Pleckgate High School have again underlined their cricketing credentials by winning the Year 9/10 Blackburn with Darwen Schools Cricket Cup.

However, they were made to work for their latest piece of silverware in an enthralling final against Witton Park at Pleasington Playing Fields.

Witton posted an intimidating score of 111 in 16 overs. In reply, Pleckgate’s usually fluid batting took time to get going and they were well behind on the run rate until a swashbuckling display of clean hitting from Anas Intiasse – ably supported by Faiz Taylor’s solid batting and lightning running between the wickets – saw the final swing back in favour of Pleckgate who clinched victory with just three balls to spare to scenes of celebration from the team and fellow pupils who had gone along to led their support.

Pleckgate reached the final after narrow quarter final victory over Darwen Vale at Darwen CC thanks to some notable performances from Ahmed Raza Patel and captain Ali Shah with the ball and an all-round display from man-of-the-match Ali Haider. In the semi-final, Pleckgate played St Wilfrid’s at Cherry Tree CC in another thriller. A good all-round display from the bowlers and tight fielding restricted St Wilfrid’s to 93 runs. And a superb match winning batting performance from Lancashire player Ziyad Bhada saw Pleckgate home with three overs to spare.

The winning team, captained by Ali Abbas Shah, included Ziyad Bhada (vice-captain), Ali Haider, Ahmed Raza Patel, Qadir Salim, Faiz Tailor, Anas Intiasse, Hoozaifah Master, Adnaan Hazari, Hamzah Patel, Raheel Zaman, Usman Choudry, Mohammed Bilal Yusuf.