Elthamians Under-18s head coach has been able to call on a large squad throughout the season and that strength in depth has been one of the main reasons for their success so far.

“This is the most difficult part of playing in such an important game,” he said. “It’s a very difficult equation to juggle around. Firstly we have to pick players who are 100 per cent fit and we have had some honest discussions about this all along. Some decisions have been taken out of our control due to other commitments which is a shame but these things happen.

“The coaching team have been open with the boys all along and conversations started weeks ago when it was becoming evident that for some positions the number of quality players we have did not go into the number of places that were going to be available. So we have rotated the players as fairly as we could.

“There are players who will think they should be starting and based on their performances will be fully justified to believe this. What the players know and understand is that it will require a performance from all of the 22-match day squad members. There is no pretentiousness in this squad. We have players on the bench who for any other team would be star performers.”

Jervis has been delighted with the way the boys have knuckled down since reaching the Sunday’s final against Wharfedale at Sixways and is confident the squad are in good shape going into the final.

“So far, we have a really good week in training,” he said. “The boys trained on Sunday with an intensity level that has been unmatched so far this year. We have talked about the task ahead of us and how important it is that at this stage there is no complacency and how we need to ensure that all our processes are in place.

“The players in the leadership group within the squad are the ones responsible for controlling the excitement levels. I am sure there is plenty of excited chat going on in their own whattsapp group, but I am equally confident that they are keeping their feet firmly on the ground.”