VICTORIA School has booked itself a date at the home of cricket when they will compete in the national finals of a table cricket tournament at Lord's.

However, it was at the Rose Bowl where Victoria saw off the challenge of The Lord Treloar School 2-1 in an event which was part of a national competition for paraplegic youngsters. They will join nine other teams in the final on July 2.

Teams are made up of six players where each bats in an innings which is made up of six overs. The ball is rolled down a ramp by the bowler and the batsman can score either one, two or six runs depending on where they hit the ball. Each time a batsman is out, his team loses ten runs.

The Lord Treloar School, from Alton, are the reigning National Champions. However, they were squeezed out by a determined Victoria side from Poole, Dorset.

The match was decided by the best of three games, and Treloar took the first game to move into an early lead.

However, Victoria fought back strongly to take the second game and take the match to a final showdown.

In the decider Treloar were put into bat first and made a strong 250 runs for six wickets.

It looked like the match was beyond Victoria as they began their final innings. However, an incredible 37 runs off the last two overs gave them a final score of 257-5 and a trip to Lord's.

It was a nail-biting last game and all the players showed tremendous skill and concentration. Hampshire wicketkeeper Adie Aymes watched some of the proceedings and was impressed with what he saw.

Aymes said: "To see the kids working and playing cricket is great. They looked really psyched up for it and it was nice to see."

He added: "I hear the winners are going to Lord's which is absolutely fantastic for them. We thank our lucky stars that we are able to do what we do, but it's nice to see them getting on with things and enjoying themselves."

Hampshire Cricket Board's Disabled Events Organiser, Jeff Levick, enjoyed watching the match and underlined its importance: "It's a very interesting sport and it gives the children a lot of pleasure. It is one of the best ways of making them realise that just because they are physically disabled, it doesn't mean they haven't got a brain and can't take part in sport."