FENISCOWLES Primary have won through to the county finals after winning the Blackburn and Darwen Primary Schools Kwik Cricket festival.

Fantastic Fenny will now fly the flag for the borough at the Lancashire Cricket Board County finals at Northern CC on Thursday.

And if their display last week is anything to go by, the have every chance of going even further.

Feniscowles won all of their group matches, then proved to be just too strong for St Gabriel’s in the semi final.

The final was against Audley Primary School which paired the competition’s two most impressive and well organised team teams – as expected, it was a match of high quality.

Batting first, Feniscowles posted an impressive total of 258 thanks to some big hitting from Harry Caton and Jack Gooden towards the end of their innings. Audley batted well, but regular wickets kept their score down and they needed 18 off the final two overs. An impressive stumping from Feniscowles captain Caton meant they lost five runs and despite a couple of lusty blows in the final over they ended up 17 runs short of their target on 241.

The competition, which was hosted by Darwen CC, included 18 different schools from across the borough all competing to be crowned as Blackburn and Darwen champions for 2014 and progress to the county finals in Liverpool on Thursday.

Teams, which included eight players, were split into four leagues and games were played over six pitches. Every school played at least three matches with the winner of each group progressing to the semi-finals.

Audley Juniors dominated Group One winning all of their four games with Cedars winning three out of four to be runners up. Feniscowles had an equally impressive record, winning all of their games in Group Two. St Cuthbert’s progressed from Group Three and St Gabriels were a team with another 100 per cent record in winning Group Four.

The first semi-final paired Audley and St Cuthberts, with Audley progressing to the final thanks to a victory by a score of 257 to St Cuthbert’s 224 – Teams start on 200 runs. In the second, Feniscowles proved too strong for a talented St Gabriel’s team as they scored 250 to St Gabriels 230.

Howeveer, St Gabriel’s went on to claim third place by defeating St Cuthbert’s in the third/fourth play-off.

The best match of the day was fittingly left for the final with both teams producing some quality cricket.

The match was finely poised but Fenny captain Caton’s excellent stumping proved to be crucial as Audley fell short of their total.

Andrew Mercer, School Games Organiser, said: “Feniscowles will now travel to Northern CC on Thursday for the Lancashire Cricket Board County finals I would like to wish them the best of luck and “I’m sure they will do the Borough proud.

“I would like to thank to Darwen Cricket Club for allowing us to use their ground for the trhee primary cricket festivals we have run. “I would also like to thank John Cordingley and young leaders from St Bede’s RC High School for volunteering to umpire the matches.”