BBS Primary Club national knockout cup 2009
The Road to the cup final
Taken from the 2009 Cup Final Match Day Programme
Round 1
Northants Steelbacks v Hampshire VICC
Hampshire in just their second ever match put up a very promising performance. Northants batted first with the experienced Ian Goodearl batting all 30 overs for 82 not out. Taf Naqvi on debut made 50 and Shah Miah slapped a rapid 36. In response Hampshire made 157 All Out with Aaron Fowler batting very well for a hard fought 34.
Sussex Sharks v Northern Galloways
Northern with only 9 players put up a good fight against superior opposition. Northern reached 72/4 after 30 overs with Paul Peel facing about 100 balls for just 19 not out to hold the innings together.
Northern did claim 2 wickets but they couldn’t hold back the Sharks who won comfortably by 8 wickets.
Quarter Finals
Metro beat South Wales Dragons 2-1 in a bowl out after torrential rain in Cardiff.
Essex Tigers demolished 8 man Eastern Vipers by 10 wickets. Vipers could only manage 39 All Out and Tigers knocked off the runs from just 10 legal deliveries.
Birmingham SCVI v Northants Steelbacks
Birmingham had Northants in early trouble at 75/3 but a commanding performance from Shah Miah (83 not out) along with 48 from Taf Naqvi and 31 from Alastair Provan saw Northants to an intimidating 220/6.
Birmingham came out of the blocks sprinting and seemed to be trying to get the runs with 10 overs to spare but this lead to too many aerial shots and Birmingham’s top 5 were all caught in the deep. At 33/4 and 60/5 Birmingham looked in danger of embarrassment but their tale wagged and they made it up to 120 All Out with Brad Fisher and Alastair Provan claiming 3 wickets a piece.
Sussex Sharks v Warwickshire Bears
This match ended up closer in theory than in practice. Sussex were massively hampered by only having one b1 available and that b1 John Garbett got injured whilst bowling and his 6 overs ended up uncharacteristically expensive. Warwickshire set the Sharks 238 to win after Gav Griffiths (70), Andy Powers (62) and Luke Sugg (43 not out) took full advantage of their opponents problems.
In response Simon Ledwith struck a battling 66 but found little support as his side were bowled out for 133 and a 104 run defeat.
Semi Finals
Northants Steelbacks v Essex Tigers
This was a historic match as it was the first domestic blind cricket match played on a county cricket ground being played at Northamptonshire’s Wantage Road ground. The boundarys were shortened due to work on the ground and the outfield was lightning fast so this proved to be a very high scoring game. Essex wracked up a staggering 381/3 with Mohammed Sohail setting a new world record score of 258 not out. Along with Naz Safder he put on 324 for the 4th wicket, another record for the cup. Northants were left to regret some poor bowling and dropping Sohail 4 times.
In response Northants looked in control at firstly 173/1 after Taf Naqvi was dismissed for 97 and then at 285/1 with Shah Miah (136) and Dave Gavrilovic in. But when Miah fell no other Northants batsman could force the pace enough and the Steelbacks came up 15 runs short at 366/8.
Metro v Warwickshire Bears
Metro put in a quality performance to reach yet another cup final. England captain Matt Dean showed his class with a masterful 126 and he was ably supported by 54 from Simon Butler. This left Metro on 229 after their 30 overs.
Warwickshire battled hard but could only reach 179 in response with Heindrich Swanepoel reminding everyone that he is still a fantastic bowler claiming 5 wickets including an all clean bowled hattrick. Nathan Foy struck 76 and Luke Sugg 59 but with only one other batsman reaching double figures they received little support.