Inner Cities eye national final

Wolverhampton Inner Cities under-14s have the national final in their sights after a tense four-wicket victory over Liverpool at Himley.

The team, selected from various clubs sides in the Wolverhampton area and managed by Penn coach Ghazi Zaki, head to Manchester later this month for a winner take all clash that could earn them a place in the three-day final festival in Arundel in August.

Himley’s Casey Pole kept his nerve to guide Wolverhampton to victory on his home soil with an impressive unbeaten 49.

Pole and Fordhouse’s Alex Haynes (17 not out) saw their side home in pursuit of Liverpool’s 136-8 – Haynes striking the winning boundary off the fourth ball of the final over.

Haynes and Pole had joined forces with Wolverhampton needing 27 to win from five overs. Fordhouses’s Gavin Cheema (18) and Himley’s Ryan Brown (17) had made useful contributions earlier in the innings.

Two more Fordhouses players, Basit Kakroo and Alex Parsons, had been the pick of the Wolverhampton bowling attack.

Kakroo bagged 3-21 and Parsons 2-28 while Dilpreet Malhotra and Haynes also bagged a wicket each.