Furzedown edge out Belleville in close Maurice Fulcher Trophy final.
The first week of the new year saw the Kia Oval host the annual Maurice Fulcher trophy finals day in the Ken Barrington Cricket Centre.
The Maurice Fulcher Trophy is an indoor, 8-a-side (consisting of 4 boys and 4 girls) soft-ball cricket competition for year 5 & 6 pupils. The 2017/18 competition saw 40 schools from the London Boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark & Wandsworth take part in a series of qualifying days in November, from which eight schools progressed to the finals day at the Kia Oval to compete for the trophy.
Congratulations to the eight qualifying schools below who took part in the finals day:
Belleville (Wandsworth)
Dulwich Hamlet (Southwark)
Furzedown (Wandsworth)
Heathbrook (Lambeth)
Hillbrook (Wandsworth)
Sacred Heart (Wandsworth)
St Andrews RC (Lambeth)
Vauxhall (Lambeth)
On finals day, the eight finalists were split into two groups of four, with the winner of each group going through to the final. Both groups were tightly contested and ended with Furzedown and Belleville coming out on top of their respective groups and into the final.
In a tense final, Belleville won the toss and chose to bat but some very good bowling and sharp fielding from Furzedown restricted them to 214 after their 8 overs. Furzedown started positively and quickly got ahead of the target. However, Belleville fought back with a couple of quick wickets to bring them back into the game. But despite Belleville's valiant efforts, it was ultimately not enough and Furzedown held on to become 2018 Maurice Fulcher Champions!