The sun shone at The Cooper Associates County Ground this Sunday (27th August) as Lympsham & Belvedere CC, Bath CC & Frome CC were all victorious on SCB KO Cup Finals Day.
Minor Cup
Lympsham & Belvedere claimed the Minor Cup in dramatic fashion on Sunday as club chairman Neil Chadwick hit a four off the final ball to win the final against Trull at the County Ground in Taunton.
Lympsham elected to field first, and Tom Ferns removed Trull opener Andy Sapey (8) early on. Ali Blundell and Andy Clark took Trull up to 47, before Ferns struck again to remove Blundell (20).
Clark reached 24 and Graham Fitt 25no as Trull finished on 133-5 from their 20 overs, Chadwick taking 2-21 off four overs and Ferns 2-24 off four for Lympsham.
The reply made it to 30 before Jason Parsons went for 18 LBW to Fitt. Dave Luff, with a run-a-ball 44, and Jack Luff (25) took their side up to 94, before both fell to Craig Lawton in quick succession with Dave falling to one of the best catches The Cooper Associates County Ground has ever seen taken by Ali Blundell.
The overs were starting to run out for Lympsham, but fifth-wicket pairing Sam McCrea (10no) and Chadwick (14no) took them to the finish line and the latter struck the winning boundary off the last ball to spark celebrations – Chadwick tossing his bat and running off in delight.
Dave Luff was named man of the match for his key innings for Lympsham & Belvedere.
Major Cup
After winning the toss Bridgwater elected to bat first reach a competitive 149-5.
Skipper Merv Hallaran (40) and Chris Skidmore (33 off 22) added 74 from the first 9 overs before Hallaran hit a David Ford (2-25) full toss to Ackland in the deep and 3 balls later Bath skipper Paul Muchall run out Skidmore with a smart bit of fielding.
Chris Gange (24) struggled to find batting as easy as the openers as the Bath Bowlers applied pressure. Stu Butt looked to increase the tempo hitting a huge 6 into The Somerset Pavilion but was stumped next ball. Despite the best efforts of Alfonso Thomas who hit a quick fire 18 the former Somerset Hero couldn’t get the total over 150 that proved 20 runs light.
Bath’s reply saw Luke Padgett fall to Chris Skidmore for 12 but Tom Hankins (46) and Ben Wells (33) quickly found their stride scoring freely all around the ground. The pair added 86 together in just 9 overs to put Bath firmly in control of the match. Butt who had seen two catches go down off his bowling finally had some reward when he removed Wells for 33 and Bridgwater had hope when Hankins’s fine innings was ended just short of his half century. However, 28 from Muchall soon calmed any nerves as Bath reached their target with an over to spare and 5 wickets in had to win the Major Cup for the first time in their history completing the double after being crowned WEPL Champions the weekend before.
Tom Hankins was named man of the Match for his fine 46.
Intermediate Cup
The Intermediate Cup saw Frome CC complete a league and cup double with a 64-run victory over Street CC.
Batting first Frome posted 162-6 thanks to an unbeaten 55 from Paul Sanger but early on didn’t have it all their own way with Reece Croker falling first ball to Mike King. Tight bowling from Andrew Bartlett (1-16) helped keep Frome tied down but when Joe Smart joined Sanger the pair dominated the Street attack scoring quickly. The score raced past 100 and continued to climb before Smart fell for a powerful 44. King returned to the attack removing Dredge & Smith both first ball to finish with figures of 4-31 the runs continued to flow with Paul Sanger reaching his 50 a six into the Somerset Stand and a quickfire 22 from Unwin powered Frome to 162.
Street made a terrible start which they never recovered from finding themselves 5-3 off 2.1 overs as Croker removed Hill & Reed in his opening over before Bradshaw was stumped off the bowling of Mark Sanger. Jack Western & James Bisgrove started a mini revival but when they both fell in quick succession and Mike King followed soon after the game was up for Street. Dan Lake and Andrew Bartlett added 36 together to take Street to 98 at the close of their 20 overs, 64 runs short.
Man of the Match was Paul Sanger for his unbeaten 55.
A big thank you must go to Somerset County Cricket Club for allowing the Finals to once again to take place on the hallowed turf of the Cooper Associates County Ground and enabling them to be live streamed for the first time ever.
If anyone wishes to watch any of the SCB KO Cup Finals they can do so by
