It has been a wonderful summer of cricket; even after school broke up for the holidays, many of our boys continued to play for local, town and county teams.
Two boys in particular deserve their story telling, and they are Upper Sixth Former Jamie Dunk and Fifth Former Mustafa Haroon, who are both celebrating after an exciting and very successful summer of cricket.
Jamie Dunk was selected to play for Scotland U19s in the ICC World Cup Qualifiers in the Netherlands. Jamie played in matches against Guernsey, Jersey, the Netherlands, Norway and Italy in their bid to secure a place in the ICC U19 World Cup taking place in Sri Lanka in 2024.
We are delighted to report that Jamie and his team won and qualified! As a result, he is off to play in the World Cup Finals in Sri Lanka in January, playing against teams such as England, Australia, South Africa and the West Indies.
Additionally, Jamie has been selected for a T10 competition in Spain as part of the main Scotland team in the week before half term. Jamie will be the youngest player on the team, and will compete against top players from all over Europe.
Jamie explained, “Qualifying for the ICC Under 19 World Cup this summer is a dream come true. I have always closely followed the tournament, watching the future cricket stars perform on the highest stage, making their name with outstanding cricket performances live on TV. One of my main ambitions for this season was to perform well in the World Cup Qualifiers with Scotland and do my very best for the team.”
Jamie is Scottish on his mother’s side of the family, who originate from Edinburgh. His Scottish grandparents live locally in Northampton and the family remains deeply connected to their Scottish heritage, celebrating notable Scottish occasions throughout the year. Some of Jamie’s close family members still live in Scotland, including cousins, aunts and uncles, who always come along to support him when he plays in Scotland.
Director of Cricket Gary Steer told us, “Jamie has had an outstanding season for the school 1st XI/U17s, scoring over 1000 runs and taking 20 wickets. He has been a fantastic addition to the cricket club, both as a cricketer and as a leader, and I have no doubt he will continue his good form for Scotland U19s. This is an excellent opportunity for Jamie to perform on the international stage and I am delighted that he has secured a place in the main competition next year.”
Congratulations also go to Mustafa Haroon, who was selected to play for London and East in the prestigious ECB U15 Bunbury Festival.
Mustafa took his place alongside the best U15 cricketers in the country and played against other regional teams from the Midlands, the North and the South in the tournament that took place at Loughborough University from 30 July to 4 August.
We are delighted to also report that Mustafa and his team were also festival winners! Mustafa told us, “I really enjoyed the experience and never expected to enjoy as much as I did. We played five games and won three. Unfortunately, after my first game I injured my ankle in the warm-up which kept me out of the next three. However, after persuading the physio before the last match, I ended up playing whilst injured and only batted. So, it was unlucky that I got injured but it still was a great experience and we comfortably won even though we had lost two games.”
Mustafa follows in the steps of numerous Old Bedfordians, which have included, in recent years, Gus Miller, Emilio Gay, Rohan Mehmi and, of course, Sir Alastair Cook.
Director of Cricket Gary Steer said, “It is fantastic news that Mustafa was selected to play in the most prestigious under-15 festival that the ECB run. The ECB use this festival to identify future England players, so this really was an excellent opportunity for him. Mustafa is a very skilful batsman and leg spin bowler, and he was an integral part of the 1st team this summer.”