DUNNINGTON ace Poppie Jaram helped Yorkshire Girls' under-17s team win the Inter County Junior Squash Championships crown during a thrilling finals weekend in Nottingham.

Yorkshire met Essex in the final and edged a wonderful 3-2 win, after Jaram - one of the youngest players on court having only turned 15 last August - had given the team a super start.

Hers was the first match on court and, aware Essex had two very strong players to follow, she knew it was essential she got her side off to a flier if they were to take the crown.

She scraped her way through a nervous first game to win it 11-6 but then settled down and went on to win the next two games in some style, dropping only a single point in each.

As predicted, Essex won both the two following contests to lead 2-1.

However, Yorkshire's strength in depth paid dividends as Charlotte Jagger, from Sheffield, won her match 3-0 and Emma Campion, from Pontefract, managed to come out on top 3-2 in a very close nail-biting decider.

In the semi-finals the previous day, all five Yorkshire girls won their contests for a 5-0 success over Hertfordshire, Jaram winning hers 3-0, dropping only a few points along the way.

Essex, meanwhile, edged Sussex 3-2 in the other semi-final.

To reach the finals weekend, the White Rose aces had played two previous stages of round-robin matches against teams from other counties.

The first was held in Northumberland in November and the second at Warwick in December, and Yorkshire topped their groups on both occasions.