THE conversion from schools' soft-ball cricket to the hard-ball game came to fruition at the Herefordshire Cricket Board Under-11 Boys' Festival Finals at Luctonians CC.

District cricket was introduced by the county board three years ago and the standard of the game for under-11 boys and under-13 girls has shown great improvement in that time.

Boys from the system are increasingly breaking into the under-11 and under-12 county squads on a regular basis.

The system operates with the Herefordshire board identifying talent at primary school coaching programmes and kwik cricket competitions with selection for regional summer camps.

Squads of 14 are then chosen for each district who compete in the county festival which is played on a round-robin basis between Central, South & West, North & West, and East.

This season's competition was curtailed by rain last week but still produced a result on a successful day with victory for the East.