'Dominant' Hartlepool Cricket Club Under-13 squad enjoy incredible season

Hartlepool Cricket Club’s Under-13 squad have enjoyed a stellar season of success - in both the league and cup competitions.

The next generation of budding young Park Drive cricketers wrapped up their campaign last week with a host of memories and stunning success to look back on over the summer. Their impressive roll of honours includes the following achievements:

• Unbeaten in the league with an incredible 16 wins on the bounce

• Crowned overall North Yorkshire South Durham champions after a nail-biting 4 wicket win over Sedgefield - the West League winners

• Winners of the Lowery Cup, which included the talented youngsters beating Northallerton in the final

• Represented Durham and beat Grange of Edinburgh to become North East & Scotland’s representatives in the ECB national T20 competition.

• Meanwhile, an impressive eight players from the squad were selected to represent the county at festivals in both Ipswich and Barnard Castle.

Coach Danny Hawkins said: “This season has been fantastic for all the players involved and was reward for the hard work of the past couple of years.

“The team are always committed to training and take a lot of responsibility on their own shoulders to practice at the nets. While we have been dominant in the league the cup games presented a real challenge with the team stepping up in the crunch moments.

“Although we lost in QF’s to the eventual National Champions we were very close, and it has certainly provided an incentive to go again in the U15’s tournament. The highlight of the year was definitely the victory against Edinburgh at a packed Park Drive, with the players getting the chance to perform in a high profile game, in front of their friends and family.”