Felsted School’s U15 girls had to triumph over challenging weather conditions as well as their opponents from Bancroft’s to claim the Essex county cricket trophy.

In a final delayed from the summer term, the two sides met on Felsted’s windswept main pitch and after winning the toss, the home side chose to bowl first.

A good performance by the Felsted girls restricted the visitors to 71 runs and after early wickets fell in reply, the lower middle order steadied the innings to claim a narrow victory. 

"It wasn’t typical cricket weather, but a brilliant day for the Felsted girls nonetheless and one to be remembered for a long time to come," said Felsted’s head of girls’ cricket Lissy McLeod, who a few days later lifted the national Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy as a member of the winning Sunrisers women’s regional cricket team. 

McLeod, who divides her time between her professional cricket career and her role developing girls’ cricketing skills at the school, represented Birmingham Phoenix in this year’s Hundred competition and plays county cricket for Berkshire.

She said: "It’s a great combination for me to play at the highest level and also use my skills and experience to help develop the next generation.

"So many more girls are interested in cricket now and participation at Felsted is growing rapidly, which is great news for the future of the women’s game."

Cricket is a core sport throughout Felsted’s Senior School, with additional training and coaching sessions for keen and able players and a full fixture list for both boys’ and girls’ teams.

The sport at the school is led by former Essex and England man Jason Gallian and they have produced many first-class and international cricketers over the past 200 years, notably Derek Pringle (Essex and England), Nick Knight (Essex, Warwickshire and England), John Stephenson (Essex, Hampshire and England), and current professional players Jordan Cox (Essex and England), Grace Poole (Essex), Emma Jones (Essex) and Jessica Olorenshaw (Essex).