Durham Cricket Under 14 Boys made history by winning the 2022 Taunton Festival for the first time as a county.
A successful week of cricket saw Durham make it 4 wins out of 5 and top the league table at the end of the week, with wins over Cornwall, Cambridge, Dorset and California.
Durham cruised to a 7 wicket win in game one against Cornwall. Cornwall won the toss and elected to bat being dismissed for 172 in 47.3 overs as Rohan Vagadia was the pick of the bowlers with 4/24 with Oliver Martin (3/29) and Hedley Windows (2/22) in the wickets. In reply Luke Symington led the way with 69 from 63 balls with 7 fours and 3 sixes backed by 33 from Toby Bell as Durham won with over 20 overs remaining.
Their biggest win of the week came with a 220-run hammering of California, having won the toss and electing to bat first Durham posted 326/8 from their 50 overs. Durham’s batters made useful contributions throughout the innings with Owen Harwood top scoring with 71 supported by 66 from Toby Bell. Oliver Martin (45) and Marc Forster (40) were also in the runs. Oliver Martin picked up two quick wickets reducing the American side to 4/2 and despite a 50-run partnership for the third wicket they continued to lose wickets throughout the innings. Martin (4/20) and Rohan Vagadia (2/14) were the key wicket takers for Durham.
Their third win was another comfortable win for Durham, with a 8 wicket victory over Dorset. Rohan Vagadia continued with another superb performance with the ball with figures of 3/17 along with 3/23 from Finlay Barlow as Durham bowled out Dorset for 154. 80 from Jacob Hindmarsh and an unbeaten 27 from Owen Harwood saw Durham home in 29.1 overs.
An unbeaten 132* in 131 balls from Rohan Vagadia helped Durham to a high scoring win over Cambridgeshire on day 4 supported by 113 from Owen Harwood as they posted 311/8 in 50 overs. Two quick wickets from Finlay Barlow and Oliver Barlow put Cambridgeshire on the back foot and despite 88 from Will MacLean they fell 87 runs short on 224/9. Charlie Burdon picked up 3/24 for Durham.
Following four wins on the bounce Durham had wrapped up the league with one game to spare having a 21-point cushion going into the final game against Middlesex.
And it was Middlesex who they lost to in their final game going down by 27 runs chasing 177. Durham had bowled out Middlesex in 38.4 overs as Oliver Martin picked up 4/20 and James Minto 2/27. Minto top scored in reply with 37 and 32 from Finlay Barlow; and despite 21 from Owen Harwood at 9, Durham slipped to their one and only defeat of the week.
Owen Harwood’s 232 runs saw him finish second as the tournaments leading run scorer while Oliver Martin’s 12 wickets saw him finish as the leading run scorer, Rohan Vagadia in a close second with 10 wickets.