A clinical bowling performance, backed up by a dominant batting display, made Surrey Vitality U18 County T20 Boys champions as the Three Feathers comprehensively defeated Yorkshire by 6 wickets at Kibworth CC.
A collective effort from the bowling unit restrained Yorkshire to merely 100 before blistering knocks from Arjun Gill and Adam Thomas took the Three Feathers home in the eleventh over.
Having been asked to bowl first, Surrey couldn’t have pictured a better way to begin the final, picking up a wicket in each of the first four overs and reducing Yorkshire to 30/5 by the end of the powerplay. The trio of Seb Stuart-Reckling (2/28), Alex French (2/9), and Luke Griffiths (2/13) bowled exceptionally with the new ball, sharing the first five wickets among them.
Left-arm seamer Stuart-Reckling started Surrey’s charge as he caught Jack Redshaw off his own bowling for 0 before French had the White Rose skipper Alex Cree caught by Luke Griffiths for 1 from the other end.
Stuart-Reckling then removed Will Bennison for 6, while French continued the Three Feathers’ incredible start when he dismissed Joe Thompson for 0. A change in the bowling did not impact Surrey’s good fortunes as Luke Griffiths picked up Owen Smith for 17 in his first over.
Edward Burch and Jawad Akhtar added 20 runs before Surrey struck again as Burch’s stay in the middle ended when Harry Gardner (1/16) got him caught by Adam Thomas for 15, leaving Yorkshire 45/6.
The White Rose’s troubles worsened as Surrey maintained the pressure and Tommy Bates and Griffiths collected a wicket each within the next 18 runs.
In the remaining 8.1 overs, Akhtar (38 not out off 42) and number 10 Alexander Wade (10 not out off 16) succeeded in their objective of playing out the overs, adding 37 runs in the process and leading Yorkshire to 100/8 at the end of the innings.
Surrey’s reply started with a hiccup as they found themselves 14/2, with Harvey Round dismissing Krish Patel (5) and Ollie Sykes (6) in the second over of the innings.
Gill’s (35 off 23) aggressive counter-punch reverted pressure back on the White Rose, and despite losing the wicket of skipper Stuart van der Merwe cheaply, Thomas’ impressive knock of 41 not out off 23 balls, involving five fours and two sixes, ensured Surrey cruised the chase with 57 balls to spare.
A scorecard can be found here.
