Westville House wins the Drax Cup 2009
2nd July 2009
Westville House Primary School, Ilkley, has won the Drax Cup 2009, the biggest under 9s cricket competition in the country.
The team beat Anston Park Junior School, from Dinnington in South Yorkshire by 16 runs scoring 260 for two wickets in the final played on Sunday (28 June 2009) at Headingley Carnegie Stadium, Leeds, one of the most famous cricket grounds in the world.
English Martyrs’ Roman Catholic Primary School, from York won a third and fourth place play-off beating St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary School from Ripon with a score of 228 for four wickets against 223 for five.
Some 40 children were involved in the finals, played on the Headingley turf prior to the Twenty20 Cup Match Yorkshire v Derbyshire.
Peter Emery, production director of Drax Power, sponsors of the Drax Cup presented the trophy and medals alongside Yorkshire Club Captain Anthony McGrath. Peter said: “I would like to thank every school that took part for their involvement and commitment in helping to make the Drax Cup such a fun event to play in and watch. I should also like to congratulate Westville House on their outstanding performance today!”
He added: “Youth sport and education are two important themes of our community relations programme. This competition is an ideal way of bringing them together and enabling children to enjoy sport and through this learn valuable lessons about supporting each other and taking responsibility.”
The finals were the culmination of a 3-month competition which attracted over 300 schools from across the region,
The competition is organised by The Yorkshire County Cricket Club in conjunction with The Yorkshire Cricket Board and The Yorkshire Schools’ Cricket Association.
Stewart Regan, chief executive of The Yorkshire County Cricket Club, said: “Encouraging youngsters to play cricket is essential for the long term success of the game and I am delighted with the continued support of Drax Power.
“Children at the age of 7 or 8 years old are starting to form their first real opinions about which sport to follow and which team they wish to support and the Drax Cup is a great way to develop an interest in the game of cricket and in particular The Yorkshire County Cricket Club.”
The Drax Cup supports children in developing literacy and numeracy skills by encouraging them to write match reports to be read out in school and assist in match scoring.
Drax’s sponsorship strengthens the company’s links with the game and is part of its Cricket In The Community (CITC) scheme, which provides cricket coaching in schools to support education and promote sports learning as part of the National Curriculum.
Drax estimates that around 600 children now benefit from CITC every year, while today’s finalists are among some 3,000 pupils and teachers from across Yorkshire who have participated in the competition.
For full details and competition rules visit www.yorkshireccc.com/draxcup