WINTERBOURNE International Academy and Rednock School and have been crowned county champions after winning the Gloucestershire finals of the Lady Taverners Indoor Competitions.

Rednock, from Dursley, triumphed in the under-13 competition, while Winterbourne took the under-15 title.

Both schools had a 100 per cent record in their respective finals, which featured schools from across the county who had won their district heats.

Winterbourne – whose team included Gloucestershire county players Emily Lock and Emily Wilkins (both under-15) and Natasha Wraith (under-13), played in a round-robin competition against Pate’s Grammar, King’s School, Stroud High, Wyedean and Colston’s School, winning all five of their matches.

The under-13 festival was played in two groups with the winners – Rednock and King’s School from Gloucester – contesting the final.

Both Winterbourne and Rednock will now go on to represent Gloucestershire in the regional finals of the national Lady Taverners competition.

In total 20 schools from across the county entered the local rounds of the under-13 competition with 22 teams entering the under-15s tournament.

This included six schools entering for the first time – Dean Close, Cheltenham College, Cotswold School, Bristol Free School, Cotham School and Wycliffe College.

Gloucestershire Cricket Board clubs and programmes officer Lisa Pagett, who organised the tournaments, said: “The Lady Taverners competition is a fantastic way of introducing girls to cricket in a school environment and the fact that the numbers of schools entering remains healthy is a great representation of the interest in girls’ cricket in Gloucestershire.

"Having six new schools enter for the first time is brilliant and we hope that the number of schools getting involved will continue to grow.”