BARNARD Castle School’s U15 cricket team are about to face the alma mater of former England skipper Michael Atherton after they qualified as Durham's representative for the ECB/ESCA Under 15 Trophy Competition, formerly known as the Lords Taverners' Competition.

The competition is split into four regions, with the finalist from each making up the semi-finalists.

Barney is now in the North final against Manchester Grammar School, where former Lancashire and England opener Atherton scored almost 3,500 runs and took 170 wickets.

In the first round of the competition Barney had a comfortable win against Northumberland’s Duchess High School, winning by 80 runs. Barney were 145 all out, Matthew Price with 53 runs and Toby Lush with 29. Duchess finished with 65 all out, Charlie Pearson collecting 3 wickets for just 11 runs.

Opposition in the second round was from Birkenhead School in Cheshire and the boys won by 26 runs. Barney scored 168-8 and special mention must go to Matthew Price who hit 57 not out, George Spink who scored 40, Andrew Gedye and Cameron McKnight who both hit 20. Birkenhead School finished with 142 all out and Cameron McKnight took 2 wickets for 20 runs, while Toby Lush took 2 for 31.

The U15 team have some promising players: Toby Lush, who is currently in the Durham Under 15 squad, Matthew Price, who has so far scored two half-centuries and is in the Durham Under 14 squad and George Spink who has previously been involved with the county. Andrew Gedye has done a fantastic job as captain this season.

Stuart Everall, the U15 coach said: ”The team has played exceptionally well in every round so far. Playing at home is a great advantage, especially on our excellently prepared wickets. This sort of success helps to build confidence and develop the sport in the school further.”

In the meantime, pupils from Barnard Castle Prep School competed at Gateshead International Stadium at the HMC Athletics Championships, featuring the top Independent Schools in the North-East.

The girls rounded off a fantastic day by bringing home the overall girls Winners’ Trophy.

19 members of the team were placed in the top 3, a fantastic performance with all six relay teams reaching their final.

In addition to the individual successes, the U9 Boys’ team were placed 2nd overall, with the U10 and U11 Girls’ teams going one better and emerging as winners.

The list of Barney winners included Ben Wilson (U10, 600m), Evie Hole-Todd (U10, 200m) and Jake Metcalfe (U11, 200m). Evie then joined Holly Petley, Sophia Baker and Jessica Dixon to win the U10 4 x 100m Relay.