BBS Primary Club Heindrich Swanepoel Memorial Cup Final 2016
The rearranged 2016 BBS Primary Club Heindrich Swanepoel Memorial Cup final was finally played on Sunday 30th April 2017 at Bath Cricket Club with Warwickshire Bears facing Somerset VICC.
Sincere thanks must be given to Bath Cricket Club whose delightful ground is right in the centre of the historic city across the river from the rugby ground; which meant a good number of interested spectators stopped by to watch the match before heading to the rugby ground to see Bath play Gloucester.
As dreadful weather was forecast for the time of the match everyone agreed that the game should get underway as soon as possible, which meant the start time was moved forward by twenty minutes.
Somerset, sent in to bat after losing the toss, saw their opening pair narrowly fall short of a century partnership, with Ed Hossell leading the scoring and reaching his 50 off 37 balls inside ten overs, before the skipper, Rob Crisp, was caught by Hassan Ali off the bowling of Luke Sugg with the score at 90.
The second wicket fell at 121 with Graham Glover bowled by Mark Turnham and this started a steady fall of wickets as Warwickshire worked hard in the field. The key wicket was the seventh as finally Hossell was dismissed having made the third highest cup final score ever of 131 from just 89 balls with sixteen boundaries and two sixes, one an audacious flat reverse hit through point. He was caught by Nathan Foy at mid-on off the bowling of Asif Ali. From that point on it seemed just a matter of time before the innings ended and only three more runs, all wides, were added to the score as Somerset were dismissed for 178 with ten deliveries left unused. Asif Ali led Warwickshire’s attack taking 3-25 with two wickets each for Hassan Ali and Mark Turnham.
The lunch break was slightly extended as rain had started to fall & with heavily layered cloud the prospect of a bowl out loomed, but by 3.30 the rain had ceased so play was able to get back underway.
As Warwickshire’s innings started the first target was to achieve ten overs play in the second innings so the cup would be awarded based on a match not a bowl out and with a target score of 78 for the Bears to reach at that point. Here started a most enthralling and at times stressful afternoon in a match where fortunes swayed backwards and forwards in a most entertaining way.
The first three overs were neck and neck with no more than two runs between the teams before Luke Sugg and Justin Hollingsworth took Warwickshire twenty ahead of Somerset after five overs and looked likely to go past the first target. Hollingsworth was given a life as Ed Hossell dropped his skier to square leg with the score on 24, but when he offered a second chance with the score on 64, off Graham Glover’s bowling, Hossell juggled the ball a couple of times but held on; as he did again 17 runs later, off Tom Gray’s bowling, to dismiss Sugg and give Somerset some hope.
Next he caught Nathan Foy off the same bowler – but from a no ball, so the third wicket only went down when he repeated that catch at cover with Steve Cook bowling and this time there was no reprieve for Foy. This ignited Somerset’s challenge as next ball a wild hack by Asif Ali saw him bowled. Sadly Cook’s hat trick ball was a wide – although his next was more accurate trapping Mark Turnham leg before for a half out.
This left the score at 110 for four, and the Bears struggling to score runs as Somerset pressed hard to take control of the game. Who else but Ed Hossell took the next wicket bowling Hassan Ali with 33 more runs still needed and after 20 overs Somerset were 6 runs ahead having been at 152.
However Gerald Porter joined Mark Turnham and this pair batted sensibly aware that if all the overs were bowled the Bears would win, although with rain again falling and the umpires discussing the conditions as the ball became slippery and difficult to hold for the bowlers, a complete game was not certain. The Bears were 5 behind with 21 overs complete and 10 behind an over later on comparative scores, reaching 158. Gerald took a single to give Mark the strike and good running allowed him three consecutive scoring shots through point, square leg and third man to bring victory to the Bears as they took 17 from the twenty third over to leave just two runs needed. Sadly the end of the game came from two no balls just before the rain came down again.
Unsurprisingly having scored 131 plus taking a wicket and three catches Ed Hossell was named Partially Sighted man of the match, with Mark Turnham named Totally Blind man of the match for his crucial 32 not out and two wickets.
BBS Cricket would like to thank The Primary Club for their continued funding of this competition for which all of the clubs involved are incredibly grateful. Thanks also go to Clive Spencer for stepping in to manage the final at short notice.
As stated earlier sincere thanks go to Bath Cricket Club for agreeing to host the final at relatively short notice and to the club as a whole but especially to head groundsman Jim McGill for the massive amount of effort that went in to allow the match to go ahead despite the bad weather.
Scorecard
BBS Primary Club Heindrich Swanepoel Memorial Cup Final 2016
Warwickshire Bears v Somerset VICC
At Bath Cricket Club
Sunday 30th April 2017
Umpires: Ian Hopkins & Tom Munro
Scorers: Paul Toplis & Steve Hollingsworth
Warwickshire won the toss & chose to field first
Somerset VICC Innings
R Crisp Caught H Ali Bowled L Sugg 19
E Hossell Caught N Foy Bowled A Ali 131
G Glover Bowled M Turnham 0
T Gray Bowled N Foy 4
M Hallett LBW Bowled A Ali 0
A Mabey LBW Bowled M Turnham 0
H Linegar Run Out (J Hollingsworth) 0
M Kontreras Bowled H Ali 0
S Cook Caught G Porter Bowled A Ali 0
A White not out 0
P Frounks LBW Bowled H Ali 0
Extras:( 5B, 4NB, 15W) 24
Total: 28.2 overs, All Out, 178
Fall of wickets: 1-90 (Crisp), 2-121 (Glover), 3-134 (Gray), 4-143 (Hallett), 5-170 (Mabey), 6-173 (Linegar), 7-175 (Hossell), 8-175 (Cook), 9-177 (Kontreras), 10-178 (Frounks).
Bowling
Bowler-overs-maidens-runs-wickets-no balls-wides
L Sugg 6-0-20-1-0-2
J Hollingsworth 6-1-31-0-0-2
A Ali 4-0-25-3-3-3
N Foy 6-0-67-1-0-2
M Turnham 3-0-22-2-0-4
H Ali 3.2-0-8-2-1-2
Warwickshire Bears Innings
J Hollingsworth Caught E Hossell Bowled G Glover 34
L Sugg Caught E Hossell Bowled T Gray 26
N Foy Caught E Hossell Bowled S Cook 26
A Ali Bowled S Cook 2
H Ali Bowled E Hossell 15
M Turnham not out 32
G Porter not out 9
Did not bat: C Lanwarne, E Alphonse, E Preston, M Cliff
Extras:( 8B, 1LB, 10NB, 16W) 35
Total: 23.2 overs, for 5 wickets, 179
Warwickshire Bears won by 5 wickets
Fall of wickets: 1-64 (Hollingsworth), 2-81 (Sugg), 3-110 (Foy), 4-110 (A Ali), 5-146 (H Ali.
Bowling
Bowler-overs-maidens-runs-wickets-no balls-wides
E Hossell 6-1-34-1-1-2
R Crisp 4-0-18-0-1-2
T Gray 5.2-0-45-1-4-5
G Glover 2-0-29-1-0-2
S Cook 6-0-44-2-0-2
Man of the Match Winners
Totally Blind: Mark Turnham (Warwickshire)
Partially Sighted: Ed Hossell (Somerset)