We won the cup!

Old Cranleighans beat Old Herefordians by seven wickets

The day got off to the perfect start (if the overnight excesses of one leading player who was celebrating his 40th birthday the previous night can be overlooked) when Tim Evans had Peter Butler caught by Mike Chase at gully off the first ball of the match. Evans, who delivered his 11-over spell unchanged, bowled as well as he ever has for us, his late swing combining with a slow pitch to frustrate the Herefordians. His figures (11-5-22-2) included a spell of 5-4-2-1.

Edward Symonds (20) and Stephen Price (8) consolidated in a second-wicket stand of 40, but the scoring rate was slow, and eventually frustration accounted for Symonds when he dragged on a short ball from Nick Read. Read, who had started nervously conceding 20 from his first four overs, was finding his line but after six overs he gave way to Ed Henderson who immediately took two wickets, while Evans struck again at the other end to reduce Herefordians to 55 for 5.

By this stage the body language showed that the Herefordians, who had reached last year's final only to suffer a batting collapse, were in trouble. Mike Chetwode, sweating alcohol, came on and looked all at sea for two overs. Then he found his metronomic line and length, and in his last nine overs he took 9-5-11-2 to strangle any chances of a recovery.

The left-handed Robbie Symonds alone looked capable of staging a fightback, and a brief rally before lunch with Jamie Layton (18) saw Herefordians past 100, Graeme Brown struggling to find his rhythm conceding 24 off four overs. But our quick over-rate meant that in two hours we had bowled 36 overs. Time and wickets were running out.

It was clear that someone had to stay with Symonds, and so Layton's desperate heave off Chetwode in the first over after the break was all the more bemusing. Tomlinson-Mynors hung around, but played right into Eds Copleston's hands in taking singles at the end of almost every over. Symonds, marooned at the non-striker's end, faced just eight balls in seven overs, eventually reaching his fifty of 76 balls. The reintroduction of Henderson brought matters to an end with two wickets in four balls, and Read polished off the innings with the aid of another big inside edge. Symonds was left stranded.

Celebrations continued in London

With 55 overs to get a target of 144, we knew that we had to avoid losing wickets as even on such a slow-paced wicket an asking-rate of under three-an-over was a stroll. Our start was nervous. The first six overs produced just one scoring shot - a half-controlled steer through the slips for two by Simon Copleston - for the loss of Richard Hume, pulling a wide delivery into his stumps for 0. But the control of the Herefordians' bowlers was poor - they gifted us 13 wides and 15 no-balls among 38 extras - and slowly the Coplestons took control. Simon struggled to find form but showed grit in making a vital 28 while Eds, after a hesitant start, begun to open up, unleashing two cracking drives in the over before tea to leave us needing 68 in 31 overs at the break.

Just as we were beginning to relax both Coplestons fell within three overs. Eds went first, caught and bowled for 42 and then Simon played down the wrong line. Briefly, Herefordians looked as if they thought they were in with a chance. Mike Chase struggled against Powell's legspin, but uncharacteristically opted to grind out the runs rather than try to win the match with sixes. At the other end Abeed Janmohammed, in excellent form, set out his stall and slowly but surely suffocated any lingering chances of letting the game slip. Such was their determination to see us home that we were stuck within five runs of victory for four overs; even so, when we eventually ran the bye which completed the win, we had over 11 overs in hand.

Old Herefordians                            Balls  Mins  4   6
P Butler          c Chase b Evans       0      1     1   0   0
E Symonds                 b Read       20     46    42   2   0
S Price            c Read b Evans      18     53    67   2   0
D Hewlett                 b Henderson   3     12    19   0   0
R Skyrme              lbw b Henderson   0     14    17   0   0
R Symonds             not out          53     78   102   5   2
J Morris         c Howard b Chetwode    2     12    21   0   0
J Layton      c Henderson b Chetwode   18     31    21   2   0
M Tomlinson-Mynors        b Henderson  11     54    33   0   0
A Herbert                 b Henderson   0      3     2   0   0
C Powell                  b Read        1     11    10   0   0
Extras   (b 2, lb 4, w 7, nb 4)        17
                     (50.3 overs)     143

Fall: 0,40,49,49,55,78,105,137,137,143

Evans        11     5     22     2
Read         10.3   1     32     2
Henderson     9     4     17     4
Chetwode     11     5     21     2
Brown         4     0     24     0
Janmohammed   5     0     21     1 

Old Cranleighans                            Balls  Mins  4   6
S Copleston               b Tomlinson
                                Mynors 28     87    96   2   0
R Hume                    b Herbert     0     15    13   0   0
E Copleston*          c & b Powell     42     81    77   6   0
M Chase               not out          22     58    57   3   0
A Janmohammed         not out          14     50    53   1   0
Extras    (b 4, lb 6, w 13, nb 15)     38
          (3 wickets, 43.5 overs)     144

Fall: 6,92,94

G Brown, W Howard+, N Read, M Chetwode, E Henderson
and T Evans did not bat
             
Symonds      11     4     22     0 
Herbert       9.5   5     24     1 
Powell       11     1     38     1 
Layton        5     0     27     0 
Tomlinson
    Mynors    7     1     28     1