Haxton hits a double hundred against his team mates
Alfie Haxton took the plaudits with an unbeaten 204 as Epsom under 12s played Twenty20 Cricket Academy "B" team in an all day declaration game.
With the Epsom team boasting a number of Twenty20 Cricket Academy players, including Haxton, the fixture took on even more meaning than usual.
Epsom batted first and, after an early wicket, Twenty20 confidence increased. In came Haxton. Adding 82 with Dan Barker (another Academy member) and then 143 with James Howe, Haxton punished the bad ball with imperious drives, mostly through extra cover and pulls through backward square, as he accumulated runs to burst through the milestones. It was his first century and likely to be the first of many.
When he finally retired, the Epsom innings collapsed, thanks in the main to Ralph Dennis taking 4-4 in 1.3 overs. Young Cecil Jain, only 9 years old, bowled excellent leg spin bowling 5 overs for just 26 runs, an excellent performance in the light of Haxton's assault on bowlers.
Declaring at 339-9, the feeling was that it was way too many and a boring draw might be in the offing.
However, the fast outfield and short boundary in places showed that target wasn't entirely out of reach.
Two Academy batsman recorded half-centuries, Alexander Dalglish and Nilaan Mohan and Lewis Mayho nearly joined them falling just short on 43 as the Academy accumulated 250-6 when the persistent rain finally became too heavy to continue with just 5 overs remaining.
Just under 600 runs scored in an under 12 game showed the standard of cricket being played and also demonstrated how longer matches can be beneficial to young cricketers.
