BBS Primary Club National Knockout Cup Final 2010
By Dave Gavrilovic
The 2010 British Blind Sport Primary Club national knockout cup final took place at The Rose Bowl in Southampton on Saturday 21st August.
It was Sussex Sharks first ever appearance in the final, where as their opponents, Metro, were playing in their 8th consecutive final and chasing their 17th victory of blind cricket’s showpiece event.
The start was put back by an hour due to persistent rain and the match was reduced to 25 overs per side.
Sussex won the toss and chose to field, a decision that looked an error as Metro openers Matt Dean and Rory Field raced along to 73/0 after just 10 overs.
Sussex did finally get a break through when Declan Dexter took a good catch off Dave Allen’s bowling to dismiss big hitting Matt Dean for 23 with the score 81/1.
Dave Townley joined Rory Field at the crease and they continued to pile on runs for the London based side.
With the score at 118 Townley was also caught by Declan Dexter, this time from Joe Harrison’s bowling for 16 as Sussex launched a terrific fight back.
Rory Field completed his second consecutive cup final fifty before departing almost immediately for 54 playing all round a Miles Northwood delivery.
New batsmen Adam Benjamin and Heindrich Swanepoel continued to attack and Benjamin soon fell LBW, again to Northwood, for 6.
Swanepoel timed the ball beautifully hitting a barrage of shots all around the wicket to try and keep the runs flowing with little support.
Joel Robinson was well run out by Declan Dexter for 1 and Dave Powers was 1 not out when the overs ran out, but it was Swanepoel’s 32 not out that ensured Metro set a healthy target of 173/5.
The stand out bowling figures for the Sharks were Dave Allen (5 overs 1-16) and Miles Northwood (4 overs 2-41).
Sussex’s reply barely got out of first gear in the first 12 overs with Amit Amin (5 overs 1-11) and Adam Benjamin (5 overs 1-22) bowling a relentlessly tight spell.
Si Ledwith fell early for 11, caught by Dave Townley off Amit Amin’s bowling. Miles Northwood was also dismissed in this tight early spell falling in the 12th over, hit wicket from Adam Benjamin’s bowling for just 8 from 57 balls, with the score 54/2. the 12th over.
This left Sussex 13 overs to score 120 runs with most of Metro’s top bowlers with 4 or 5 overs left each and only one b1 over remaining.
Declan Dexter and Dan Field set about the bowling, showing no fear of reputations, including smashing 15 from Heindrich Swanepoel’s first over.
Dexter, Field and latterly Joe Harrison took on risky second and third runs in an attempt to push on the scoring rate.
Dexter fell for 35 from 28 balls as his side’s “crazy” running finally backfired with an excellent direct hit from Joel Robinson, but he had helped bring down the required scoring rate and the score was now 100/3.
Metro still appeared favourites at this stage, although they were beginning to struggle in the damp conditions with light worsening.
Dan Field and Joe Harrison continued to push for every run and Metro cracked under the pressure missing shots at the stumps and bowling far more extras (50) than normal.
Sussex over took the required rate and then went ahead on comparison score for the first time with just 3 overs remaining.
Harrison was bowled by Heindrich Swanepoel for 29 but with the score now up to 172/4 a shock win was virtually certain with the Sharks needing just 2 runs from the last 9 balls.
Andy Dalby-Welsh (1 not out) joined Dan Field (40 not out from 28 balls) to see the Sharks to a memorable and at times unlikely looking triumph.
Totally blind man of the match was Metro’s Amit Amin for his excellent bowling performance, where as Sussex’s Joe Harrison was partially sighted man of the match for his 4-1-23-1 with the ball and 29 with the bat as well as some excellent fielding.
As always our thanks go to the Primary Club, without them we wouldn’t have been able to stage this terrific final and we would also like to thank everyone at Hampshire County Cricket board and Rose Bowl PLC who made the day happen, in particular Greig Stewart and Andy Chapman.
Scorecard
British Blind Sport Primary Club national knockout cup Final 2010
Sussex Sharks v Metro
at The Rose Bowl, Southampton
Saturday 21st August 2010
Umpires: Pete Marshall & Les Clemenson
Scorers: Gemma Carpenter & Harry Bond
** Match shortened to 25 overs per side due to rain
Sussex won the toss & chose to field first
Metro Innings
Rory Field Bowled M Northwood 54
Matt Dean Caught D Dexter Bowled D Allen 23
David Townley Caught D Dexter Bowled J Harrison 16
Adam Benjamin LBW Bowled M Northwood 6
Heindrich Swanepoel not out 32
Joel Robinson Run Out(D Dexter) 1
Dave Powers not out 1
Did not bat: Mark Bond, Amit Amin, Bryn Reynolds, Mike Brace
Extras:(11NB, 29W) 40
Total: 25 overs, for 5 wickets, 173
Fall of Wickets: 1-81 (M Dean), 2-118 (Townley), 3-127 (Field), 4-149 (Benjamin), 5-168 (Robinson).
Bowling
Bowler-overs-maidens-runs-wickets-no balls-wides
J Harrison 4-1-23-1-1-3
M Burchell 4-0-20-0-5-6
A Dalby-Welsh 5-0-41-0-2-2
I Morris 3-0-32-0-2-10
I Morris 4-0-41-2-0-6
D Allen 5-0-16-1-1-1
Sussex Sharks Innings
Si Ledwith Caught D Townley Bowled A Amin 11
Miles Northwood Hit Wicket Bowled A Benjamin 8
Declan Dexter Run Out(J Robinson) 35
Dan Field not out 40
Joe Harrison Bowled H Swanepoel 29
Andy Dalby-Welsh not out 1
Did not bat: Toby Collins, Simon Goodall, Dave Allen, Mark Burchell, Ian Morris
Extras:( 8B, 1LB, 18NB, 23W) 50
Total: 23.4 overs, for 4 wickets, 174
Sussex Sharks won by 6 wickets
Fall of Wickets: 1-34 (Ledwith), 2-54 (Northwood), 3-100 (Dexter), 4-172 (Harrison).
Bowling
Bowler-overs-maidens-runs-wickets-no balls-wides
R Field 4-0-35-0-2-4
D Townley 1-0-13-0-3-7
A Amin 5-0-11-1-1-1
A Benjamin 5-0-22-1-2-1
J Robinson 4-0-42-0-3-2
H Swanepoel 4.4-0-42-1-5-1
Man of the Match Winners
Totally Blind: Amit Amin (Metro)
Partially Sighted: Joe Harrison (Sussex)