The South West section final in the National Twenty20 competition between South Gloucestershire & Stroud College and Millfield was little short of sensational. It was not quite so much David and Goliath as it first appears, but not far off. SGS is a new Sixth Form College (though based on what was until 2012 Filton College) and it specialises in cricket, despite having no home ground. The side are coached by Tim Hancock, the former Glos CCC opening batsman from the days when the county regularly used to win major competitions. An outstanding 107 off 62 balls by SGS College?s James Bracey guided them to a famous seven wicket win against Millfield. An imposing score of 180 for six (in 20 overs, of course) was chased down in 18 overs for the loss of only three wickets.
Millfield won the toss and batted on a very good wicket. They started strongly and were going well until spin was introduced. After a couple of wickets George Bartlett appeared and looked dangerous from the off, but when he lifted the off-spin of Jack Gillett to deep midwicket the score was 63 for three off 11 overs. However the SGS bowlers had no answers to the skills and aggression of Joshua McCoy who with outstanding support from the opener Tom Lace put the SGS bowlers to the sword. The final nine overs saw 113 runs scored in a fine display of hitting and running between the wickets.
Nine runs an over is never going to be easy from the start even on a wicket playing as well as this one. The SGS opening pair of James Bracey and Benny Ellis immediately got stuck in to the task, putting on 48 for the first wicket in 5.4 overs. Once Ellis was out it was James Bracey who dominated the ensuing partnerships as he took advantage of a shorter leg-side boundary on the road side of the ground. In all he hit nine sixes and five fours in a flawless innings of 107 not out. An outstanding performance against a very strong side.
In a celebratory match ? surprisingly similar in scores to the above match, though in this case over 50 overs – to mark 150 years of cricket between Clifton and Sherborne, one of the oldest school fixtures in the country, Clifton won the toss at home and asked Sherborne to bat. With the ball moving sharply, Sherborne were struggling at 10 for two. The visitors battled back until Louie Shaw?s slow left arm got one through James Caldwell, who looked well set on 42, for Fin Trenouth to take a neat stumping. Wickets continued to fall as Sherborne struggled to build any meaningful partnerships but by the completion of the 50 overs they had made a respectable 198 for eight, steered there by a skilful 47 not out from Tom Mason. Clifton too lost early wickets against some good bowling by Will and James Caldwell and things were looking decidedly difficult at 58 for three. Another wicket at this point and Clifton might have been struggling. However, not another wicket fell in the match. Dan Lewis (51 not out) joined Trenouth and the pair batted exquisitely to put on an unbeaten stand of 156 to see Clifton home by seven wickets with eight overs to spare. The greatest tension was to see whether Trenouth could reach his century before the match was won. On 98 and the scores level, he simply hit a straight six and walked off. An extraordinary and powerful innings from a fifth-former who is sadly (for Clifton) now going to Millfield.
For the second successive weekend, rain curtailed or cancelled many matches. At least in a fair number of these the first innings was completed before play was washed out for the day. One casualty of the weather was at Lord?s where Eton played Harrow. However, the rain interruptions made for a thrilling finish when under Duckworth/Lewis Eton found themselves having to score 36 from the last eight and won by six wickets, with a century on each side, Anshuman Rath for Harrow and Armaan Rath for Eton. I hope to have a full report on this for next week.
In the Northern region of the National Twenty20 competition, at Giggleswick, Sedbergh won a place on Finals day at Arundel with a narrow victory over last year?s winners Woodhouse Grove. Sedbergh elected to bat to post a challenging score of 144 for seven. In reply Woodhouse Grove lost two early wickets before an excellent innings by Bailey Worcester saw them inch towards the target but they finished six short with five down.
There were some fine individual perfomances: Sam Rixon at Taunton with a well played 115 led Taunton to 295 for eight in only 40 overs to overcome the Royal Marines. Cameron Rule at Ipswich scored successive centuries: 119 against the Old Boys and 153 for St Joseph?s in a game subsequently curtailed. For Hurstpierpoint, Joe Ludlow scored 176 not out against Reed?s. In a thrilling finish at RGS Worcester, the school scraped home with two balls to spare and eight wickets down, led by a superb 135 not out from Elliott Bartlett. William Heywood scored 116 for King’s Canterbury against Sevenoaks.
