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Sweet victory sees us through to third final
Old Cranleighans 179 for 6 (49.2 overs, Eds Copleston 51, Johnny Gates 48, Harry Jupp 26) beat Denstone Wanderers 177 for 9 (50 overs, Easher 45, Ed Henderson 4-36, Alex Craven 2-18, Graham Brown 2-8) by four wickets
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Eds Copleston slashes over the slips
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Click here to listen to Eds Copleston's post-match views
We reached our third Brewers Cup final in four seasons with a tense four-wicket win over Denstone Wanderers on Jubilee, and rarely has beating an opposition given those taking part more satisfaction. The victory means we will meet the winners of next weekend's tie between Old Hurstjohnians and Old Brutonians at Campbell Park, Milton Keynes, on September 4.
Denstone, who have won the tournament a record 11 times, including five in succession in the mid 1980s, were, sadly a poor reflection on their school. In fairness, most of the opposition were decent, but the example from more senior players left much to be desired. The day started with them arriving more than half an hour late - blaming (correct) directions downloaded from the school's website - and refusing to start until they were ready, some 30 minutes later, despite protestations from the umpires. It ended with their captain refusing to pay the required match fee, merely lobbing around 50% of it at one of our side with a take-it-or-leave-it comment. What a delight they were to entertain.
The game itself went down to the last over, but we should have wrapped it up before a middle-order wobble caused a few jitters among the home support.
Eds Copleston won the toss on a damp pitch, and with an outfield not mown for at least a fortnight, run scoring was always hard. After a solid start, Denstone grew increasingly bogged down against some tight bowling. Ed Henderson and Henry Watkinson pegged the run-rate down, and then the veteran Mike Chetwode sent down 10 overs on the trot, conceding only 22 runs.
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Johnny Gates is controversially stumped
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| There was also early controversy when Richard Howitt appeared to get a thick edge off Henderson which Abeed Janmohamed, who had a good day behind the stumps, held only for the umpire to turn down the appeal and Howitt to stand his ground. It set the tone.
The introduction of the increasingly dependable Alex Craven brought the breakthrough, dismissing Howitt (31) at which time the score was 60 for 2 in the 20th over. With Chetwode, Craven, who added a second wicket in his penultimate over, continued to stifle Denstone who had only made 79 for 3 after 32 overs.
Some sensible batting from Easter (45) boosted the rate, and Andy Houston and Matt Crump suffered a little before Henderson returned with 3 for 9 from his last three overs (finishing with 10-1-36-4) and Graeme Brown weighed in with 2 for 8.
Some excellent fielding was highlighted by a stunning one-handed catch on the boundary by Harry Jupp, a late call up after Copleston had controversially axed his brother.
We needed a solid start and got just that from Crump and Johnny Gates in the face of some hostile bowling from Waven and some hostile chat from Howitt. Both kept the lid on the scoring to the extent that after 20 overs we had reached 48 for the loss of Crump, and 12 of those came off one over from Webster, including a much-needed and unnecessary four overthrows.
But the wickets in hand were always crucial, and after a scratchy start, Copleston began to find his touch and some outstanding running between the wickets started to rattle Denstone. Gates finally fell for 48, stumped via a rebound off the keeper's pads, but Jupp immediately found his touch with some lovely placement, dominating the scoring while Copleston kept his end ticking over and engaged in some verbal jousting with the tiresome Howitt.
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The tension mounts among the great and the good
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| Copleston was given out caught behind for 51, but at 139 for 3 that seemed a minor setback. But then Jupp and Brown both spooned easy catches, and 144 for 5 appeared less secure, and Denstone's fielding noticeably sharpened.
Then came the incident which cost Denstone dearly, as Janmohamed, on 1, lazily drove straight to mid-on who spilt the simplest of chances. From then on Janmohamed kept the ball on the ground, and although Houston fell with seven needed and Watkinson was dropped by the keeper, the game was wrapped up with four balls to spare.
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