A Tonbridge too far

The Old Tonbridgians' juggernaut rolls on. At Sir Paul Getty's ground at Wormsley in Buckinghamshire, they won their 11th Cricketer Cup final and their fourth in six years.

The Harrovian captain, Cheg Abraham, won the toss, but from then on everything went downhill. Simon Engelen hit the second and fourth balls of Hugh Moxon's opening over for boundaries, but was caught in the gully off the final delivery. Two overs later Tom Dunbar fell leg before to the same bowler. Luke de Rougemont was joined by Andrew Cox and together they added 42 runs. Abraham was next to go, driving a half-volley back to James Pyemont, and one run later the unlucky James Kostoris was trapped on the back foot by Alastair Owen-Browne, to take them to lunch in the precarious position of 104 for 5 after 37 overs.

After the resumption Cox and Robert Nelson proceeded without much alarm before Nelson was upset to be adjudged leg before hitting across the line to Owen-Browne. An unrealistic attempt at a sharp single saw the Harrovian wicket-keeper, Richard Norris, run out by some distance after his call had been rightly refused, and Cox's valuable contribution, without which the Wanderers' innings would have been considerably truncated, ended when Owen-Browne held a stinging return catch with a little under five overs remaining. Ned Nicol and Jonathan Pool merrily swung their bats in an unbroken 38-run partnership for the ninth wicket, Pool concluding proceedings with a last act of defiance, hitting Pyemont's final delivery for an enormous six over the mid-wicket boundary, but their total never looked likely to be enough in the face of the fearsome Tonbridgian batting line-up with three of the top four having first-class experience.

The Harrovians had a glimmer of hope after taking two early wickets but it soon extinguished by Chris Walsh and James Pyemont who proceeded serenely to tea taken after 25 overs at 112 for 2. Normal service was resumed following the interval, although a number of half chances went to ground and Walsh might very well have been stumped with just six runs required. Two runs short of the target Walsh needed four to become only the fifth batsman to reach a hundred in the 37 Cricketer Cup finals played to date, but to most people's surprise with some 16 overs still to be bowled he unselfishly called for two to deep extra cover and the match was won.