TWENTY/20: Evison excellent as Bourne bullies power into another final, Shifran stars for Nassington

The 45-run winning margin in the semi-final didn’t do the competition holders justice. A true pitch, a fast outfield, a short boundary on one side, a pink ball offering no lateral movement and wayward Ramsey bowling played right into the hands of a team who have just one gear in this form of cricket - fifth.

Bourne flayed an astonishing 55 from the opening three overs thanks to a boundary blitz from Jack Berry (41 from 14 balls) and never took their foot off the gas even when they were losing wickets.

Bourne, who are currently third in the Lincs Premier Division, are a team of powerfully built men who enjoy nothing more than flexing their muscles. Respite for Ramsey from taking key wickets like Pete Morgan and Carl Wilson cheaply was brief as Sam Evison merrily made his way to an unbeaten 89 to enable Bourne to post a formidable 20-over total of 207-9.

Remarkably amid the carnage, Taylor West returned outstanding figures of 5-18 from just four overs to just about give Ramsey a glimmer of hope.

Sadly that light was dimmed after one ball of Ramsey’s reply when skipper Michael Cafferkey edged James Keywood to wicket-keeper Quewin O’Connor and turned off completely when Taylor West nicked the first ball of the second over bowled by Colin Cheer.

To their credit the Cambs League side kept hitting out with middle order men James Markland (36), Ryan Smith (33) and Isaac Love (30) all scoring freely, but they were always second favourites and eventually lost their final wicket in the final over with their score on 162.

Cheer claimed two early wickets, but Evison (3-21) also claimed the Bourne bowling honours by burgling three late wickets.

Peterborough Town host Wisbech in the second semi-final at Bretton Gate next Wednesday (June 21), hoping to set up a repeat of the 2016 final.

Scorecard

Bourne

P. Morgan c Markland b M. Cafferkey 14

J. Berry b West 41

S. Evison not out 89

C. Wilson c Markland b Love 1

Q. O’Connor b Smith 9

R. Bentley st Markland b Smith 16

T. Dixon b West 22

J. Keywood lbw West 1

A. Binns c E, Cafferkey b West 1

J. Temple b West 0

C. Cheer not out 0

Extras 11

TOTAL (9 wkts) 207

Bowling; K. Ikhlaq 4-0-56-0; M. Edwards 2-0-28-0; M. Cafferkey 3-0-38-0; T. West 4-0-18-5; I. Love 3-0-39-1; R. Smith 4-0-28-1.

Ramsey

M. Cafferkey c Wilson b Keywood 0

T. West c O’Connor b Cheer 2

J. Cafferkey c Bentley b Cheer 16

R. Smith c Dixon b Berry 33

I. Love b Binns 30

J. Markland run out 36

E. Cafferkey b Dixon 1

O. Stevens b Evison 16

K. Ikhlaq c and b Evison 17

M. Edwards not out 6

C. Parkins c O’Connor b Evison 1

Extras 5

TOTAL 162

Bowling: J. Keywood 3-0-27-1; C. Cheer 3-0-26-2; J. Berry 4-0-34-1; T. Dixon 4-0-31-1; A. Binns 3-0-24-1; S. Evison 3.2-0-21-3.

Bourne won by 45 runs

NASSINGTON set up a Stamford KO Shield semi-final against Bourne next Monday (June 19) with a 25-run win over Castor at Port Lane last night.

Shifran was the all-round Nassington star following an innings of 33 not out with a bowling spell of 4-9.

Scores: Nassington 115-4 (D. Robinson 35, Shifran 33no, R. Evans 2-19) beat Castor 90 (M. Wheat 26, Shifran 4-9, A. Morris 2-4, H. Craig 2-31).