Northamptonshire County Cricket Club’s Academy players have enjoyed an incredible month of May with a number of impressive displays.
Batsman Emilio Gay was arguably the stand out player from the Academy, as he scored 100 not out against Warwickshire U17’s off of 120 balls, steering Northamptonshire to victory. This performance, coupled with his 100 for Bedford School, a performance which could see the batsman pick up an award at Lords, was the headline of an amazing week of cricket for the Academy prospects.
Alongside Gay, Harry Gouldstone’s career best of 144 not out, who is captain of the U17 age group this year, allowed Northamptonshire to chase down Warwickshires total of 261 all out without losing a single wicket, which was a very dominant performance by all.
In this U17 fixture against a strong Warwickshire line up, bowlers Claydon, Drinkle, Haddow and Miller shared all the wickets as Warwickshire reached a total of 261, before Harry Gouldstone and Emilio Gay combined to surpass the tally themselves.
James Cronie, who recently joined the Academy setup this year after a 2 year spell on the EPP programme, racked up an impressive tally of 60 as he was part of a side that took on Norfolk U15’s on Sunday.
Ben Claydon also managed to pick up 80 runs in Cambridge as part of his first competitive game for a mens side.
Other standout performances include Adam King, who achieved a total of 94 runs as he represented Stowe School, and Flynn Drinkle, who picked up a century in his first game of the year.
May bank holiday saw the U17’s have some remarkable games with the side going up against Nottingham, Wales and Staffordshire. Northants set Notts a massive 339 at Papplewick and Linby, where Academy player Ben Claydon smashed 89 in as many balls. Harry Pemberthy (41) Tom Oslen (50) Michael Wells (42).
Ben Claydon had another notable performance of 62 against Wales and Harry Pemberthy (67) saw Northants record another remarkable victory.
This remarkable month for the Academy was rounded off with a second team debut for Emilio Gay against Derbyshire, a game which also saw Academy player Connor Haddow picking up 3 wickets in 3 overs.
Kevin Innes, Academy Director at Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, was delighted over his players performances over the weekend.
“Some of the performances across this weekend were outstanding.”
“We had some exceptional displays against a strong Warwickshire side, with both the ball and the batt. It has been a very encouraging weekend in terms of the development of these young players.”