Cricketer Cup final: Old Cranleighans 218 for 9 (B Scriven 82) lost to Old Tonbridgians 221 for 8 (Cowdrey 84*) by two wickets
In the end the Old Cranleighans fell agonisingly short at the final hurdle, going down by two wickets to Old Tonbridgians in a tense Cricketer Cup final at Wimbledon CC. For the last hour of an entertaining match the fortunes of both sides ebbed and flowed, and when Seren Waters rose off his sickbed (sickbench to be technical) to take two wickets with successive deliveries to reduce Tonbridge to 200 for 8 chasing 219 the large OC contingent dared to dream. In the end a superb anchor innings of 84 not out from Fabian Cowdrey and our gift of 31 wides proved decisive.
The emotion as the players came off showed how much the defeat meant. But with a team with an average age in the early 20s and the oldest player being 27 this is a side that will only go from strength to strength. And the OCCC doesn’t do self pity. After a few minutes of reflection it was a beer and onto The Ship.
Matt Crump, who has grown immensely in the last year and led throughout the competition by example, won the toss and batted on a pitch which was always going to be hard to score runs on. We were aware Tonbridge would rely on their slow bowlers to strangle the innings – their supporters expressed surprise that they did not open with spin – and so it proved.
We were happy they did not as their seamers sprayed the ball around and almost half the first-wicket stand of 49 came in extras. Waters (17), who had flown in from Nairobi the day before for the match and was heading back the next morning, looked good in the early overs with some sweet boundaries square of the wicket but perished when he skewed an attempted lofted drive. Brad Scriven was looking in good form at the other end, keeping the score ticking over and running well between the wickets.
Jack Scriven (7) promised much with a four from the first ball he faced but grew frustrated by the nagging spinners, gave them the charge and was easily stumped. Alan Cope (7), busy as ever, perished in the same way soon after.
Tom Crump (23) joined Brad Scriven and while they arrested the slide the spinners continued to strangle the innings. Scriven found it hard to get enough of the strike, Tonbridge fielded well and the bowlers gave nothing away. In the first 21 overs we scored 89; in the next 15 we added 46.
Stuart Welch, who had coached all but one of the side, said beforehand that 230 was a par score but it began to look as if we would do well to reach 200 despite the fast, if mottled, outfield. When both Crumps fell in quick succession the concern grew, and then Scriven, who had hardly put a foot wrong stumbled and fell halfway down the pitch going for a quick single and was cruelly run out for 82.
The lower order, hardly called on in the previous rounds, scurried and pushed vital runs in the closing overs aided by a return to profligacy from Tonbridge’s bowlers. Our total of 218 for 9 was 20 shy of what we wanted but much better than had seemed likely an hour earlier and included 27 extras.
With spin likely to be crucial our hopes were then dealt a blow by the Headmaster’s cooking. His proud comments that he had cooked Waters an egg-and-bacon breakfast came back to haunt him when our Waters remained in the pavilion with severe gastric problems as Tonbridge started their chase. The Headmaster hid behind the sightscreen.
Will Rollings had a nightmare start, undoubtedly fast but unable to adjust to the left-right opening combination, conceding nine wides in his opening two-over spell. It was possible he found the pressure of bowling in a shirt emblazoned with his father’s company too much pressure. The final delivery of his second over – his 21st ball in all – was a peach which took the top of Ant Shales’s off stump. Rollings returned later with an excellent second spell at a crucial time and beat the bat more than anyone in the good crowd could believe. To bounce back as he did showed tremendous maturity.
Wickets fell regularly as Tonbridge wobbled on 66 for 4. Matt Crump was tight and hostile, Max Barson full of bustling aggression; but the key was Jack Scriven who showed the value of accurate offspin with figures of 10-2-22-1. Although Waters was eventually sealed up enough to take to the field he had to wait to bowl and so we were never able to use our spinners in tandem as Tonbridge had done so efficiently.
Cowdrey kept one end up, getting in some strange positions but unperturbed by all the excitement around him. With Elliott (38) he took Tonbridge to 158 for 4 before Crump bowled the latter, bellowing his triumph to underline that we were back in the game. A run-out thanks to some excellent fielding from Cope, who had earlier made a very tough running catch look basic, added to the pressure on the batsmen.
When Waters did come on he was clearly not at his best but caused problems nonetheless. At 200 for 6 Tonbridge started to relax but that all changed in two deliveries. The first provided the game’s one controversial moment when the ball bounced back of Mike Burgess with Hill’s foot in the air. Hill, as was his right as he was unsure what had happened, remained, the umpires conferred and then gave the batsman out – bowled! The outcome was right even if the decision was not. The next ball was one of life’s simpler leg-before decisions and the game was back in the balance.
But Cowdrey, still content to push ones and almost playing his own game, and Snape, taking the attack to the bowling, showed calm heads and the game slipped away. With the score we posted we always felt we had to bowl Tonbridge out – and so it proved as at the end they had 17 balls in hand. The 36 extras (31 wides and five no-balls) also handed Tonbridge an extra 25 deliveries.
A large OC crowd, both young and old, enjoyed the day if not the result. Unlike the final in 2008 in which we fielded a few long-in-the-tooth players, this is a side for the next decade.
The last word should go to Ed Henderson, the OCCC club captain. “All of those of us present will have seen a courageous and skillful performance by the Cricketer Cup side which ended up unfortunately in a narrow loss. Well played to all those in the team not just yesterday but over the whole campaign which must be looked at as a great success overall. It sets us up nicely for the next few years in which we should expect to be a serious force in the competition and I’m confident that the first tournament win is not far away. The draw for next year sees us at home against Old Merchant Taylors.”