Young cricketers at Bedale Primary School are the 2012 Drax Cup champions.

The mixed team of under 9s boys and girls beat Driffield Junior School by 24 runs 253-229 in the finals of the competition held yesterday (Wednesday 25 July) at Headingley Carnegie Stadium, the world famous ground in Leeds.

A play-off for third and fourth place was won by Rawdon St Peter’s Primary School in Leeds, scoring 250 runs compared to the 213 of Herringthorpe Junior School from Rotherham.

In the semi-finals Bedale overcame Rawdon 234-206 while Driffield won by 17 runs against Herringthorpe.

The four teams took to the pitch prior to the Yorkshire Carnegie v Worcestershire Royals quarter final clash in the Friends Life t20, with the players eager to emulate the batting and bowling skills of their idols.

The Drax Cup trophy and medals were presented by Andrew Gale, Yorkshire Club Captain and Katherine Brunt, the England and Yorkshire bowler. Both are ambassadors for the Drax Cup.

The finals were the culmination of a 3-month competition which attracted some 300 schools from across Yorkshire and Teesside.

The Drax Cup, the biggest cricket competition for Under 9s in the country, is in its sixth year and is sponsored by Drax Power Limited and organised by The Yorkshire County Cricket Club in conjunction with the Yorkshire Cricket Board and Yorkshire Schools’ Cricket Association.

For full details and competition rules visit www.yorkshireccc.com/draxcup.

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for regular updates @TheDraxCup.

For more information, please contact:

Melanie Wedgbury

Head of External Communications, Drax 01757 618381

Samantha Addie/Richard Harrison

Imagen PR 01943 468778

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Notes to editors

1. Drax operates Cricket In The Community, a scheme designed to provide cricket coaching in primary schools as part of the company’s support for education and to promote sports learning as part of the National Curriculum, which is supported by Yorkshire Cricket Board.

2. Drax has four ECB-qualified cricket coaches among its employees and also works with Katherine Brunt, 2009 Cricket World Cup winner and member of the successful England women’s Ashes team in 2005 and 2007.

3. Under 9s cricket is played with a softball and uses Kwik Cricket Equipment bats and stumps. It is an 8-a-side pairs game with each innings of 16 overs played on a wicket 17 yards long and the boundary set at a maximum 25 yards.