Semi-final: Port Talbot 148-5, Bristol 149-7
Final: Penzance 168-8, Bristol 89
Bristol couldn’t progress to the quarter-finals of the ECB National Club T20 competition, but a depleted side did themselves proud and contributed to a thoroughly entertaining day’s cricket. Lacking several of the players who had helped win the regional competition, through a combination of the differing qualification rules that kicked in at this stage of the event, and lack of availability, Bristol fielded a combination of first and second team players. When the squad arrived at the beautiful (and very large) Exmouth Cricket Club ground, Penzance were in the process of completing a brutal demolition of the host club, demonstrating that they would be stiff competition for the winners of the second semi-final.
Port Talbot won the toss and elected to bat, and the first of several pieces of enterprising captaincy from Sheridan Leech saw Graeme Brown propelling his leg-breaks from the off. The tactic worked as his two overs conceded just 13 runs and he took the wicket of Rowe. Although the other opener, Thomas took 19 off Dan Jones’s second over (including a huge six that severely dented the windscreen of one of the Penzance supporters’ car), both Neal Patel and Tommy Probert , who replaced Brown and Jones, bowled tidily, and Probert dismissed Thomas for a 23-ball 38, via a catch in the deep by Fin Trenouth.
Bristol continued to take wickets at regular intervals, preventing Port Talbot from pulling away. Ash Joyner was the pick of the bowlers, finishing with 2 for 23 off his four overs. Local Devon lad Barney Huxtable top-scored for Port Talbot with 40, but it consumed 38 balls, and from 77 for 2 at the halfway mark, Port Talbot would have hoped to rack up more than their eventual 148 for 5.
Three overs into Bristol’s chase, though, they found themselves 15 for 4. Fin Trenouth had stood firm amidst the carnage, however and he now played a perfectly paced innings in the company of Leech, whose 29 off 34 balls included 23 singles – a masterclass in strike rotation. The pair took the score to 104 before a calamitous run-out brought an end to Trenouth’s innings of 62 off 48 when victory seemed assured if he could only bat to the 20th over.
With 45 needed off five overs, enter Tommy Probert, who scored 38 of those required runs himself off just 21 balls, including two enormous sixes towards the sea-front, a four, and eight scurried twos. He farmed the strike so successfully that his partners only faced nine balls between them in this time, and from 7 off 9 balls he scored off every remaining delivery he faced. He needed to, though, as the equation came down to: 39 off four, 34 off three, 23 off two, 13 required off the final over, and then one needed off the last ball. With the field all in, Probert managed to get the ball up to mid-on where the fielder obligingly mis-fielded to see Bristol through to the final.
Being spared an early start meant that Bristol had to play two games back-to-back, so 35 minutes later they were back out on the field again to face the might of the Cornish champions. Brown and Jones again opened the attack, and again there were early wickets: two of them within the first four overs, but Penzance also found the boundary eight times in this period, so although 41-2 was better than 41-0 as far as Bristol were concerned, Penzance were off to a flyer. Smith and Paull consolidated whilst almost maintaining the scoring rate and by the mid-point of the innings had taken the total to 96 with no further loss, and the Cornishmen looked on course for over 200.
But Louie Shaw and Joyner, bowling their full allotment of overs straight through in tandem, brought Bristol back into the game. Shaw dismissed Paull and Wadlan, the former thanks to a superb catch by Brown on the deep square boundary, and Joyner was again on the money, accounting for Smith Ludlam and Furnival to finish with 3 for 31. Probert and Neal Patel, the latter struggling with an ankle injury, then returned to finish off the innings, limiting Penzanze to eight-an-over off the last four. Shaw took an outstanding running catch on the mid-on boundary to dismiss Angove off Probert, just managing to stay inside the rope thanks to some fancy footwork.
168 was a challenging score to chase, but not beyond the bounds of possibility, and many fewer than had seemed likely, thanks to Bristol’s excellent bowling and fielding in the second half. They needed a hefty contribution from one of their England Under-19 batsmen, though and things did not start well, Trenouth hitting a return catch to Wadlan in the third over with just seven on the board. Louie Shaw, though, looked to pick up where Trenouth had left off in the first game, and although the asking rate continued to rise, with him still at the crease, there was hope. He progressed to 39 off 31 balls, including six fours that mixed powerful hitting with deft placement, and the total stood at 58-2 in the tenth over when he hit an easy catch to Wadlan at mid-off. So disgusted with himself was Shaw that he turned his back as soon as he had hit it, and was almost back in the pavilion before the ball had nestled in the fielder’s hands.
It was asking too much of Probert to repeat, let alone extend, his earlier heroics, particularly as wickets continued to fall regularly at the other end. He managed to produce one more of his bombs towards the English Channel, but perished in attempting another and the innings subsided from there. Bristol finished 79 short in the end, but could return up the M5 with their heads held high.