On a mild but blustery afternoon at The Northamptonshire County Cricket Ground Northants Steelbacks ended Sussex Sharks all conquering run that saw them holding all three National trophies at once, as the Steelbacks added to their 2021 BCEW Primary Club Heindrich Swanepoel Cup success at the same ground.
After Northants won the toss & sent Sharks in to bat nobody could have foreseen what happened in the first few overs. Mark Bond fell caught behind off Mike Harrison’s bowling from the very first ball of the match & Dave Daniels followed in the second over after David Howells caught him from Asif Ali’s bowling.
Sussex’s captain Dan Field followed them back to the pavilion when Mark Turnham took an excellent catch to give Conna Jeffs his first cup final wicket. Adam Solan (who finished with 2-47) then proceeded to stamp his mark on his first cup final, he bowled both Toby Collins & Ian Morris to leave Sussex in massive trouble at 37/5.
Si Ledwith (61) & Callum Weir (29 not out) then showed some fight & patiently rebuilt the innings, they scored steadily & nudged the run rate over five an over before Si was eventually dismissed from the 74th ball he faced caught by David Howells for Mike Harrison’s second wicket, Mike ended with 2-27. Callum continued for the rest of the innings but wickets continued to fall at the other end with David Howells catching both Marcus Kipling & Phil Daniels with Mark Turnham & Conna Jeffs (2-19) claiming their wickets. Bilal Akhtar also bowled a good but wicketless spell whilst Ryley Day-Hector, Shavaun Richardson & Tokeer Akhtar all made significant contributions to a superb fielding effort that restricted Sussex to 163/8.
Northants reply started with a first over wicket as Phil Daniels bowled Mike Harrison. Gerald Porter & Adam Solan steadied the ship until Adam was caught by Si Ledwith off Dave Daniels bowling to make it 42/2. However by this time Phil Daniels had been forced to leave the field with a torn calf, reducing the Sharks bowling options.
In the next few overs Gerald Porter & David Howells batted with patience, they gradually upped the scoring rate & the longer their partnership continued the further ahead Northants got. Gerald, who finished 54 not out, reached his fifty first before David followed.
After 20 overs Northants only needed 24 more to win, David Howells then thrashed two sixes & 3 fours from the 21st over to bring proceedings to an early conclusion as Northants sealed the win with 8 wickets & 9 overs to spare.
This was only Northants second Primary Club Cup win & fourth major trophy overall, it also kept up the record that when the same teams have met in successive Primary Club Cup Finals the trophy has always changed hands.
For four catches along with his brutal 82 not out from 49 balls David Howells was named Partially Sighted Man of the Match whilst Adam Solan was Totally Blind Man of the Match thanks to his two wickets.
BCEW would like to thank Derek Styman & his team at Northamptonshire Cricket for the excellent job they have once again done hosting this final. We would also like to thank The Primary Club without whose support none of this would be possible.
