Dan Field crafted possibly the greatest ever blind cricket innings played in this country to lead Sussex Sharks to an extraordinary 5 wicket win over London Metro in the final of the 2019 BCEW David Townley Memorial Twenty20 Cup.
Sussex’s day had started with a hard fought 24 run semi final win over 2019 National League winners Northants Steelbacks in the semi finals. Sent in to bat Sussex scored 152/7 with Dan Field hitting 87 & Clarke Reynolds adding 47, whilst with the ball Asif Ali took 4-23 & Mike Harrison 2-24. Northants lost wickets throughout their innings & despite 27 from Shah Miah & 26 from Mark Turnham they never looked like reaching the target as they ended up on 128/8 with Alex Towers taking 2-20.
In the other semi final Yorkshire were never able to get on top after being sent in to bat by 2019 BBS Cup winners London Metro, George Ferguson made 45 & Ralph Aldred battled to 26 but the Vikings were limited to 131/6 as Rory Field took 2-18 & Gareth Jones 2-19. Matt Dean (56) & Nick Ebbeck (24) smashed the ball around before being dismissed as Metro cruised to an 8 wicket win with more than 10 overs to spare.
In the third place play off Yorkshire again batted first & this time they made 137/3 with George Ferguson’s 64 the highlight whilst Sam Hoskin battled for 18 not out. Northants comfortably completed an 8 wicket win thanks to a century partnership from Shah Miah (74 not out) & Hugh Spence (18).
The final was one of the most exceptional exhibitions of batting ever seen in blind cricket, Metro were sent in first & wracked up a mammoth 260/1 with Matt Dean hammering 156 not out, Andy Law scoring a run a ball 42 not out & Nick Ebbeck contributing 23. Then Dan Field took centre stage, he did receive useful support from Clarke Reynolds (15 from 11 balls) & Mark Oliphant (6 from 8 balls) but it was Field’s epic 220 not out from 86 balls with 17 fours & 12 sixs that won the game for Sussex.
Unsurprisingly Dan Field was named Partially Sighted Player of the Day whilst Andy Law was named Low Sighted Player of the Day.
BCEW would like to thank Mike Elphick & the team at Wolverhampton Cricket Club for hosting finals day again this year, for all of their support leading up to the day & on the day itself & for allowing us to use their excellent ground.