A TEAM of girl cricketers from Northumberland has represented the North of England in a national competition.
The nine Year Six pupils from Ponteland Community Middle School narrowly missed out on a place in the semi -final of the Asda Kwik Cricket finals at Leicestershire County Cricket Club on Monday.
They won one of their group games but narrowly lost a second by just three runs to deny them a place in the last four.
Teacher Stephen Salter said: "The girls are obviously gutted about not qualifying for the semi-finals. But they are also very proud that they are in the top 10 best teams in the country.
To get to the national finals the 11-year-olds from PCMS first had to see off opposition from five other schools to win the area finals. They then took the county title at Stocksfield CC after beating 12 other teams.
In the regional finals they won the right to represent the North of England after beating off competition from all over the North East and Cumbria
Mr Salter added: "This is the second time in three years that our Year 6 girls have qualified for the national finals. Two years ago at Derby CCC we won two and lost one in the group stages and didn't qualify for the semi finals."
More than 12,000 schools from across the country took part in the initial stages of the competition.
The PCMS girls are Francesca Burrin, Jessica Farnham, Lauren Beales, Holly Huntley, Katrina Sanders, Victoria Lynch, Madeleine Reynard, Emily Large and Rebekah Wilson.
