In pictures: Peterborough Town had to work hard for Jaidka Cup victory
THERE is nothing like a tense Twenty/20 match where boundaries are constantly hammered and the outcome is in doubt until the final few deliveries.
THERE is nothing like a tense Twenty/20 match where boundaries are constantly hammered and the outcome is in doubt until the final few deliveries.And, sadly, this semi-final at Bretton Gate on Wednesday evening (17 June) was nothing like that. Eventually Peterborough Town moved to within one match of ending their 11-year Jaidka Cup jinx with a 25-run win over Castor, but it was hard work for their players as well as the 50-strong crowd.
Town insist on providing boundaries so huge they are almost Gayle-proof (even Castor's muscle-bound skipper Rob Vitas struggled to reach them), while the competition organisers will surely introduce fielding restrictions next season. The combination of massive outfield and nine men on the ropes meant that only six fours and two sixes were struck all night.
See a photo gallery from the match.
Related:
Classy Khan steers Nassington into final - Nassington beat Bourne in first semi-final.
Town will certainly need to improve their batting to see off Nassington in the final next week which is not to decry the efforts of Castor's bowlers who performed outstandingly to restrict the home side to a modest 118-6 in their 20 overs.
Castor sprang a surprise by opening the bowling with Boris Johnson alongside Dan 'Dot' Cotton, although on closer inspection the blond bombshell turned out to be James Fountain.
Town mustered just 11 off the first four overs despite Castor fielding with just 10 players as openers Martin Hair and David Clarke struggled to rotate the strike.
Indeed if Castor's catching had matched the accuracy of their bowling, Town could have been in dire straits as five chances were spilled in total, four of them before Hair was the first man out for 41 of an opening stand of 60 spread over 11 and a half overs.
Hair struck a six and two fours in his knock, which looked far better at the end of the match than it had at the time, Clarke managed a solitary boundary in his innings of 20, while Town professional Imran Abbas looked classy in making 24, but found a deep-set field hard to pierce.
Town lost wickets regularly in the second half of their innings, until Basharat Hussain bashed 16 off Boris's last over to give the favourites a late boost.
For Castor Neil Wright (2-24) grabbed a prize pair of wickets in Clarke and Lewis Bruce in the same over despite employing a run-up that looked like it had been choreographed by John Sargent's dancing coach, the energetic Cotton deserved a class victim and got it in Abbas, while 17 year-old Reece Smith clearly intends to dine out on his slower-ball dismissal of Town captain Ajaz Akhtar.
At half-time an upset looked a serious proposition, but Ashley Rodgers and Jonny Wright started slowly and then fell in the same Akhtar over by skying catches to impressive wicket-keeper Chris Milner.
Lawrence Davis then proved as slow between the wickets as he had been getting to the ground, Cotton was first unsettled and then dismissed by pacy Jamie Smith and ex-Town boy Mark Wheat chipped tamely to mid-wicket.
Castor were already miles behind the required run rate and never recovered despite a late flurry by Vitas (24no) and Reece Smith, who struck his side's second boundary of the innings in the final over bowled by a by-then disinterested Akhtar.
Scorecard: Jaidka Cup 2009, second semi-final
Peterborough Town
M. Hair run out 41
D. Clarke c A. Rodgers b N. Wright 20
I. Abbas b Cotton 24
L. Bruce c K. Rodgers b N. Wright 0
A. Akhtar b Smith 1
C. Jones c Cotton b A. Rodgers 1
B. Hussain not out 18
D. Oldham not out 1
Extras 10
TOTAL (6 wkts) 118
Bowling: D. Cotton 4-0-16-1; J. Fountain 4-0-28-0; N. Wright 4-0-24-2; R. Smith 4-0-20-1; A.Rodgers 4-0-25-1.
Castor
J. Wright c Milner b Akhtar 17
A. Rodgers c Milner b Akhtar 4
L. Davis run out 4
D. Cotton c Abbas b Smith 15
M. Wheat c Smith b Bruce 2
J. Fountain c Milner b Hussain 5
R. Vitas not out 24
R. Smith not out 6
Extras 16
TOTAL (6 wkts) 93
Bowling: B. Hussain 4-0-14-1; I. Abbas 4-0-12-0; A. Akhtar 4-0-31-2; L. Bruce 4-0-18-1; J.Smith 4-0-14-1.
Peterborough Town won by 25 runs
Final: Nassington v Peterborough Town (Wednesday, 24th June, at Barnack CC).
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Friday 19 March 2010
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