Highfield and Brookham School girls on song to net plate glory

Netball players from Highfield and Brookham Schools, an independent school in Liphook, are celebrating after netting silverware in a tournament in Dorset.

The Year 8 girls won the Plate competition in the annual prep schools netball tournament at Bryanston School. And they couldn’t have done it in more dramatic fashion as captain Minty Delliere scored the decisive goal in the final minute to secure a 6-5 win over Hanford in the Plate final, having earlier swept aside Durlston Court 9-0 in the semi-finals.

Earlier in the day, Highfield made a strong start to the group stages of the Cup competition with an impressive 9-3 drubbing of Sherborne, a comfortable 7-3 win over Salisbury Cathedral and a gutsy 6-4 win against a tough Cheam side after player-of-the-tournament Tilly Hogg forced a late interception to set up Flora Tyrwhitt-Drake to seal the win.

Eventual Cup winners Millfield Prep proved a step too far in Highfield’s final group game, winning 11-3 to take the group and relegate game Highfield to runners-up spot in the group and a place in the Plate competition.

Highfield Headmaster Phillip Evitt said: “The annual netball tournament at Bryanston is always a firm favourite on the sporting calendar, so to come away with a trophy really makes me feel a huge sense of pride.

“The Year 8 girls always work incredibly hard on their game and now they have some silverware to show for their fantastic efforts. To think that their only defeat all day, against some very fine schools, was against the overall Cup winners really speaks volumes.”

Buoyed by their success at Bryanston, the Year 8s are set to compete in this week’s prestigious IAPS tournament at Cranleigh School in Surrey, where the top four teams will qualify for the national finals at Ipswich School in March.