Familiar feeling: Eds Copleston lifts the cup

Heavy rain in the previous 24 hours left the outfield soft and the wicket slow and low – not a ball got above waist height all day. Eds Copleston won the toss and put Denstone in – their captain, Chris Tiss,who plays hockey for the OCHC, admitted he was happy to lose the toss but probably would have batted anyway.

It was sunny throughout but a strong wind blew across the ground - strong enough to annoyingly move the sightscreens regularly and at one time blow one over altogether. Our bowlers kept a tight line in the early exchanges and were backed by enthusiastic fielding and the batsmen found scoring almost impossible, After an hour, Denstone were 28 for 1 off 14 overs.

Howitt had laboured an hour for 22 when he played on to Nick Read, and for a few overs after that the innings showed signs of spluttering into life. Then four wickets fell in four overs to leave Denstone up against it on 67 for 6. Three of the wickets were claimed by Alex Craven in seven balls, the most bizarre being Goldstone who was stumped after charging several yards down the track and being left stranded as Will Howard, standing back, rolled the ball into the stumps.

Nick Read celebrates as Howitt plays on

Tiss and Gagie opted to block, adding 26 in 12 overs, but Stuart Meaker, who was limited to four overs by injury, pegged back his off stump, and then Howard brilliantly stumped Snow off Watkinson as he momentarily overbalanced,

Webster, at No. 10, finally injected some sense of urgency in the last five overs, smacking Watkinson for six over midwicket, and Gagie, who lumbered to 6 off 37 balls, also opened up. But it was far too late, and Seren Waters mopped up the tail.

Denstone had to take early wickets and they threw everything at us, but Seren Walters belied his age to give us a good start with some lovely stokeplay and a tad of luck, while Johnny Gates, a late replacement for Alan Cope, who broke down the day before, kept his end intact. He took 41 balls to get off the mark, and was finally out for 15 but in a low-scoring game that was worth its weight in gold.

Meantime, Waters had gone for 28 – the highest individual score of the day – and the tedious Howitt had appealed and sledged his way into the umpire’s bad books. In the end he and his captain were on the receiving end of a finger-wagging lecture from the official, and after several close leg-before shouts/screams were turned down, one of his team-mates admitted that Howitt’s antics had probably cost them. He further added to the pressure by asking to be taken off after four overs.

Abeed Janmohamed dives in vain for an edge

Will Howard played some nice shots – and a couple of less impressive ones – before hitting a long-hop down deep midwicket’s throat, and when Denstone finally got a decision in their favour to remove Gates, we were still cruising at 85 for 3. Then the wheels came off.

Abeed Janmohamed, who started well but had become bogged down, fell leg-before to one he seemed to have got more than a little bat on and then Stuart Meaker was a more straightforward lbw decision. At 94 for 5 we were wobbling and Nos. 10 and 11, who had showered and changed, started unpacking their kit.

Copleston and Graeme Brown then put on 19, Copleston running well between the wickets as ever to put pressure on the fielders. Brown then went to a bat-pad catch by silly point for 1 and Henry Watkinson was bowled, also for 1. We were now 116 for 7 and runs were precious.

Seren Waters on his way to a solid 28

Copleston has been in poor form all season, but he is a man for a crisis and he relived the pressure with a straight six off Snow’s first ball. Read, by no means a No. 9, kept his end ticking over until Howitt returned and removed his off stump with six still needed.

< At this stage we were on the rack, and Henderson’s off stump was sent flying off the first ball he faced … but as the fielders celebrated they failed to notice the umpire’s call of no-ball and we scrambled three runs in the confusion. Copleston turned a single to tie the scores, and off the third ball of the next over he cut one through cover point to secure the win.

Of the four finals we have been in, this was probably the least entertaining for the spectators although the last hour will help to erase the memory of a disappointing match in which the pitch stifled strokeplay. Only our collapse made it a contest - when we finally won we did so with almost 15 overs to spare. It was fitting that Copleston hit the winning runs, although Craven’s performance with the ball won him the Man of the Match. However, the captain was less impressed to see him swigging beer when we seemed to be coasting!