IN AN exhilarating climax to a delightful game, Southwark beat
London by three wickets to win the 62nd Church Times
Cricket Cup Final, on a hot September day in north London.
London were clear favourites to win the final, having already
beaten Southwark easily in an early-season game. Also, Southwark
had reached the final more on luck than merit. Their only victory
before the incessant rains of June and July was off the last ball
against St Albans. Southwark were first out of the hat in the
best-runner-up draw to make up numbers in the quarter-final. They
won through to the semi-final, which was also rained off. Thus they
reached the final in a calculation based on run rate.
Southwark's luck held: in the evening light at the Walker Ground
in Southgate, they won the Cup with just two balls to spare.
It was their first victory since 1975, when they had been
captained by Tom Moffatt, father of Joe, who this year captained
the London side.
The Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun,
captures the action
Credit: RICHARD WATT
The Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Revd Christopher Chessun,
captures the action
London had been in a commanding position. They reached 220 in
the first 40 overs; but they then lost their last five wickets for
only 20 more runs. Worse still, poor running between the wickets
probably cost them another 20 runs or so. Some spectators at the
game thought them over-confident; the team themselves talked of a
loss of confidence after an early run-out. Whatever the
explanation, they refused to take risky second and third runs.
Southwark had already provided a nice surprise by selecting the
first woman priest to play in a final. Not just a woman, but an
American woman. An assistant curate in the Sutton Team Ministry,
Leah Philbrick arrived in England ten years ago. As a church youth
worker, she discovered she liked the rhythm and pace of cricket,
and played in a mixed team at Ridley Hall. She was considered
accomplished enough to open Southwark's bowling and, of course, she
bowled a maiden over.
THERE were very few more of those against London. Jez Barnes,
the outstanding batsman of the last decade of Cricket Cup finals,
had scored a century against Southwark in their first meeting this
summer. At Southgate last week, ten of his first 12 scoring strokes
were boundaries, strongly driven, pulled and cut.
At lunch, then, London were on 187 for 3. Barnes and Andy
Watkins had together put on 113, and London looked set to
annihilate Southwark with a score of more than 300.
Ground-breaking: the Revd Leah Philbrick, Assistant Curate in
the Sutton Team Ministry, opened the bowling for
Southwark. She was the first woman to play in a
final
Credit: Richard Watt
Ground-breaking: the Revd Leah Philbrick, Assistant Curate in
the Sutton Team Ministry, opened the bowling for
Southwark. She was the first woman to play in a
final
Watkins was neatly caught behind the wicket by Angus Aagaard
after adding only two runs after lunch; but the turning point was
the dismissal of Barnes, who under-hit an on drive, allowing Rob
Stanier to take a fine falling catch off the bowling of Susi James.
(Not a second woman priest, but a young church worker from
Bangalore.) In his 126, Barnes hit 23 boundaries.
After Watkins was out, only one London batsman reached double
figures. As lower-order batsmen went in, they were reminded: "We
need 250," but they came back to the pavilion shortly afterwards,
having got nowhere near it. Annihilation was off the agenda: the
last three wickets fell with the score on 232.
SOUTHWARK had their own high-scoring batsman: Heston
Groenewald, a South African who had made his mark in his first game
for the diocese, hitting eight sixes in a score of 141 in the tight
game against St Albans; and 114 in an earlier match lost to London.
In the quarter-final against Exeter, he had been on course for a
third hundred, but had to retire badly hurt on 67, when he edged a
ball into his eye.
Perhaps it was that injury and its after-effects that upset
Groenewald's confidence. When he opened the batting, his timing had
clearly gone awry, and he regularly played and missed, though his
61 was Southwark's top score.
Victory: Jim Jelley punches the air at the end of his
innings
Credit: RICHARD WATT
Victory: Jim Jelley punches the air at the end of his
innings
London set attacking fields, and the bowlers were quick enough
to keep Southwark's batsmen scratching around. After 20 overs,
Southwark's had scored 66 to London's 82; after 30 overs, it was
122 to 173; and after 40 overs, 163 to 220.
But Southwark retained one significant advantage. London had
been bowled out after 46.2 of their 50 overs. After 40, Southwark
still needed 70 to win, but they had ten overs in which to score
them, and wickets in hand. To compensate for their relatively poor
scoring rate, they ran virtually every time they hit the ball.
London's fielding was not good enough to stop the score rising
steadily.
Steve Coulson had his eye in by now, and was beginning to find
the boundary, once clearing it for a crucial six. With seven
wickets down, Jim Jelley, who had earlier taken four London
wickets, stubbornly resisted his increasingly anxious
opponents.
Nine runs were needed from the last over, and, after three
balls, when the scores were already level, Southwark grasped,
somewhat to their astonishment, that they were about the win the
Cup for the first time in 37 years.
Jez Barnes acknowledges the applause for his century
Credit: RICHARD WATT
Jez Barnes acknowledges the applause for his century
A four off the next ball by Coulson confirmed the victory, and
the champagne came out of the dressing-room. London had to be
content with the Man of the Match Award, which went, to no one's
surprise, to Jez Barnes.