Metro V Warwickshire Bears, BBS Primary Club KO Cup Final

Saturday 30th August 2008

Report by David Gavrilovic

Following the disappointment of a complete washout at Lords, Metro and Warwickshire met again at Shenley CC for the first ever cup final re-arrangement.

A gorgeous sunny day at the beautiful ground in Shenley greeted the sides, both of which featured several changes from the players who were set to take the field three weeks earlier at Lords.

Metro had a terrific start that must have made Warwickshire captain Nathan Foy wonder if he was wrong to put Metro in to bat. Rory Field and Matt Dean brought the score to 90/0 in the 14th over before both batsman were dismissed within an over of each other, both for 34.

Warwickshire’s B1 bowlers then brought about a mid-innings collapse. Firstly Adam Benjamin fell to an excellent Aiden Reilly catch off the bowling of Nathan Foy, before Tim Guttridge hit his own wicket for 22 to hand Gav Griffiths his second wicket. Nathan Foy then dismissed Jagdisch Pata meaning three wickets had fallen for just one run.

This left Metro on 123/5 and the scoring rate rapidly dropped before Gavin Dean and Mark Bond fought back and took control for a magnificent partnership of 72 that brought their side up to the third highest cup final score ever of 195/5. Dean ended up 49 not out with Bond finishing 15 not out.

Warwickshire’s reply started disasterously with Rory Field bowling Roy Turnham for 0 and Heindrich Swanepoel bowling Nathan Foy for 2 to leave the Bears on 6/2.

The game then became a family affair, Paul Powers and his son Andy smashed the first ever century partnership in a cup final, before their stand of 108 was finally ended when Paul was brilliantly caught by his other son Dave for 56.

Andy followed his dad back to the pavilion soon after for 47 to leave the Bears wobbling on 131/4.

After Gav Griffiths was run out for 6 and Luke Sugg fell for 23 caught by Matt Dean off his brother Gavin’s bowling Warwickshire were in trouble at 155/6 with overs fast running out. A Brilliant 2-7 from Heindrich Swanepoel’s 6 overs played a big part in keeping Metro in the game before wickets began to fall. Mark Turnham became Amit Amin’s second wicket with the score on 160 before Aiden Reilly bashed a quick 12 to give his side an outside chance before he was run out in the penultimate over which was bowled brilliantly by Amit Amin only conceding 2 runs. This left the Bears requiring 19 runs to win from the final over bowled by Tim Guttridge.

A succession of no balls, wides and some over throws suddenly meant with Alan Humphries on strike Warwickshire needed 2 runs to win or 1 to tie from the final ball of the match. Humphries came forward to a leg side delivery but could only steer the ball into the safe hands of Heindrich Swanepoel who held the catch to hand the Londoners yet another cup triumph this time by a single run.

This amazing final was only possible thanks to the fantastic support of the Primary Club and our thanks of course go to them as well as to the ECB, Shenley CC and the MCC.

Man of the Match Winners:

Totally Blind: Amit Amin

Partially Sighted: Gavin Dean