BBS Primary Club National Knockout Cup Final 2005
By Adam Benjamin
What a final! Metro have played in lots of finals over the years and this has to go down as one of the best. It was refreshing that this year’s two best teams met in the final – no one likes one-sided affairs.
Metro won the toss and put the Dragons in, putting the onus on the likes of Damian, Woody and Howard to decide what a good score might be. Maybe it was the pressure of Lords or maybe the pressure of a tight fielding display, but the Dragons never flew. Some tight bowling from Swanepoel (6 overs for 6 runs?) and Field (6 overs, 3-23), together with some dross from me that picked up a few lucky wickets (6 overs, 3-33), saw the Dragons’ top order back to the pavilion without too much damage being done. Matt ‘the hair products’ Dean’s catching was also worth a mention – although not too big a mention as it was only Matt!
The Dragon’s head didn’t breathe fire, but their tail wagged a bit with big Chris and Dave Ellingham hitting a few lusty blows, resulting in Metro feeling a little frustrated that the Dragons had got 30 odd runs more than they should have done. But restricting the Dragons to 123-9 from 30 overs was not a bad effort overall.
The Dragons took heart too from their tail-enders’ performance, and came out firing after tea, dismissing Metro’s most talented opener (sorry Rory, author’s privilege!) for a golden duck – Damian being the destroyer at the start of what was an exceptional bowling spell. In fact, the former England captain, the current England captain and the current Metro captain were all dismissed without troubling the scorers. Metro’s innings was steadied by eventual man of the match Rory (39 – score not age) and Dave ‘ice-man’ Townley, who put on 70 together. But wickets began to fall, and in came Jeremy Browne. The pressure mounted as Metro’s scoring rate didn’t rise. Jeremy couldn’t hit a barn door and it was left to Matt ‘the Machine’ Dean to maintain some momentum by hitting an enormous 6 over the wall of Welsh sandbags.
When Matt was brilliantly caught, Metro needed 7 to win with 2 overs remaining. A few wides and a single from cool as a cucumber Brad Fisher reduced Metro’s deficit to 3 – but with Jeremy on strike. Jeremy, despite batting for longer than it took to build the new media centre at Lords, was still to get off the mark. The pressure on him was growing, partly due to anguished Afrikaans shouts from the boundary. But we should have had faith – Jeremy square cut the ball for 4 and Metro are Lords (and Lady) of Lords again.
What a final, played in a good spirit by two competitive teams. On the day when our esteemed Chairman was also presented with the old cup trophy to keep, may the future bring many more finals like this one.
Scorecard
BBS Primary Club National Knockout Cup Final 2005
South Wales Dragons V Metro
at The Nursery Ground, Lords
Saturday 6th August 2005
Metro won the toss and chose to bowl first
South Wales Dragons Innings
T Warren Caught R Field Bowled A Benjamin 19
K Seal Bowled B Fisher 8
D Wood Bowled A Benjamin 7
D Corrigan Caught D Townley Bowled R Field 17
H Greenhill Bowled H Swanepoel 12
N Prior Caught H Khan Bowled R Field 0
C Dade Caught M Dean Bowled A Benjamin 9
K Phillips Caught M Dean Bowled D Townley 0
A Law Caught M Dean Bowled R Field 0
D Ellingham not out 17
W Norman not out 5
Extras:( 24W, 5NB) 29
Total: 30 overs, for 9 wickets, 123
Bowling
Bowler-overs-maidens-runs-wickets
H Swanepoel 6-2-6-1
B Fisher 3-0-17-1
D Townley 6-0-31-1
A Benjamin 6-0-31-3
R Field 6-0-21-3
A Amin 3-0-17-0
Metro Innings
R Field Caught H Greenhill Bowled K Seal 39
A Benjamin Bowled D Corrigan 0
D Townley Caught C Dade Bowled D Corrigan 14
B Reynolds Caught D Wood Bowled D Corrigan 0
H Swanepoel Bowled K Seal 0
J Browne not out 6
M Dean Caught T Warren Bowled W Norman 16
B Fisher not out 1
Extras:( 1LB, 36W, 11NB) 48
Total: 28.2 overs, for 6 wickets, 124
Metro won by 4 wickets
Bowling
Bowler-overs-maidens-runs-wickets
H Greenhill 5.2-0-24-0
D Corrigan 6-0-12-3
K Seal 6-0-26-2
A Law 3-0-26-0
W Norman 4-0-23-1
C Dade 4-1-12-0