THE future of Weymouth Cricket Club is safe in the hands of its buoyant youth section, with more than 75 members enjoying regular training sessions and matches.

Training takes place at Wey Valley School on Wednesday evenings from 5.30pm and the sessions regularly see a turnout of more than 40 children.

The Under-9s have grown in strength and they play matches with a soft ball on Fridays at Wey Valley School.

So far results have been encouraging and a number have played for the Under-11s including Charlie Farwell, who is becoming a regular in the older age group.

Manager Sai Maganti has developed players to be ready to take the next step up to the 11s where hard balls are used.

The Under-11s themselves are having a very successful season, recently winning three games in a row.

Captain Tom Anderson has led from the front, accumulating a lot of runs and taking a number of wickets.

He has been supported in the batting department by fine knocks from Sam Burton, Olly Gordon, Josh Radburn-Richards and Ben Lerpiniere-Symes, while bowling has been left in the hands of Ben Hunter and Josh Pearson.

George Tonge and Charlie Mussenden have shared the duties of keeping wicket and have both impressed.

The large number of players in this age group means Weymouth will be able to field two teams next season.

The Under-13s are getting things together after a difficult start and several new players are showing plenty of improvement.

Ned Hazel, Owen Lovett and Nathan Mitchell have performed well with the ball, while Cameron Dolan, Dylan Ellis, Charlie Price and Tom Anderson have starred with the bat.

New starters Josh Comben and Tommy Lockwood continue to improve and the future looks bright for this group.

It has also been an excellent season for the Under-15s. They progressed to the area cup final before losing a very close match to Dorchester.

The match featured great bowling and fielding from Weymouth to restrict Dorchester to 68-7, Jack Sapsworth taking three wickets and an athletic caught and bowled.

Dorchester then continued the high standards of the contest with the ball, restricting Weymouth to just nine runs from the first seven overs.

A brave unbeaten 18 from Luke Lovett towards the end nearly brought Weymouth victory, but Dorchester took the last wicket with the seasiders only seven runs short.

Following that, the team narrowly lost to Kilmington in the quarter-finals of the regional cup.

Several players from this age group have regularly played for the senior second team and one or two have also turned out for the firsts.

Any children interested in playing should contact Hugh Lawes on 07747011730 or come to training on a Wednesday evening.