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At 12:24 p.m. yesterday, there was a loud chant from the balcony of the Cable & Wireless BET Sports Complex. Lodge School, Lodge School, Lodge School, Lodge School, bellowed two dozen present and former students along with fellow supporters.

Fifteen minutes later they were forming a guard of honour in front of the pavilion to welcome the new champions of schools' Under-15 cricket.

The three-day final was far from over, but The Lodge, just having successfully defended their first-innings total of 232 by dismissing Queen's College for 202, were virtually guaranteed their first ever title at this level since Cable & Wireless took over sponsorship of the competition in 1986.

Their hero on the day was Rio Brathwaite, whose off-breaks earned him four of the last five wickets after Queen's College resumed on 158 for five.

But, as coach Clifton Phillips stressed before the match, teamwork was the key to their success.

The guys were very, very tough throughout the season. Mentally, they seemed to be in it when things were going the other side. They always stuck in there and did what they were asked to do, he said.

This team has played consistently together for three years two years in the final of the Under-13 and having lost once, they wanted to get it right here. Cricket is on the up at the school. There is a lot of interest. At one point we contemplated entering two teams in this competition. There are a lot of players who didn't get the opportunity this year.

Queen's College, who came within 30 runs of The Lodge's total, should not be disappointed over their effort in the final.

There is always disappointment when you lose, but I believe the guys played a tremendous game of cricket, said Mike Gaskin, head of Queen's College's Physical Education Department.

For an Under-15 game, the commitment to the game over the three days by both teams was tremendous. Even though at the end of the day we lost on first innings, the Queen's College team must be commended on a great performance. We played some rash shots today (yesterday) and the run out we had yesterday (Wednesday) hurt us a little bit, but I would have to give credit to the guys for playing the kind of game they played over three days. The batsmen batted well, they were committed.

For the first 45 minutes yesterday there was some encouragement for Queen's College, who were facing a stern test to score the further 75 runs they needed for the lead.

The cream of their batting was despatched the previous evening but Kyle Hope and Selwyn Atherley raised their hopes temporarily by adding 19 runs with little bother.

Brathwaite, however, turned the contest Lodge's way by removing both batsmen and another while one run was added. The off-spinner induced Hope into giving a bat-pad catch to forward short-leg and then forced Marlon Harte into swinging a full-toss straight to square-leg.

Brathwaite has been the man that has been tossing up this season. He is the surprise package, Phillips said about the player who won the Man-Of-The-Match award in a match in which he also made 31 in the first innings as an opening batsman.

He was asked to do it against Alexandra in the semifinal and he did a good job.

Brathwaite also took care of the patient Atherley, who batted for an hour for his five runs, eventually played a cross-batted stroke and was lbw.

Queen's College tried to mount another effort with a stand of 19 between Caleb Knight and Mario Gill. The Lodge, however, had the final say. Knight edged Brathwaite to slip and fast bowler Andre Gill wrapped up the innings by flattening the leg stump of an incapacitated Christopher Jordan.

© The Barbados Nation