THE William Ransom Primary School in Hitchin have become double national champions. Having won the lacrosse national championship exactly a month ago, the school has now added the Kwik cricket national title to round off a phenomenal year. Teacher Steve M

THE William Ransom Primary School in Hitchin have become double national champions.

Having won the lacrosse national championship exactly a month ago, the school has now added the Kwik cricket national title to round off a phenomenal year.

Teacher Steve Mills said: "I am obviously delighted for all the players.

"We have had a very strong team this year as many of the players had been playing for the school for many years. Everything had come together at the right time.

"I want to thank all the players for their hard work, and the parents for their vocal encouragement.

"I also want to thank Dave Smith for all his expert advice over the course of the last six seasons.

"To win this title is brilliant and reward for all the hard work that the pupils have put into their cricket at school and for their local clubs."

As an extra treat, the team will now be guests of honour at Andrew Flintoff's testimonial match at Old Trafford on Thursday, August 24.

The East of England winners won the coveted trophy at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, on Tuesday.

In the morning, they played three group games against teams from North Wales, Penzance and the West Midlands.

They got off to an excellent start beating Maesydre School by 95 runs in the eight overs, while the other two group games were both won by 45 runs.

Their semi-final was against Hall Green School from the West Midlands and as in the previous three games, captain Ben Smith won the toss and elected to bat.

The opposition were set an impressive target of 91 to win and five wickets in the first three overs meant they were always struggling as William Ransom won by 55 runs.

The final turned out to be a repeat of the East of England final where they played Downside School from Luton.

William Ransom bowled first on this occasion and the bowling and fielding was outstanding.

In particular, Dalvinder Gill bowled a double wicket maiden and took several other crucial catches.

At the end of the eight overs, they had limited the opposition to 197 (effectively minus three as teams start off at 200).

The batting was equally impressive, including the Champagne moment of Gabriel Brooker hitting six sixes in an over.

At the end of the innings, which included a cheeky little reverse sweep from Sam Draper on the last ball, William Ransom had reached 299 and become national champs by an impressive 102 runs.