SPEEDY Cara-Jade Lowe put spectators in a spin when she won a national junior cricket bowling competition.

The 11-year-old sports fanatic entered the NatWest competition to find the fastest young bowlers despite having never bowled a cricket ball before.

Cara-Jade, of St Helens Road in Leigh, soon proved a natural, winning the North-West under-12s heat, and securing a place in the finals, which were held at Lord's last weekend before the final of the NatWest One Day International final between England and India.

Took title

Here she bowled twice and, with a speed of 40.6 mph, took the title as England's fastest under-12s female bowler. As well as an autographed bat, medal and signed book Cara-Jade won a day's training with England pace ace Darren Gough.

No stranger to sports, Cara-Jade spends her time kick-boxing, playing football, running for Golborne High School and has even tried her hand at rugby. She recently won a school javelin throwing competition and loves the thrill of competing.

Cara-Jade's dad David said: "After her performance on Saturday I wouldn't be surprised if she starts getting involved in cricket. Especially since members of the England team commented on how good her technique is. Cara-Jade has always been sport-mad, she is very competitive and doesn't lose often."