Bowling performance of the week was by Rhys Joseph, right-arm medium, who took five for nine against the Judd to reduce them to 109 all out, which Sevenoaks overcame for the loss of one wicket. For St Peter?s York, leg-spinner Tom Spearman took four wickets for no runs in 10 balls against Hymers.
Results:
Glasgow Academy 139-3 (20 overs),*Dollar 131-7
John Lyon 51, *Merchant Taylors’, Northwood 56-2
*King?s Canterbury 270-3 (40 overs) (W Hayward 116), Sevenoaks 188-5
*Taunton 295-8 (40 overs) (S Rixon 115), Royal Marines 269-6
*Sevenoaks 190 (30 overs) (N Bett 105, T Miles 5-34), King’s Rochester 135
Trent 134-8 (30 overs),*Oakham 131-7
*Shrewsbury 107 (45 overs), Bedford 110-2
St Peter’s, York 225-7 (45 overs), *Hymers 93
Haberdashers’ Aske’s 212-6 (40 overs), *Magdalen College School 101-3 (rain)
*Oakham 171, Stowe 0-0 (rain)
Judd 109 (R Joseph 5-9), *Sevenoaks 113-1
Sussex Martlets 220-6 dec, *Christ?s Hospital 163
*City of London Freemen?s 244-8 (40 overs), Caterham 181-8 (Martin Berrill Sports League)
City of London Freemen?s 142-6 (35 overs), *Worth 145-4 (Martin Berrill Sports League)
Christ?s Hospital 173-9 (45 overs), *City of London Freemen?s 99-7 (Martin Berrill Sports League) Christ?s Hospital won under D/L
Sherborne 198-9 (50 overs), *Clifton 204-3 (F Trenouth 104 not out)
*Winchester 282-6 (50 overs) (D Escott 179), Old Wykehamists 176
Harrow 273-7 (55 overs) (A Rath 103), Eton 186-4 (A Treon 103 not out). At Lord?s; Eton won under D/L
Old Blues 247-6 dec, *Christ?s Hospital 239
*Radley 207-8 (50 overs), St Edward’s 208-7
Bradford GS 133 (P Davison 5-22 ), Durham 74
MCC 212-6 dec.( STaylor-Gell 5-73), Durham 73
Sedbergh 262 (P Davison 6-81), Durham 263-7 (L Henderson 113 not out , Sedbergh ??? 5-74)
Old Boys 221-8 (50 overs), *RGS Worcester 222-8(49.5 overs) (E Bartlett 135 not out)
Old Ipswichians 286, Ipswich 287-9 (C Rule 119)
Ipswich 291 (C Rule 153), St Joseph’s college 20-0 (rain)
*Kimbolton 111-3 v Wellingborough (rain)
Hurstpierpoint 302-6 dec (J Ludlow 176 not out, D Douthwaite 5-104), *Reed’s 95
*Monmouth 86, King’s Taunton 87-0
Queen’s Taunton 321-5 (50 overs) (S Dohany 107), *Bristol GS 129
Abingdon 255-8 (45 overs), *Radley 61-1 (rain)
XL Club 206-4 dec, *High School of Glasgow 156-7
High School of Glasgow 97, *Strathallan 100-3
*Gordonstoun 295-4 dec (J Harrison 102), High School of Glasgow 170-8
High School of Glasgow 159?5 (30 overs), *Glenalmond 163-3
Saints 140 (C Burdass 5-23) *St Peter’s, York 141-4
National Twenty20 competition ? latest results
North region final
Sedbergh 144-7, Woodhouse Grove 138-5
Sedbergh now represent the North at Arundel on finals day
London section final
St Albans 147-6, Reed’s 153-3
Reed’s now play Hurstpierpoint to represent the South at Arundel
South West section final
*Millfield 180-6, SGS (Filton) 185-3 (J Bracey 107 not out)
SGS now play Wellington to represent the West at Arundel