By overwhelming demand, the club's intrepid match reporter is out of retirement for a one off instalment ...

After a resounding 253 run victory against Hook Norton in the semi final, Chearsley 2nd XI progressed to the final of the Keith Crump Memorial Trophy to face Westcott 2nd XI, a local rival who have been having an excellent season in the league. Both teams and a merry band of supporters made the 40 mile trip to the bucolic setting of Letcombe CC, at the foot of the Berkshire Downs.

On another hot summer afternoon, Westcott won the toss and elected to bowl first. Chearsley got off to a strong start, with 14 year old Dylan Biggs and James Thomson punishing the occasional bad ball and steering the score to 50 without loss off the first 10 overs. Westcott introduced two experienced bowlers into the attack, bowling a consistent line on a slow wicket, and runs immediately began to dry up. The Chearsley openers fell in quick succession, Dylan for 28 and James for 43, with the score 77-2 after 18 overs, bringing the 2nd and 3rd XI's leading run scorers in the league this season to the crease; Selestin Pappachan and Mark Claridge respectively. Both struggled to up the run rate against the nagging Westcott bowling, and runs continued to be hard to come by. Selestin was dismissed cheaply for 3, bringing another Chearsley junior, Aneesh Botcha to the crease, making just his second appearance for the club. The innings entered a 'phoney war' stage, with both batsmen seeing off Westcott's principal bowlers in anticipation of easier offerings, with the score 86-3 at the 26 over stage. A change of bowling brought a different but still challenging test and the Chearsley batsmen continued to get bogged down, and Mark was bowled for 10 to leave the score 110-4 after 32 overs. This brought Chearsley's pocket rocket, Thomas Thavoorath to the crease, with 8 overs remaining. Thomas attacked from ball 1, running aggressively and quickly finding his stride, ably supported by Aneesh, who also started to score fluently. Runs began to flow at 10 an over, as Thomas blitzed a series of 4s and a 6, until Aneesh was bowled for 29 to leave the score 166-5 with 17 balls remaining. William Munt was bowled first ball attempting a wild moo, bringing the team's other resident Chuckle brother, Rory Gillis to the crease on a hattrick ball. This was fearlessly biffed for a single to bring Thomas back on strike, who continued to find the boundary. Rory crashed two more to the fence in the penultimate over before his handy cameo (10 off 6 deliveries) came to an end with two balls to go. The innings ended with a flourish as another Chearsley 15 year old, Ansh Desai, impudently ramped the final ball over the keeper's head for four. The final 8 overs yielded 86 runs, with Thomas's devastating 48 off 31 balls spearheading the late charge of the height brigade. A real momentum shift as the team posted a daunting total of 196 off 40 overs.

Following tea, Chearsley opened the bowling with the opposite ranges of the team's age spectrum. The club's evergreen senior citizen, 72 year's young Jim Spooner was entrusted with the new ball following his 6-wicket haul in the semi final, and he struck with the final delivery of the first over, a rank full toss, served up with an apology, to bowl Westcott's experienced opener for 4. Dylan also picked up a wicket in his first over, in more conventional circumstances, dismissing the remaining opener for a duck, leaving Westcott 7-2 and bringing their captain to the crease. He was soon off the mark and looking in good nick, but a lofted drive was brilliantly caught by a full stretch Munty at mid-on to see the danger man out cheaply and the opposition 10-3. Further wickets followed quickly; another for Jim LBW, Munty snaffling another tidy catch off, partner in crime Rory taking an excellent diving catch, and a farcical run out off a free hit, leaving Westcott 27-7 and the game effectively done after just 11 overs; two wickets apiece for Dylan and Ansh, three for Jim. The opposition batted for pride, with a stoic rearguard partnership from their Nos. 8 & 9 keeping us on the field for another 15 overs before another wicket fell. Cladge finally made the breakthrough to remove the battling No. 8 and leave Westcott 8 down. With the innings continuing to drag on rather laboriously, the captain brought himself on to tempt the batsmen with a few grenades, and the final two wickets soon fell to give Chearsley victory by 105 runs.

This was a complete performance from the team on the big day - mature batting, tidy bowling and some sensational fielding. Thomas was deservedly awarded man of the match for his game changing innings. The club's U15s played a big part in the win, with Himank Tripathy (111 runs in the semi final), Dylan Biggs (28 runs, 2 wickets, 1 catch, 1 run out), Aneesh Botcha (29 runs, 4 overs going for just 2 runs) and Ansh Desai (5 not out with the bat off 2 balls, 2 wickets for 14) all making significant contributions. 

A memorable day, and with such a young team, plenty more to look forward to. [TM]

Full scorecard: https://cherwellleague.play-cricket.com/website/results/7731977