20 June 2010
Abingdon defeat St Bede's and Dulwich to reach finals day of the 20/20 cup
The 1st XI continued on their 20/20 cup journey with the final of the Central and South Region. Our first opponents, St Bede's, contained a series of Sussex Academy players while hosts, Dulwich, were enjoying an unbeaten season (including a win the day before over Eton) so the task at hand was clearly going to be a large one. To this was added the tantalising prospect of a final at the Home of Cricket, Lord's – a truly once in a lifetime opportunity. More pressure could not be possible.
Having been drawn to play St Bede's in our first game we were put into bat under overcast skies. Despite this the Abingdon boys got off to an aggressive start lifting the run rate early on. Sadly wickets also fell and until Joshua Smith (40) and William Sensecall added some stability a below par total looked to be on the cards. Step forward lower sixth former Jonathan Bourchier, who came of age with a remarkable display of hard hitting. He stroked an emphatic 46 and coupled with Henry Sensecall led Abingdon to a very acceptable score of 176.
Although this seemed a competitive total the opposition openers got off to a flier and looked well on course to make serious inroads into the Abingdon total. The introduction of skipper Nathaniel Watkins and his junior spin partner Sasha Barras soon applied the brakes on the scoring rate. Whilst adding this squeeze, wickets also fell at regular intervals as the Abingdon fielding began to create a stranglehold. The rate soon spiralled and the mature Joshua Bull and Robert Winearls, along with some intelligent bowling from Smith, led Abingdon to a 40 run victory.
Some 3 hours later, having watched Dulwich destroy our first opponents, the Abingdon side were set the daunting task of ending the Dulwich side's unbeaten season on their home ground. To say we weren’t favourites was an understatement but the Abingdon team doesn’t think like this.
After winning the toss the Abingdon side decided to surprise everyone by asking the powerful Dulwich side to have first use of a fine pitch. This appeared to have backfired when they reached 94-2 and were set for a score well in advance of 200! It then took the introduction of 4th year student Sasha Barras to stem the flow of runs and he did so with great aplomb. In 32 overs in this year’s competition he hasn’t conceded a boundary, which really is a remarkable statistic in this power-hitting tournament.
The Abingdon fielding reached truly electrically sharp levels during this period and a series of run outs, great catches, and last ditch stops reduced the Dulwich side to 162-7.
At the half way stage the group were in confident mood but in any final it always takes a calmness and maturity often not associated with schoolboy cricket to win the game.
The Abingdon side came out the blocks in typically positive fashion with James Edwards (37) and Nathaniel Watkins (67) lifting the rate early on. William Sensecall then added some useful runs before the game reached boiling point. It was here that an injury to Sensecall from a stray throw led to the introduction of Josha Smith. He added the finishing touches (37no) on the performance with some lusty blows to seal a truly memorable victory.
Credit must be given to Dulwich College for their excellent hospitality during the whole day and also to the boys who despite being right in the middle of exam season found the time and focus to deliver under the most intense of pressure.
A finals day at Lord's is well deserved for this group of boys who have given me so much effort this season and have already gone one better than last season’s quarter final defeat.
The Abingdon team, having won the South area final of the National 20/20 competition, now meet at Lord's on Monday 28 June with the regional winners of the North (Shrewsbury School), West (Millfield School - the holders) and East (Bedford School) to contest the semifinals and finals of this competition.
DCS