31/08/2026
The junior season ended with the (now seemingly regular) East Dorset Invitational Cup, which turned out to be a fantastic bookend to the season.
With the weather forecast looking....interesting and Saturday's heavy rain throwing the day into jeopardy, optimism and perseverance won through as all games played out without a hitch.
Drawn against Verwood in the semi, Poole opted to bat and racked up 147 for their 20 overs with Leo Russell (27*) top scoring on a dream debut where he also took a wicket with the only ball he bowled. Contributions from Hitesh Chillakuru (19) who was on loan from Parley CC, Seth Keech (16) and Zosia Scott (16*) saw us amass a competitive total. Well done to Verwood's Harrison Thorne who bowled superbly for his figures of 3-1-16-2
Verwood started well before a flurry of wickets from our accurate bowling and sharp catching saw them fall short of the total, with only Harrison able to reaching double figures.
With news that Bournemouth had beaten Wimborne in the other semi final by just 2 runs, we enjoyed a cracking BBQ courtesy of our hosts and made plans for the final.
In a twist, Wimborne's top run scorer in their semi, John Williams (47), took the field for Bournemouth in the final. However, even his excellent spell with the ball of 4-0-30-3, couldn't put the brakes on our rampant batting order as Jesse Wormington (26), Seth Keech (29), Barnaby Chetwood (44) and Noah Vaughan (30*) led us to an imposing 162.
With Bournemouth not able to keep up with the rate, we chipped away with regular wickets and only Agastya Deshprabhu (25*) was able to make a significant contribution with the bat. In the end, Poole ran out winners by 84 runs to retain the trophy they'd won the previous year.
Huge thanks to everyone who helped organise the day, to our excellent hosts Bournemouth, to the ground staff who enabled the games to go ahead following the rain, to those who scored and umpired, to the parents for their great support and to the players, who all enjoyed one last bit of outdoor cricket for 2026.
Roll on next summer!