West Essex under-15s did the double over Switzerland in the third annual staging of their European battle.
The youngsters took on their touring Swiss counterparts – they first met as under-13s in 2022 – in two 25-over contests at Bishop’s Stortford College.
In the first encounter, West Essex won the toss and, thanks to some movement caused by the early-morning dew, soon had their opponents 11-5 after six overs, with The Bishop’s Stortford High School students Alfie Jesse (2-8) and Luca Livermore (2-23) among the wickets.
The Swiss were all out for 78 after 21 overs as Travis Morgan also picked up two wickets, with Sam Braund of TBSHS and Jack Fuller picking up one wicket each.
TBSHS pupil Dan Laskey top-scored with an unbeaten 27 in West Essex’s reply as they reached 82-4 in the 20th over.
Krishan Fernando (Hockerill Anglo-European College) and Charlie Waugh (Bishop’s Stortford College) added 14 runs apiece.
The hosts elected to bat first in the second game and the Jesse twins, George and Alfie, starred with knocks of 53ret and 37 respectively.
Udai Atwal added a solid 24 as they posted a formidable 156-5 wickets off their 25 overs.
The Swiss batted more sensibly second time around in the reply, but also a little too slowly as they got to the final five overs with only two wickets down but still needing 50 runs.
And Hockerill’s Ollie Sturrock (2-18) helped to seal another win for the hosts as the tourists came up 13 runs short with six wickets remaining. Laskey and George Lattimore also claimed a scalp each.
The West Essex team were grateful to David Hughes and the college for hosting the event and stand-in coach Fred Hussain for being team manager for the day.