Year 5 and 6 children took to the field last week to participate in the return of the stoolball tournament at Horsham Sports Club. The tournament saw six teams from four schools compete in the eight-a-side event which involved a round-robin format, running on the cricket outfield. Rules were simple; highest batting score wins, and with this explained to all teams, they set off to the pitch to bat, bowl and field their way to victory. 

In the first round of fixtures, matches were tightly contested, with the maximum winning margin being 28 runs for All Saints over Kingslea C. Kingslea A bounced back from a narrow eight run loss to Shelley in the first round to beat school rivals Kingslea B and C teams in the following two rounds of matches. Kingslea C despite high spirits, finished last in the tournament, with Southwater and Kingslea B above them registering one and two victories respectively out of the total of five matches. 

The low winning margin from the first round was a theme that did not continue through the following rounds of matches with All Saints, for example, gaining a 85-run win over Southwater, which gave them the confidence to extend their win streak to four out of four with one to play. Shelley also followed in All Saints’ footsteps by earning themselves confident victories over Kingslea C and B, along with a narrower win over Southwater.

Shelley and All Saints dominance set up a winner-takes-all match on pitch 3 in the final round of matches. Shelley combined expertise in the field by limiting All Saints to a score of 99, and with batting prowess registered a 64-run win to claim the title of champions. Shelley finished with five wins from five and a total batting score of 897, the highest of the day. 

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