Tom Keast of Nottinghamshire and Ben Twohig of Worcestershire shared the individual honours as Midlands broke the North’s grip on the Super 4s competition for the country’s most promising Under-17s in Loughborough yesterday.

North had been crowned champions on each of the previous two occasions that the tournament has been held, but Keast’s batting and wicketkeeping, and Twohig’s left-arm spin and captaincy, combined to secure a 62-run win for the Midlands in the final.

Keast top-scored with 72 from 106 balls in a Midlands total of 254 for nine, with Josh Haynes – son of the former Worcestershire all-rounder Gavin – adding 39 from 25 balls late on, and Keast’s Notts team-mate Connor Marshall also making a handy contribution.

Marshall and Josh Tongue, another of an exciting crop of Worcestershire youngsters who have impressed throughout the week, took two wickets each in the North’s reply, and Twohig gave nothing away. Sam Oldham, a member of the Lancashire Academy from Leyland, made 83 but had almost run out of partners when he was the last man out, stumped by Keast off Twohig who ended with one for 33 from eight overs.

Keast had also taken five catches when Midlands beat North in the qualifying matches, and the rarer feat of four stumpings in their opening fixture against South West which was abandoned – three of them off Twohig.

Saturday’s other game was a thriller, with Somerset’s George Bartlett concluding his excellent tournament with 103 in a South West total of 297 for seven, only for London and East to snatch a two-wicket win with three balls to spare to secure third place in the rankings.

Jonty Jenner, a Sussex wicketkeeper who has made six T20 appearances for Jersey, played the match-winning innings of 66 from 48 balls with four fours and four sixes, supported by 59 from Feroze Khushi, a member of the Graham Gooch Essex Cricket Academy.

“It was a good Finals Day to round off another really successful week,” said Mo Bobat, the manager of the England Development Programme.

“This is the third Super 4s tournament we’ve staged with the aim of having the best players from all around the country practising with each other and playing against each other.

"That allows us as EDP selectors to observe them performing more under pressure, and to learn more about them. Our head selector David Graveney has been here all week and the coaches Andy Hurry, Tim Boon and Iain Brunnschweiler have also been watching the games.

“The other bonus is that we get coaches from each of the regions to spend the week together. They run the teams, we just observe really.

"The four head coaches this week – Chris Tolley from the Midlands, Richard Danns from the North, Rich Almond with the South West and Rory Coutts for London and East – are all linked to counties (Notts, Yorkshire, Glamorgan and Middlesex respectively) so the Super 4s is another good way of strengthening the links between the EDP and the county game.”