The Group Finals are DONE!
And we’re now down to the last 16 and the National Rounds on Sunday 6th July as we continue on the “Road to Lords” for the final on Saturday 20th September!
The updated draw is at the bottom of this report!
Group Finals Highlights
The headlines start with our 2024 National Champions being knocked out on the road at Peterborough Town (we did say it would be a tough one on the podcast!). Brentwood had Peterborough in some trouble at 67/5 in the 14th over, but then efforts from Zeeshan Manzoor, Nick Paskins & Scott Howard took them close to 200 and ultimately they finished on 227/9 off their 40 overs.
Brentwood in reply looked in decent shape at 123/2 in the 28th over, with last years heroes from the final at Worcester, Aaron West & Will Buttleman hitting 50’s, but they then lost 7 wickets for 15 runs to speedily fall to 137/9 in the space of 5 or so overs, with Josh Smith taking 6-27 in less than 7 overs and the game was goneand the champions were on their way out. Peterbough move into the National rounds were they will face a tough trip to Wanstead & Snaresbrook in the next round.
Northern, runners up last year, faced local rivals Formby and after (another!) ton from Ian Cockbain and 71 off 53 balls for Jack Carney, had to chase down 230. Despite losing their 1st wicket early, a 137 partnership between Tyler McGladdery & Liam Grey pushed Northern to just over 70 runs away with 10 overs to go. Joined at the crease by Chris Laker, they hunted down the target with 8 balls to spare with Liam Grey headlining with his 111 off 19 balls as Northern head for a showdown against fellow local rivals Ormskirk.
Elsewhere . . . headlines from the 3rd Round proper
York traveled to play the Bradford Leagues last representatives Woodlands and having won the toss more or less batted Woodlands out of the game reaching 340/3 with Bredyn Scaper headlinging . . . . . . In reply Woodlands were in trouble form the start and were bowled out for 151 after 28 overs leaving York to contemplate the next round away against previous winners South Northumberland.
South Northumberland trekked down to fellow previous winners Sheffield Collegiate and with a century from Solomon Bell set Collegiate a chase of 258. At 103/2 in the 16th over, Collegiate were in good shape but then started losing wickets steadily and were bowled out for 191 in just 32 overs.
Group 3 saw Cavaliers & Carrington hosting last years semi finalists Kimberley Institute in an all Notts Premier League battle and included both Farhan & Raheem Ahmed in their power packed side. They batted first and reached 212/8 off their allotted overs with Sav Perera continuing his good form with 84 and supported by Muhammad Yesar with 55. The Kimberley innings never really got going and were bowled out for 118 off 32 overs with overseas Oliver Tewatiya top scoring with 34.
Cavs will be away to Derby’s Ockbrook & Borrowash for the next round after they beat Leicester Ivanhoe in the Group 4 final. A brilliant 200+ partnership between Ethan Berlusconi & Joshua Lacey who both hit centuries put O&B in a strong position reaching 254/5 at the break. Leicester Ivanhoe in turn looked in good shape at 152/2 in the 28th over but then lost 3 wickets for 2 runs and faced an up hill battle, as they closed up on 205 all out with Joshua Lacey following on from his century with 5/26 off his 8 overs.
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In the Group 5 final, Roe Green drove across from Manchester, and winning the toss went onto to score 221/6 off their 40 overs with their pro Tilaksha Malshan scoring 109 off 93 balls, supported by Joe Ball with 54 against Ormskirk. Looking at the scores earlier on in the season at Ormskirk their total looked light and so it proved as Ormskirk ran it down in just 28.3 overs with a destructive 112 off 85 balls from Calum Turner at the top of the order, ably supported by Sam Holden who scored 63 off 65 balls to add to his couple of wickets earlier and set up a mouthwatering clash (again!) with their Liverpool & District rivals Northern.
The all Cheshire League group 7 final between Nantwich and Didsbury was a low scoring affair as Dids could only reach 145 all out in 38.2 overs, Thomas Hafil carrying his bat for 49 off 95 balls and the wickets shared around the Natntwich bowlers. Nantwich then lost their 1st & only wicket in the 2nd over and Rob Jones (53 off 53 balls) supported opener Ali Chugtai (79 off 59 balls) as they cruised into the next round by 9 wickets in just over 20 overs to set up a tie at home to Knowle & Dorridge.
Knowle & Dorridge faced Birmingham league rivals Barnt Green in the Group 8 final, and reached 192 all out in just over 38 overs, with seven players reaching double figures but no one getting past 40 as Barnt green regularly took wickets along the way. It was down to the K&D bowlers to then restrict Barnt Green and despite 57 from Amrinder Brar, 48 from Ben Chapman-Lilley and 48 from Daniel Meredith, they were always in touch with the run rate but just couldn’t get over the line losing by 6 runs.
