Fareham's young gunsstill have much to offer

TOM KENT believes it's been a season of progress for his young Fareham & Crofton side.

Fourth-placed Fareham travel to promotion chasing Lymington II in Hampshire County Division One, with Kent urging his side to finish the season strongly.

Kent said: ‘We are hoping to win our final two games and see where it takes us.

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‘Last year we had a very young side which had a lot of potential.

‘Those players have impressed again and gone up another level.

‘They have got better and better and next season I am sure can go on to even greater things.

‘As captain it has been good to see the improvements happening.

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‘Hopefully we can go to Lymington and come away with another win.

‘We have got the talent in the team and have good momentum at the moment.

‘Since having the two-week break because of the rain we have comfortably won both our games.

‘Lymington will be tougher but we will go there and give it a go.’

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One youngster who has been a revelation in the second half of the season is Virat Sahu.

He took the first half of the summer off to concentrate on his GCSE exams but has made up for it since.

Schoolboy left-hander Virat Sahu cracked a maiden Hampshire League century as Fareham & Crofton climbed into fourth place in County Division 1, with a thumping nine-wicket win over Bishops Waltham at Bath Lane.

The 16-year old was particularly severe on anything pitched short and smashed 20 boundaries in his 117 not out, which swept Fareham past Bishops’ 223-9 (Ben White 3-56) with 12 overs to spare.

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Sahu shared a 163-run opening stand with Ben Kissane (58) before helping Reece Abrams (28) complete the formalities.

‘Virat is an unconventional left-hander who hits the ball in different areas to most,’ said Kent.

‘He is a quiet lad off the pitch and lets his batting do the talking.’

The club’s overseas player Reece Abrams is another youngster, still only 17, and he has also done well despite an injury.

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Though he has only played seven games to date, due to a hand injury, he has still produced a number of match-winning innings.

Kent has also been pleased with the way the rest of the batsmen have chipped in with runs.

‘We have not had to rely on one or two people to get the runs,’ said Kent.

‘I have contributed with a few 30s and 40s but not gone on to turn them into bigger scores.’

On the bowling front for Fareham, Ben White and Ollie Southon have consistently kept things tight and been well supported by Angus Southon, Matt Gould, Dan Reader and young spinner Morgan Frost.

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