2015 Warwickshire Bears beat Metro

BBS Primary Club Heindrich Swanepoel Memorial Cup Final 2015
By Dave Gavrilovic

The 2015 BBS Primary Club Heindrich Swanepoel Memorial Cup Final was both thrilling & record breaking.

On a scorching day that reached 30 degrees during the first innings at the beautiful & historic BroadHalfPenny Down in Hampshire, Warwickshire Bears faced London Metro in the 37th final of the worlds longest running annual disability cricket competition.

After losing the toss Warwickshire were sent in to bat & made a steady start as Justin Hollingsworth & Luke Sugg started to build a foundation. After ten overs Bears were 61/0 when the first drinks break was taken.

The break must have done Warwickshire good as from that moment on they scored far faster despite losing Luke Sugg for 45 to end a record breaking partnership that finished at 130, an all time BBS cup final record for any wicket. Sugg was dismissed by Gareth Jones with Matt Dean taking a good catch. Nathan Foy then shared a 52 run partnership with Hollingsworth before departing for 18 caught by keeper Rory Field off Mo Ghalib’s bowling.

The rest of the innings was totally dominated by Justin Hollingsworth as he smashed the all time cup final record individual score as Mo Ghalib sent his colleagues back to the pavilion at the other end. Firstly Ghalib had Asif Ali caught behind, then he ran out Asif’s brother Hassan before taking a catch to dismiss Eamon Preston from Amit Amin’s bowling.

Warwickshire finished with the joint highest ever cup final score of 260/5 after their 30 overs with Justin Hollingsworth contributing a mammoth 150 not out. Considering the very high scoring rate Mo Ghalib’s bowling figures of 6 overs 2 for 21 were extraordinary.

* * * * *
The Records
Highest Partnership: Justin Hollingsworth & Luke Sugg shared 130 for Warwickshire’s first wicket.
Highest Team Score: 260/5 Warwickshire took the record after tying the previous best but losing fewer wickets than the former record holders.
Highest Individual Score: Justin Hollingsworth 150 not out, Matt Dean also beat the previous record a couple of hours later with 133.
* * * * *

During the lunch break the teams enjoyed a talk on the history of the venue from Commander Peter Tuke of the BroadHalfPenny Down Preservation Trust.

When the match recommenced Metro started slowly until Eamon Preston came on to bowl & felt the full force of England Captain Matt Dean’s attack as Preston’s 3 overs conceded 72 runs. Mo Ghalib was dismissed for 37 with Luke Sugg taking the catch off of Nathan Foy’s bowling. This sent Hassan Khan to the middle & he shared a brilliant 113 run partnership with Dean before being bowled by Luke Sugg with the score at 194/2.

Sugg then struck again to finally remove Matt Dean for an excellent 133 before taking a second catch this time to dismiss Mark Bond as the first of Asif Ali’s 3 wickets.

When Simon Butler fell LBW to Ali for 24 the pressure was mounting & Sugg running out Andy Law added to that. As overs ran out Rory Field did his best to get his side over the winning line but a superb final over from Asif Ali that included having Adam Benjamin stumped by Gerald Porter & then bowling a dot ball with the penultimate delivery of the match which left the Londoners needing an impossible target of seven runs from the final ball. Field did hit that final delivery for four but it was the Bears who were celebrating a thrilling two run victory.

Justin Hollingsworth was named partially sighted man of the match & Hassan Khan took the totally blind man of the match award.

We would like to thank the Primary Club for there continued support of this wonderful competition & of blind cricket in general. Also Leeds Building Society who sponsored the cricket balls for the whole competition & the BroadHalfPenny Down Preservation Trust for allowing us to use their fantastic venue for this year’s final.

Scorecard
BBS Primary Club Heindrich Swanepoel Memorial Cup Final 2015
Warwickshire Bears v Metro
At Broad HalfPenny Down, Hampshire
Saturday 22nd August 2015
Umpires: Roger Barker & Les Clemenson
Scorers: Steve Field & Steve Hollingsworth

Metro won the toss & chose to field first
Warwickshire Bears Innings
Justin Hollingsworth not out 150
Luke Sugg Caught M Dean Bowled G Jones 45
Nathan Foy Caught R Field Bowled M Ghalib 18
Asif Ali Caught R Field Bowled M Ghalib 2
Hassan Ali Run Out)M Ghalib) 5
Eamon Preston Caught M Ghalib Bowled A Amin 20
Gerald Porter not out 4
Did not bat: Aiden Reilly, Matt Cliff
Extras:( 6B, 15NB, 15W) 36
Total: 30 overs, for 5 wickets, 260
Fall of wickets: 1-130 (Sugg), 2-182 (Foy), 3-189 (A Ali), 4-227 (H Ali) 5-242 (Preston).

Bowling
Bowler-overs-maidens-runs-wickets-no balls-wides
A Law 5-0-65-0-1-5
G Jones 6-0-52-1-3-3
M Ghalib 6-0-21-2-2-0
A Benjamin 3-0-20-0-1-1
R Field 6-0-39-0-6-2
A Amin 3-0-34-1-0-2
H Khan 1-0-23-0-0-0

Metro Innings
Matt Dean Caught & Bowled L Sugg 133
Mo Ghalib Caught L Sugg Bowled N Foy 37
Hassan Khan Bowled L Sugg 4
Simon Butler LBW Bowled A Ali 24
Mark Bond Caught L Sugg Bowled A Ali 5
Andy Law Run Out(L Sugg) 2
Rory Field not out 13
Adam Benjamin Stumped G Porter Bowled A Ali 2
Amit Amin not out 2
Did not bat: Gareth Jones, Alan Turnbull
Extras:( 2B, 1LB, 18NB, 15W) 36
Total: 30 overs, for 7 wickets, 258
Warwickshire Bears won by 2 runs

Fall of Wickets: 1-81 (Ghalib), 2-194 (Khan), 3-212 (M Dean), 4-230 (Bond), 5-236 (Law), 6-242 (Butler), 7-252 (Benjamin).

Bowling
Bowler-overs-maidens-runs-wickets-no balls-wides
L Sugg 6-0-30-2-4-0
J Hollingsworth 6-0-36-0-3-0
N Foy 6-0-45-1-3-5
E Preston 3-0-72-0-1-6
A Ali 6-0-45-3-1-4
H Ali 3-0-27-0-2-0

Man of the Match Winners
Totally Blind: Hassan Khan (Metro)
Partially Sighted: Justin Hollingsworth (Warwickshire)