Hounslow’s young cricketers had a day to remember at Lord’s where they earned bronze at the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games Indoor Cricket Finals.

The side narrowly missed out on a place in the final, where they were edged out by fellow west Londoners Hillingdon.

The borough team, aged year eight and under, came through their qualifying group unbeaten and won their opening game against a strong Barnet side as they restricted them to 89 and showed their batting ability to chase down the total before eventual champions Hillingdon ended their dreams.

Team manager Amit Mahajan, while disappointed to miss out on the final, was proud of his team’s efforts on the day.

Hallowed turf: Hounslow's boys on the edge of the Lord's pitch

He said: “We’re pretty gutted to be honest. We’ve come a long way from the qualifying rounds and from when I was first appointed to take over Hounslow to coach them for London Youth Games.

“It’s been an incredible ride. All the players I’ve got in my side have an excellent attitude and they’re young budding cricketers who hopefully can go on and play for their country.

“Our key to success has been everything that we’ve put in in our training sessions has been displayed on the day and I think this semi-final against Hillingdon, was a very close game and there was not much in it – they won with two balls to spare I think.

“We batted excellently as a unit to put 104 on the board in the first innings and I was really hoping that we’d go for the gold this year, but it’s a pretty good effort I think.”