Pupils from Beech Academy had a day to remember last week as they travelled to London to take part in the Lord’s Taverners National Table Cricket Finals.

The Mansfield school’s side were one of nine to compete in the Nursery Pavilion, at Lord’s Cricket Ground, for the right to call themselves national champions.

The event, which was made possible thanks to the support of players of the People’s Postcode Lottery and Ford, is now in its 19th year and, working with 30 county cricket boards across the UK, more than 300 schools took part in the 10 regional heats to qualify for the finals.

Beech finished fourth in the finals and the academy’s headteacher Adrian O’Malley revealed simply being at Lord’s was in itself a victory.

He said: “The team came down last night to London which has taken an awful lot of organisation but has been really good for the pupils as well to spend the night down here before playing, they have been amazing.

“I’m so proud of what they have achieved because for them to play sport together, as a team, high fiving each other and speaking to different pupils, it’s incredible.

“For many of them just being here at Lord’s is a victory because many of them have not been away from their families before.”

Played on a table tennis table with side panels and sliding fielders, a ball launcher, weighted plastic ball and wooden bat, table cricket enables young people with severe physical and learning disabilities to enjoy cricket and represent their school on a competitive basis.

The game not only gives opportunities for competitive play and social integrations, it also improves life-skills including self-confidence, independence and social skills.

And Mr O’Malley revealed his school was inspired after a coaching session with former professional Darren Bicknall.

He said: “We started playing table cricket at the school after Darren Bicknell did a coaching session with us. It has been truly inspirational to see them all here today. They have learned so many new skills from social interact to understanding a new sport.”

Pupil Louise Morle, 13, said: “It makes you feel good to play table cricket because you are playing with your friends. It is a really good sport for everybody to play. I love batting and I love fielding too.”

Watching on as the school competed at Lord’s was Radio 1 DJ, cricket lover and member of Lord’s Taverners Greg James.

And he was excited to see the charity making cricket available to people of all abilities.

“I’ve never seen table cricket before on this sort of scale and it’s been brilliant,” he said.

“I’ve seen it in videos and heard all about it, but to see hundreds of kids from all over the country in one place, just enjoying it and having a day playing cricket at Lord’s, it doesn’t really get any better than that.

“There are kids who love cricket, but also some who just like the team element of it all, the community aspect.

“What I love about it, is that it’s not exclusive to people and it has its own fans.”

The Lord’s Taverners is the UK’s leading youth cricket and disability sports charity whose aim is to give disadvantaged and disabled young people a sporting chance – go to www.lordstaverners.org to find out more.