2005 Cornwall Youth Festival Review

Another resoundingly successful Cornwall Youth Festival ended on Friday evening at St Gluvias Cricket Club, with Cornish sides and their guests from the south-east of England sharing the honours, though Falmouth were clearly the most successful individual club. Over six gloriously sunny days in Penryn, with many games taking place at Penryn College, hundreds of young players each played around two full days of cricket and the many trophies and prizes were well distributed amongst them. A feature of the event was that, in parallel with the trend in all levels of cricket, higher scores were required to make sure of victory, as batsmen have expanded the boundaries (no pun intended) of what it is possible to achieve in a limited number of overs. Improvised strokes and a greater adventurousness, much of it learnt from watching the top modern cricketers, have sent run rates soaring. There were numerous scores of over 170 runs in ten eight-ball overs (one of 216), though it should be noted that all of the competitions are now for teams of just eight players per side. Some of the fielding was fantastic, with some superb diving catches in the outfield, though many of the poor bowlers took rather a pasting in the dry, sunny conditions.

Falmouth CC began the week with a narrow win over Newquay in the Under 11 Final at the end of what was a very evenly contested day of cricket. The local Premier League club's youth section also wrapped up events on Friday by thrashing a previously impressive Redruth outfit in the Under 17 CricketMax event, played over just five overs in the evenings. Host club St Gluvias were unlucky to lose out to Redruth in the semi-final, beaten off the final ball of the innings. City club Truro gained some consolation in taking home the Plate trophies at both Under 15 and Under 17 level.

A special feature, to the delight of the organisers, was the group of visiting teams, mainly from around London, who camped on the St Gluvias ground and made the Festival a rather thriving community, day and night, for the whole week. Regulars West Dulwich, either current or ex-pupils of Dulwich College Preparatory School, brought three teams, faring reasonably well in the Under 13's (two teams) and storming to victory in the Under 15 tournament, thus achieving the 'double' after their success at U13 level in 2003. Newcomers Cranmore (Somerset) and North London CC played their part, but the other impressive debutants, both on the field and in their conduct and organisation, were Cublington, from Buckinghamshire, and Spencer Wanderers, a South London club. Spencer were rarely troubled in winning the Under 13 trophy, whilst Cublington reached the Under 15 final and the U17 Plate final with the same team.

The Twentieth Festival, in 2006, will run from SUNDAY 6th to FRIDAY 11th AUGUST. CYCF officials would like to thank everyone who helped with this year's event, particularly Penryn College, the Lord's Taverners and the members of St Gluvias CC.

Full results 2005

Under 11 (17 teams) : Plate - Hayle 162, Grampound Road A 141 Semi-finals - Newquay 121, St Erme 116 Falmouth 126, Penzance 109 Final - Falmouth 150 beat Newquay 144 by 6 runs. Player of the Final - Ryan Jelbert (Newquay)

Under 13 (16 teams) : Plate - West Dulwich 122-6, Grampound Road 123-7 Semi-finals - Dulwich West 79-7, Spencer Wanderers (London) 80-3 Redruth 52-6, St Just 55-0 Final - Spencer 176-1, beat St Just 119-6, by 57 runs. Player of the Final - Omar Green (Spencer) Best Batting Performance - William MacVicar (Dulwich West) 91 Best Bowling Performance - Robert George (West Dulwich) 5-18

Under 15 (12 teams) : Plate - Redruth 124-2, Truro 126-3 Semi-finals - Cublington (Bucks.) 142-4, Cranmore (Somerset) 100-4 West Dulwich 162-6, St Austell 134-3 Final - West Dulwich 137-1, beat Cublington 136-5, by 7 wickets. Player of the Final - Daniel Goodwin (Dulwich) Best Batting Performance - Josh Cunningham (Dulwich) 88 Best Bowling Performance - Mike Pang (Cranmore) 5-12

Under 17 (10 teams) : Plate - Cublington 78-2, Truro 86-0 Semi-finals - St Gluvias 79-4, Redruth 83-1 Falmouth 69-7, Grampound Road 44-5 Final - Falmouth 102-2, beat Redruth 29-7, by 73 runs. Player of the Final - Richard Kellow (Falmouth)