National Finals 2026

In the ESCA Under 15 One Day Cup Merchant Taylors’ School and Shrewsbury School offered the crowd at Oakham School an electric finish to their respective campaigns. Having won the toss and elected to bat, MTS got their innings off to a rapid start thanks to a partnership of 57 between Arjun Mehta and Adam Khan. Shrewsbury then pegged their opponents back with two quick wickets and restricted MTS to a total of 201, setting a competitive but by no means a decisive target. 

In reply, Shrewsbury also started strongly before two quick wickets threaten to derail their chase. A well paced innings of 71 by Oscar Howarth then put his team firmly in the driving seat, but his dismissal with 22 runs still needed allowed Merchant Taylors’ back into the game and set up a nerve jangling half hour as four wickets tumbled. When the ninth wicket fell in the last over, excitement built to fever pitch but Shrewsbury’s last pair of Bruno Dowland and Connor Haswell held their nerve and saw their team home to a famous victory with two balls left. 

In the national final of the David English Under 13 Cup, Hampton School won the toss and asked Manchester Grammar School to field. Despite an early breakthrough by MGS, Hampton built their innings steadily until three quick wickets in the ninth and tenth overs set them back. A mid-innings partnership of 53 between Edward Jolliffe and Smyan Mehta steadied the ship and although wickets fell around him, Jolliffe (52 not out) batted with great common sense to steer his team to a highly competitive total of 215-9 from their allotted 35 overs. 

Manchester Grammar’s reply could hardly got off to a worse start with a wicket second ball from Hampton’s pacey opening bowler Kaarthikan Mayouran. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and any realistic chance of a tilt at the target was snuffed out by a fine spell from spinner Bertie Elliott (3-32) who extracted generous turn from the dry surface. As the run rate climbed and with the pitch keeping increasingly low, Hampton’s Rahul Prabudesai cleaned up the tail in clinical fashion with figures of 4-14 - including a hat-trick - to see his side to victory by a margin of 82 runs. 

The finals of the ESCA Under 11 Hardball Cup saw eight teams gather at Oakham School for the annual  eight-a-side pairs competition having qualified from ESCA’s regional festivals. After the completion of the three pool matches, Taunton Prep and Whitgift emerged as the two finalists. Powerful batting from Whitgift’s opening pair helped their team set an imposing target and they backed this up in the field with a combination of high quality pace, spin and excellent fielding - including two run outs and two stumpings - which saw them home to a comfortable victory. West House School from Birmingham secured third place in the 3rd/4th playoff match.