Sunday morning saw us travel to South Wilts CC in Salisbury to take on top division Bashley Rydal CC in the final of the Southern Premier League (SPL) T20 Plate. Having reached the final of the cup competition in 2016 finishing runners up to Havant, this was the first chance of silverware in the SPL since winning division one in 2014.
The team arrived to a warm welcome given by the host club, and with a couple of local old boys in the lineup we benefitted from a little bit of local support during the match. With the numbers in attendance swelled by the travelling athletic faithful we were nearly ready to go.
Early preparations with a bat and bowl were completed but with a couple of players nursing injuries after a long season it was perhaps inevitable that things would not go to plan. Ricky Rawlins injured his hamstring and was ultimately ruled out of the game, Chairman Tom Kitcher who was unfortunate not to be playing in the game after a few good bowling performances was drafted in. Flynn Rowlands resumed his 12th man duties from the semi-final.
After a now traditional game of touch rugby (who appointed a Welsh captain) we headed for the toss. Bashley called correctly and elected to bowl on a green and damp looking surface at Lower Bemerton.
The Bashley bowling attack – led by Dan Goodey and ably assisted by Will Tripcony quickly put the batting side under pressure – losing Josh Hill, Jack Robson, and Tom Morton with only 6 on the board. Jordan Wright after adding a couple of runs fell to a fine catch at point which brought Cam Grierson to the crease to join Nathan Feltham who had progressed to 17 not out while the chaos ensued around him.
Cam dominated a partnership of 26, scoring 20 from 18 and taking us to 57 before falling LBW to George Wilson in the 9th over. This brought captain Rob Franklin to the wicket with a rebuilding job to do. 4 balls later the rebuild was over and Nathan began his onslaught. Two sixes from the last two balls of the 10th over were followed by another at the end of the 11th. The 12th and 13th overs added just 4 runs with some fine bowling by Henry Morrison and Michael Porter on a surface that was still offering a lot to the bowlers.
Boundaries from both batters followed in the 14th over which went for 15 before momentum really shifted towards us with 21 from Porters next. A six and four a piece for the batting pair split by a single taking the score to 129/5.
Boundaries continued to flow from then on with the strike also being regularly rotated – the strength of Feltham particularly coming to the fore as he took control hitting huge maximums and timing fours all around the ground including one huge hit over the pavilion.
A further 17 runs were taken from the 19th over and although the last was kept to 6 for the returning Goodey Sarisbury closed the innings on 174/5. The 5th wicket partnership closed unbeaten at 117 with Feltham 91* and Franklin 43*.
The Bashley reply began at pace. 7 from the first over from Jordan Wright was followed by 18 from the second as Josh Hill bravely filled Ricky Rawlins shoes in the powerplay. The third over produced 8 runs but crucially 2 wickets as Wright removed Alex Turner bowled through the gate and James Trodd LBW.
33/2 quickly became 54/2 as Keegan Holzmann was taken for 21 runs in his first over predominantly by Saif Achakzai. Jordans next over went for just 2 and then it was time for Sam Hill to enter the attack. So often this year Sam has produced an impact immediately and this was no different as he removed the dangerous Achakzai with his first delivery for 19.
Sam’s chance of a maiden was shattered as Goodey cleared the rope from his final delivery with Matt Reeves then bowling a tidy over for 8 as Bashley ended the powerplay at 70/3 and ahead on DLS as the rain started to fall.
We needed some stability and to build some pressure and that is exactly what happened next as Franklin entered the attack and together with Sam Hill taking us to the end of the 11th over as 101/4 – Franklin removing Goodey for 26.
Enter Tom Kitcher. After starting with a dot ball Michael Porter then advanced down the pitch and lofted the ball to wide long on. Jordan Wright set off to his right and took a good catch in front of the scoreboard. The following delivery drew George Wilson down the pitch to extract some good glovework from Tom Morton to remove the bails. The hat trick ball (with the team now coming to expect rather than hope for them after Sam’s exploits in recent weeks) looped agonizingly over Feltham nursing a sore hamstring at point.
110/6 became 118/7 as Tripcony was removed to another stumping from Morton off the bowling of Kitcher for 7.
Reeves returned to the attack at the completion of Franklin’s spell and bowled tidily, an outside edge for 4 the only blemish. Kitcher worked his magic again in the following over as Patrick Holly lobbed a drive to Sam Hill at extra cover for 17 closing out the 17th over at 131/8.
10 runs came from Hills next over, with Kitcher bowling 5 tight deliveries to further restrict the scoring rate. His final delivery struck Jack Harris low on the pad attempting a sweep shot and the appeal was successful. Our chairman had gone from scoring the final to producing the figures of 5/22 from his 4 overs.
It was left to Jordan Wright to close the game out and despite the last delivery disappearing for six Bashley closed their innings on 158/9.
Wickets were shared between Wright (2/25), Sam Hill (1/30) and Franklin 1/23 but there was no doubt the star man with the ball was Kitcher.
Nathan Feltham took man of the match for his 91* and after presenting last minute scorer Ricky Rawlins with his memento it was left to the team to collect their winners medals and for captain Rob Franklin to raise the SPCL Plate trophy.
In all Sarisbury fielded 23 players in the competition with injuries taking their toll in the cup run. Only 3 players played in every round. Our victory on Sunday is very much a club wide effort that we can be truly proud of. Congratulations to everyone involved.
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