from a across the borough took part.

A total of eight schools – St Bede’s, St Wilfrid's, QEGS, Witton, DACA, Darwen Vale, Blackburn Central and Our Lady & St John – took part in wo rounds of qualifiers with the top two tams from each progressing to finals day.

Teams of eight competed in a format where teams started on 200 runs and batters batted in pairs for 4 overs and lost five runs every time they lost a wicket. Everyone apart from the wicket keeper had to bowl at least one over with the emphasis on players all having a chance to have a bat and a bowl.

St Wilfrid’s, Witton, Blackburn Central and QEGS all progressed to finals. QEGS played Blackburn Central in the first semi final and scored 323 in their 16 overs – starting on 200.

In reply, Blackburn Central batted well and looked like they might reach the target before some tight bowling toward the end from QEGS restricted them to 302.

In the second semi-final Witton defeated St Wilfrids to meet QEGS in the final.

St Wilfrid’s then went onto beat Blackburn Central in a play-off to finish third.

In the final itself, QEGS again batted first and some big hitting meant they set a formidable target for Witton to chase. To their credit, Witton played well and stroke plenty of boundaries, but also lost a few wickets meaning they did not really threaten the QEGS total. This meant QEGS were crowned Blackburn and Darwen U13s champions along with their U15s crown they claimed the week before.

School Games Organiser, Andrew Mercer, said: “I would like thank Darwen CC for allowing us to use their ground for three days.

“It is great to see lots of lads playing hard ball cricket at a cricket club and hopefully the experience will encourage more those involved to go along and get involved at their local clubs.

“This festival is great as it engages cricketers from different ends of the spectrum from those who are involved at county level to those who have never worn pads or played with a hard ball before. There are lots of clubs in the area with excellent junior coaches and set ups, hopefully they will see a few new faces in the coming weeks."