Cricket: Worcestershire Under 17s go to Devon for Championship finale

They look to end on a successful note after drawing with Hampshire and losing to Somerset and then Gloucestershire at Stourport when set a 450 target.

Academy coach Elliot Wilson said: “All credit to the quality of the facilities at Stourport and Eddie Giles and his team produced a hell of a surface.

“Because the surface was as good as it was we agreed to accept quite a large run chase which professionals would take a hell of an effort to reach, let alone 16 and 17 year olds.

“We gave it a good go, batted well and there were contributions from guys all down the order and we got to 360 to 370.

“We were just short of one of those players getting in and batting for a long period of time. If that had happened, we would have been really close to knocking it off.

“Zain Ul-Hassan top-scored with 72 and if he or Xavier Clarke, Charlie Clist or Pete Clark had gone on and got a hundred we would have been very close.

“It’s a shame we came up just short but it was a better experience than just batting out the day, wasting it and going through the motions.”

Wilson praised the all-round contribution of skipper Ul-Hassan.

He said: “It was a good opportunity, one that was missed, but we learnt a lot about a few people.

"Zain really stood up among his peers as a high-quality cricketer in our opinion.

“It was the way he went about his business. His contributions as a bowler, batter and captain was a bit above everyone else in our opinion and he stood out from the rest of the group.

“Pete, Henry Cullen and Aaron Tomson made some really good contributions and showed some character in the second innings when we were trying to chase down that 450.”

Wilson added: “We are looking at four days at Sandford to wrap up our Under 17 Championship cricket and then we’ve got three weeks of academy cricket to wrap the summer up.”

Worcestershire from: Lea, Clist, Holland, Clarke, Ul-Hassan, Clark, Hinkley, Tomson, Hardwick, Davis, Parker-Cole, Marshall.