An enjoyable annual Horsham Primary Schools Stoolball Tournament ran at Horsham Sports Club on Wednesday morning. The sun shone nicely and 12 teams from seven schools competed well on the well prepared outfield of Horsham Cricket Club. A strong Southwater A team emerged triumphant but only after a tight final against Leechpool A.
The first phase of the event saw teams split into four round-robin groups of three, results of which informed which second phase tier each team went into. Soutthwater and Leechpool A teams dominated their groups and were joined in the top tier by All Saints A and Shelley A who had slightly tougher challenges to progress through in their first stage encounters.
In the top tier semi-finals Southwater A more than doubled the All Saints A score with a powerful display of batting, bowling and fielding skills. Leechpool A beat Shelley A by 35 runs to book their final spot.
In the final Leechpool A batted first and could only post a modest total of 113 runs against the well disciplined Southwater fielding unit. All looked to be heading for a Southwater cakewalk but two early wickets for Leechpool put the favourites on the backfoot and they just couldn’t get going. At the start of the final over Southwater had limped to 110 and the match was in the balance. However some level-headed push shots punctuated by a single boundary saw the relieved Southies to a winning total of 118 and showing that sometimes low scoring matches can be as exciting as high scoring ones,
Shelley A beat All Saints A to take third place overall. In the middle tier Shelley B came out as top (fifth overall) beating Slinfold by 32 runs and in the lower tier two wins for All Saints B won out (ninth overall).
RESULTS
PITCH/GROUP 1 1st All Saints A 2nd Leechpool B 3rd Holbrook A | PITCH/GROUP 2 1st Southwater A 2nd Shelley B 3rd Kingslea | PITCH/GROUP 3 1st Leechpool A 2nd Slinfold 3rd Holbrook B | PITCH/GROUP 4 1st Shelley A 2nd Southwater B 3rd All Saints B |
PHASE 1 | |||
122 Leechpool B v All Saints A 173 | 163 Shelley B v Kingslea 156 | 79 Holbrook B v Leechpool A 178 | 116 All Saints B v Shelley A 179 |
128 Leechpool B v Holbrook A 127 | 228 Southwater A v Kingslea 124 | 205 Slinfold v Holbrook B 134 | 133 Southwater B v Shelley A 159 |
142 Holbrook A v All Saints A 155 | 93 Shelley B v Southwater A 193 | 91 Slinfold v Leechpool A 168 | 148 Southwater B v All Saints B 144 |
PHASE 2 | |||
UPPER TIER | MIDDLE TIER | LOWER TIER |
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MATCH 1 Winner Gp 1 v Winner Gp 2 91 All Saints A v Southwater A 199 | MATCH 3 R-Up Gp 1 v R-Up Gp 2 178 Leechpool B v Shelley B 171 | MATCH 5 Third Gp 1 v Third Gp 2 144 Holbrook A v Kingslea 108 | MIDDLE TIER MATCH 4 R-Up Gp 3 v R-Up Gp 4 125 Slinfold v Southwater B 122 |
MATCH 2 Winner Gp 3 v Winner Gp 4 148 Leechpool A v Shelley A 113 | FIFTH PLACE Winner M3 v Winner M4 165 Shelley B v Slinfold 133 | MATCH 6 Third Gp 3 v Third Gp 4 174 Holbrook B v All Saints B 208 | SEVENTH PLACE Loser M3 v Loser M4 103 Leechpool B v Southwater B 137 |
FINAL (1st) Winner M1 v Winner M2 118 Southwater A v Leechpool A 113 | NINTH PLACE Winner M5 v Winner M6 150 Holbrook A v All Saints B 130 | ELEVENTH PLACE Loser M5 v Loser M6 173 Kingslea v Holbrook B 105 | UPPER TIER THIRD PLACE Loser M1 v Loser M2 138 All Saints v Shelley A 160 |