Yarm School's under 13 boys tennis team are preparing to compete in the HSBC British Schools' Tennis Team national finals this weekend after becoming Northern area champions.

Great Britain under 13 international Daniel Wise, captain Tim Purdy, Matthew Jackman and new boy Laurence Heads combined to defeat North West champions Cheadle Hulme School by four sets to two in the regional final in Leeds.

The boys had earlier won the North East title, comfortably defeating Bradford Grammar 6-0 in the final after dropping only one set in victories over Leeds Grammar, Durham Johnson and Pocklington.

The matches comprised four singles matches and two doubles. Each member of the team was seeded and played one set against their opposite number, with a tie-break played at 6-6.

Daniel, from Darlington, Tim, who lives in Hutton Rudby, Matthew, from Nunthorpe, and Laurence, who lives near Barnard Castle, now travel to the Redbridge Tennis Centre in Essex this weekend to take on four other regional champions.

The current crop of youngsters are hoping to emulate Yarm's class of 1992, who were national champions that year.

Just reaching the final is a remarkable achievement for the school, who were one of more than 2,000 teams to enter the competition.