Durham Cricket are delighted that four members of its boys’ pathway will represent the North of England at the prestigious Bunbury Festival.
Luke Symington, Owen Harwood, Robbie Bowman and Rohan Vagadia have been selected for the week-long festival which commences on Sunday at Loughborough University the home of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s high-performance centre.
Symington who captains Durham boys under 16s side has been in fine form this summer for Durham Cricket’s representative sides with 460 runs while he has 568 runs for his club side Norton with 5 fifties.
Darlington quick bowler Owen Harwood has been impressive with the ball this summer taking 6/19 when representing the North of England at Weetwood earlier this month.
Robbie Bowman who is also part of the Northumberland pathway and plays his club cricket at Tynemouth Cricket Club has been in superb form with the bat throughout the summer. Wicket-keeper batter Bowman scored a blistering 119 against Horden in the Durham Senior League Cup and has 430 pathway runs so far this term. He scored a match winning 106 at Tynemouth while representing Northumberland against Durham under 15s.
All-rounder Rohan Vagadia has been called up as batting cover for London and East – Vagadia who plays his club cricket at Middlesbrough has 228 pathway runs and 13 wickets this season.
The famous festival is into its 36th year and its fourth in the current format as a formalised part of ECB’s Player Pathway. Trials and assessments for each region have been going on since the winter, with county coaches nominating their top players for consideration for final selection.
For many young players, the Bunbury Festival is their first chance to benchmark themselves against their peers from different parts of the country. And the process clearly pays dividends, with over 90 former Bunbury players going on to represent England, including 10 from the 2019 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup squad.
The North will kick off the week against South & West in the T20 competition on Sunday, with the 50 over competition starting on Monday against London & East, South & West on Tuesday before rounding off the week on Friday with the T20 finals.
Durham Cricket Academy Director John Windows said: “I’m really pleased for the lads from Durham selected for Bunbury this year.
“It’s a great reward for the hard work they have put in and recognition of their excellent performances at county age group and club level.
“It has been great to see their development over the last few years and I’m sure this will be another fantastic experience in their cricketing journey.”