Holy Cross's cricketers have dedicated their Davies and Tate East Sussex Schools Cricket Trophy win to retiring teacher Mike Howell.

Howell, who coaches cricket at the Uckfield-based primary school, is retiring after 26 years this summer and pupils were desperate to give him a fitting send-off.

Team captain Dean Brooker, 13, said the pupils have benefited greatly from their teacher's enthusiasm for the game.

He said: "Mr Howell is very popular and has helped us with coaching. He takes us for training after school on Thursday nights and sometimes joins in at breaktimes.

"We lost the final last year and felt we could go one better. It was a hard competition and Ocklynge, the team we beat, were good. But we always believe it's more important to try our best. If we win then that's nice."

The finals included seven other regional winners to qualify from a starting pool of 90 schools. The eight lucky heat qualifiers played in a round-robin competition before Sussex's day-night National League match against Kent.

Holy Cross got through the quarter-finals and semi-finals before defeating Eastbourne school Ocklynge Junior in a nail-biting match by nine runs.

Howell said: "There's so much enthusiasm and I'm very proud of them. They really do go out there and concentrate on playing the game to the best of their abilities. Their attitude was first class."

The competition was played with similar rules to kwik cricket. Each team had ten players, started with 100 runs and had five deducted for each wicket that fell.

Holy Cross included four girls in the team. Rules for previous events stated each school must field two girls. This summer, the rules were relaxed and schools could field who they liked.

All cricketers were given tickets for the Sussex game, along with their families and friends, boosting the crowd at Hove by nearly 300.

Sussex development officer Steve Peyman, who organised the event, believes the success of the competition is down to the teachers and parents who give up their spare time to manage the teams.

He said: "The children rely on teachers and parents being keen on cricket. Sometimes it's not easy, but a lot have come forward and volunteered their time to organise sides for the tournament.

"We've been particularly targeting primary schools, because the game is probably not played there as much as it could and anything like this helps raise the awareness of cricket among youngsters."

The club is hoping to start a similar competition in West Sussex, but needs a sponsor to come forward and support it. Uckfield window company Davies and Tate have supported the East Sussex event for the six years since it began.

Peyman said: "The game at grassroots level needs more businessmen and companies to step forward. These events are so well supported and growing.

"This year's turnout was the highest yet and I expect the number of entries to grow next year. It's an ideal opportunity for someone to support something in the community."

Holy Cross did not have much time to prepare for the Hove finals. They only qualified as winners of the Buxted regional heat the previous day.

Howell said: "It was all a bit of a rush to be honest, but we managed to get everything arranged and it all turned out all well and good."

Results - Q-finals: Holy Cross (Buxted) bt King Offa (Bexhill), Ocklynge bt St Andrew's (Hove), Grovelands (Hailsham) bt St Peter's and St Paul's (Bexhill), South Malling (Lewes) bt Meridian (Peacehaven).

S-finals: Holy Cross bt St Peter's and St Paul's, Ocklynge bt South Malling.

Final: Holy Cross bt Ocklynge