Honley High School are celebrating success at Headingley.

Their Under 13 team won the Schools Cricket Challenge with two devastating performances on finals day at the home of Yorkshire cricket.

Honley had previously beaten Brooksbank Sports College, Royds Hall High School, Mirfield Free Grammar School and Rossington from Doncaster to reach Headingley.

They were drawn against The King’s School, Pontefract, in the semi-finals and were sent in to bat, making 96-5 with James Sunderland top scoring on 40.

The King’s School were always under pressure with some tight fielding from Honley and were restricted to 75-7 in their 20 overs.

Sunderland proved as excellent with the ball as he had with the bat, taking three for 17 with able support from Cameron McGrath, who took two for 11.

In the final, Honley faced St John Fisher of Harrogate, who decided to bat after winning the toss.

After a solid start, St John’s collapsed from 53-1 to 58-6 in a period of play that effectively determined the destiny of the cup.

Three of those wickets were taken by the outstanding McGrath, who knocked over his opponents’ top order in a devastating spell of swing bowling.

St John’s score of 79 looked below par and so it proved as Honley’s captain, George Sykes-Kenworthy, gave his team an excellent start with a quick-scoring 33.

In front of family and friends, the Honley batsmen continued to hit boundaries and surpassed the required 80 runs with seven overs to spare.

Honley player Sunderland said “To win the cup at Headingley; it doesn’t get any better than that. The great thing about this side is that it sticks together and gels really well, and it was a brilliant effort by all the players.”

PE teacher Matt Haigh was delighted for the team.

“A lot of these players were part of the team that narrowly missed out on reaching Finals day last year,” he said.

“They have worked so hard to get here this year, with every player contributing to our success. It has been a great experience for them to play at Headingley and a wonderful achievement to win the cup.”

Kirkburton Middle School were also winners at Headingley, taking the North of England Under 11 Kwik cricket title.