Our school cricket team (pictured above with Mr Devon Malcolm - former England fast bowler) finished very close to qualification for National Finals.
After winning all of their group games in the morning vs teams from Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and a team from Essex the boys qualified for the knockout stages in the afternoon.
Framlingham won a very tense and exciting quarter final but then were unlucky in the draw for the semin finals to be paired with the champions of Essex.
The boys were nervous in the game because they knew that the winners would get to the Nationals.
Fram bowled first and got off to a poor start. Essex had some very powerful batters early on. However, Fram hit back to take several late wickets and keep their score down.
The Essex boys also had some good bowlers and despite getting off to a good start Fram finished 12 runs short of victory.
The team were very disappointed to finally lose a match (after 16 straight wins this season) and frustrated to hear that the runners up from our group in the morning (from Norfolk) had made it through to the final (and guaranteed entry to the Nationals). However, as the watching Suffolk cricket manager said to the boys: they should be proud of the way they had represented their school and the county of Suffolk.
150 Suffolk schools had entered this years competition and over 1000 schools in the East. So finishing 3rd was a great achievement.
The boys have had a brilliant season and become a close group of friends through their exploits. It has been a pleasure to coach them and watch them play. I would also like to thank Mr James Cantrell for his help throughout the summer.
