AITKENBAR Primary cricket team played in the regional final of the National Primary Schools’ Kwik Cricket tournament recently.

It was their second consecutive appearance in the final which was played at the home of Clydesdale Cricket Club in Glasgow.

Their opponents were the talented cricketers from Glasgow High School and Hutchesons’ Grammar, both large private schools with well established cricketing traditions.

Hutchesons against Aitkenbar was the tournament’s opening match and Conor Byrne, the Aitkenbar captain won the toss and elected to bat first.

Despite some accurate and pacy bowling from the Hutchinsons’ attack, Aitkenbar scored a credible 256 runs with Josh O’Donnell top scoring on an unbeaten 54 runs, including three towering 6’s one which clattered into the members pavillion.

In a nail biting final over, Hutchinsons just managed to overhaul the Aitkenbar total with four balls to spare.

In their second match, Aitkenbar took on the formidable Glasgow High School team who scored a magnificent 313 runs from their innings.

Nathan Degnan, the Aitkenbar wicket keeper, made two impressive stumpings to dismiss both the Glasgow High opening batsman and Logan Kinney took a fabulous diving catch on the long on boundary.

The Glasgow High total proved too tough for Aitkenbar and they were all out for 279 despite Euan Middlemiss valiantly scoring three boundaries in a row off the second last over.

The Cricket Scotland Coach Tim Hart was present and was very impressed with the progress that the Aitkenbar had made from last year in all aspects of their game. Glasgow Academy progressed to the national final.