Monday 11 July 2011

BRACEBRIDGE WIN AGAIN

Report and photos from the Winkworth Cup final by Ann Boulton

The victorious Bracebridge Heath team.


Paul Cook receives the trophy from Martin Thompson, of Winkworth.

Tim Norris collects his Man of the Match award from Martin Thompson, of Winkworth.


Just one run separated the contestants at the end of the Readers Lincolnshire ECB Premier League Winkworth Cup final, but it was Bracebridge Heath who carried off the trophy for the second successive year.
In a repeat of last year’s final, the current league leaders played Boston, who are also well in the hunt for honours and the teams produced one of the best finals seen since the league introduced the 20/20 format.
Bracebridge had a bye in the semi-final following the withdrawal of Grimsby, while Boston won through at the expense of Lindum who were out for 117, chasing a total of 150.
Going into the final, Bracebridge won the toss and elected to bat but faced some tight bowling and fielding from the Boston side which brought the wicket of Vikram Atri in Colin Cheer’s first over.
When Paul Cook was caught off Paul Deans’ first ball, the score was 40 for two but Karanjit Bansal and Nick John (26) added 80 and when Bansal fell to Tom Baxter for a well-crafted 53, the total had reached 126 for four.
Jason Scheepers and James Wright also contributed as Bracebridge finished on 163 for seven, Scott Elleray and Baxter each taking two wickets.
Boston looked favourites from the start as Jonathan Cheer and Tim Norris put on 26 for the first wicket and Norris and David Sargeant added a further 70. Norris made an excellent 61, taking Boston to 116 for three and Elleray and Josh Newton saw the total to 149 for five.
With four overs to go, Boston needed just 22 runs for victory with wickets in hand but Bracebridge kept up the pressure and going into the final over, nine were needed. But Jonathan Darke kept his head, restricting the batsmen and taking a wicket on his fifth ball.
This left new batsman Luke Gilding with the unenviable task of hitting a four to win off the last ball but the batsmen could only run two and the trophy was Bracebridge’s.
Norris’s innings and his fielding earned him the man of the match award, presented by Martin Thompson, Director of cup sponsors Winkworth.
Full scorecard can be found on http://lcbpl.play-cricket.com/scoreboard/scorecard.asp?id=11334615

No comments:

Post a Comment