At Bristol, in the Group 9 final, West of England Premier League rivals Bridgwater won the toss and put the home side into bat. Led by a century from Curtis Heaphy, Bristol reached 192 off their 40 overs. Bridgwater were then not in any mood to mess about, and chased them down in just 26.2 overs with James Regan unbeaten on 86 off 78 balls and Jake Lintott adding 50 to the three wickets he took in the first innings to send Bridgy into the next round.
The next round will see Bridgwater play Group 10 winners Penzance who took the long trip north Golden Hill, the lowest ranked side in the competition, and having put hosts into bat, Golden Hill reached 214/8 off their 40 overs, led by opener Ahmed Syed with 73. Going into bat for Penzance it was then a simple case of the Christian Purchase show as he blasted 153 off 91 balls including 20 x 4s and 9 x 6s to easily take Penzance to the total they required in less than 29 overs.
There was a bit of a thriller in the Group 11 final as Sunbury from Surrey put Middleton from Sussex into bat scoring 227 including 59 for Sean Heather, with four wickets being taken by Subhan Ramzan. Sunbury looked to be cruising towards the total they needed at 195 for four in the 33rd over, needing just over 4 an over to close the game out. A run out however saw for top scorer Oliver Pascall, who had scored 88 off 89 balls and the next 7 overs saw wickets fall steadily as Sunbury lost their last 6 wickets for just 21 runs to send Middleton in the national rounds.
Visiting Middleton in the next round will be Ealing who despite losing the toss restricted their Middlesex Premier League rivals Teddington to 173/9 with wickets spread around the bowlers, but potential highlight being their 5th bowler Kristian Martin bowling 8 overs for 15 runs despite not taking a wicket, and Chris Wakefield top scoring for Teddington with 43. Ealing had no trouble in chasing down this target in just over 30 overs with Tom Powe top scoring 44 from 44 balls, well supported by Robbie White (35 from 31 balls) and Oliver Wilkin (37 off 29 balls)
As we have said at the top of this report, Peterborough Town will face Group 13 winners Wanstead & Snaresbrook who welcomed Bishop Stortford to their place. Bishop Stortford put Wanstead into bat and soon possibly regretted the decision as Wanstead went at 5+ an over throughout their innings with Robin Das top scoring 88 off 71 balls to lead the way as they reached 259/5. The Bishop Stortford innings then never really got going, losing wickets regularly to be 62/6 in the 17th over and finishing 117 all out off just 28 overs, with five different bowlers taking wickets along the way for Wanstead who will host Peterborough in the next round
The Group 15 final saw Sandwich Town welcome Kent rivals Bexley, Sandwich reaching 191 all out just shy of their 40 overs with 55 from Sidney Thomson and 44 Zach Fagg, Bexley will be pleased to have restricted them to this total largely down to opening bowler Fraser McWhinnie taking 5 /5 in his eight overs. Bexley were then never troubled as the openers got them off to a good start, reaching 71/0 before losing both openers for 3 runs, the ship was immediately studied by skipper Matthew Stiddard and Ken McClure as Bexley pushed on to reach their total with five over super to set up a national round clash against Ashtead.
It was Ashtead who came out victors in the Group 16 final against Surrey Championship rivals Banstead in a high scoring game. Having been put into bat Ashtead scored 292/6 off their 40 overs including a sparkling 129 from 92 balls for Mark Stoneman who shared an almost 150 stand with Daniel Geddes who scored 87 off 90 balls. In reply Banstead looked in good shape at 202/3 with Patrick Rowe and Ben Butterfield sharing an almost 150 partnership themselves, but once Butterfield went the wickets started to fall steadily and Banstead could only reach 255 all out, with Sam Hunt the pick of the bowlers taking 5/74
And then there was only 16 left . . . 5 former winners, 15 different Premier Leagues and 8 cracking ties on Sunday 6th July!
MIDDLETON CC, SUSSEX v EALING CC
PENZANCE CC v BRIDGWATER CC
ASHTEAD CC v BEXLEY CC
WANSTEAD & SNARESBROOK CC v PETERBOROUGH TOWN CC
SOUTH NORTHUMBERLAND CC v YORK CC
ORMSKIRK CC v NORTHERN CC
NANTWICH CC v KNOWLE & DORRIDGE CC
OCKBROOK & BORROWASH CC v CAVALIERS AND CARRINGTON CC
