With the season now in full flow, we have seen more than 150 junior games take place so far in various competitions. This is a remarkable number of games and it has been great to see so many young players represent the club. For a number of our sides the season still holds the prospect of some silverware coming back to the Upminster Park Pavilion (in the brand new trophy cabinet, when it’s finished of course). Over the next couple of days we will take a look at how the season is going in the different junior competitions.

COUNTY COMPETITIONS
In the Ravi Bopara Trophy it is still early days for our U19s. They have played just one game so far which resulted in a win over Brentwood last week. They still have to face Harold Wood, Hornchurch and Belhus in a tough looking group, with only the top placed team in each group guaranteed to progress.

For the U16s it is crunch time in the Trevor Bailey Matchplay this Sunday (20th). Upminster have so far beaten Brentwood and lost to Harold Wood, with both games producing the tightest finishes imaginable. With Brentwood having beaten Harold Wood an Upminster win over Rankins this Sunday at Upminster Park (1.00pm) would see three sides (Upminster, Brentwood and Harold Wood) all level on points and all square on the first tie breaker which is results between the teams tied on points!!! It means should Upminster win on Sunday, by no means a forgone conclusion against an excellent Rankins side, the group would be decided by net run rate. Should Upminster progress, the quarter finals will take place on 3rd August.

In the Sir Alastair Cook Trophy the U14s have already progressed to the knockout stages of the competition. The group stages saw the side pick up wins over Bentley and Rayleigh before losing out to Brentwood by just four runs in a thrilling match. They also got wins by concession from Chelmsford and Hadleigh & Thundersley, meaning they finished second in their group and advanced to the last 16. They have been drawn to play Billericay who topped their group with five wins from five (date of last 16 game to be advised).

For the second time in three seasons the club's U12s have reached the semi finals of the Brian Taylor Trophy. The Upminster side won their group this year with four wins from four, seeing off Brentwood, Hutton, Orsett and Bentley before overcoming Woodford Wells in the last 16. That set up a quarter final tie with South Woodford, which Upminster won last Sunday by seven wickets. In the last four they will welcome Coggeshall Town to Upminster Park on 27th July, and will be hoping to become the first side in the club's history to reach the final of this competition.

Our U15 Girls have been competing in the Cath Dalton Cup and are still in with a great chance of making the knockout stages. They have so far beaten Buckhurst Hill, Orsett & Thurrock, Hornchurch Athletic, Bancroft Lions and Frenford, whilst losing to Wanstead and Snaresbrook, and currently lie in second place in the West section. They have one more group game remaining, against Woodford Wells next Tuesday, and they need to win that and hope Wanstead slip up in one of their final two games to make the final (top spot in West and East section go through to the final).

Our U13 Girls (in the Cordelia Griffith Cup) and U11 Girls (in the Kelly Castle Cup) have still got a number of games to play over the coming weeks. The U13s have so far won one game and lost one, while the U11s have completed just one game to date.