Northern’s ECB National Club Championship journey ended in heartbreaking defeat, as a jubilant Brentwood side cantered to a nine-wicket win.
The men from Essex were deserved winners at Worcester, as James Cole’s all-conquering cup side fell short when it mattered most.
The parallels were eerie with their only other final appearance, in 2015, when Blackheath came home by the same margin after chasing a sub-par score.
But this hit different – after a season in which their limited-overs game has touched new heights, James Cole and his side were desperate to have something to show for it.
As high as they could all hold their heads for getting so far, only ex-Rainhill teammates Tyler McGladdery and Ben Edmundson matched the occasion with their performances.
Their unbeaten stand of 60 turned 118/6 into a hopeful 178; 33 runs came from the last 12 balls to give Northern the momentum going into the interval.
McGladdery’s unbeaten 93 was an epic of concentration, and frustration, with timing hard to come by. He cut loose at the end, clobbering Jack Hebron straight then ramping the excellent Ben Allison, who has just signed a contract to play country cricket at New Road.
Watching chief executive Ashley Giles would have been impressed with the tall seamer, who claimed two early wickets and never let up with his relentless, challenging length.
Cole said: “It was a used wicket and a bit fruity, and did a bit of everything – and they had a first-class seamer who bowled exceptionally well. It felt like we were batting against what we do at times.
“We stuck at it and Tyler batted extremely well – but for him not to be able to time it, you could see what a difficult wicket it was.
“We thought 180 was a decent score but we didn’t hit our straps, no-one bowled to a plan. “They turned up with six or seven players who played really well and we had two – it’s never a good sign. We were on the bad side of the conditions but they were the better side.
“Without Tyler, we’d have been looking at a 110-120 game and it would have been over a lot sooner – but I stick by saying that 180 was a decent score on that wicket.”
Aaron West’s decision to bowl first quickly looked a masterstroke.
Chris Laker and Liam Grey came out swinging but quickly departed the same way to Allison, Jac Kennedy and James Cole played around Aaron West’s in-dippers, Alex Vincent got a grubber from Charlie Griffitsh, and George Harris nicked Hebron to James Redwood, seconds after the keeper had given McGladdery the second of two lives.
He made them pay the best he could, but Brentwood’s batters played with more purpose and more application, accelerating slowly rather than trying to belt the cover off the thing.
With the pitch playing truer thanks to rain in the interval, and the ball getting wet on the outfield, Northern’s bowlers couldn’t find the wickets they sorely needed to keep pressure on the batters.
Ed Ballard skewed Grey to mid-off with the score on 32, but that only brought Will Buttleman to the crease.
In partnership with West, the former Essex man thrived on the taunts from the noisy Northern supporters and batted their side out of the game.
At drinks, Brentwood were 74/1, pretty much level with the DLS par, but six overs later it was 117/1. West pushed Josh Thompson for a single to reach 50, then Buttleman flayed the next ball through the covers; for the first time in their cup run, Northern’s heads dropped.
The winning stand ended on exactly 150 when Buttleman flayed Laker over gully for four, with 3.5 overs left; Northern’s fielders slumped to the ground, thinking what might have been.
But as the Brentwood fans jeered “champions of England, you’ll never sing that”, Cole knew his side would soon have the chance to prove them wrong in next Sunday’s National T20 Cup final at Derby, against Oundle Town. He added: “It’s hard to hear everyone celebrating but we know if we do the job next week we’ll have a national trophy in the bag. It’ll be a long winter otherwise.”
Thanks to Tom Evans @Merseyside Cricket Online
