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Scorecard
|
Stockport |
|
|
|
Cheltenham |
|
|
|
A Mankad |
Not Out |
83 |
|
J Goode |
Run Out |
48 |
|
T Hodson |
LBW Rutter |
3 |
|
R Mudway |
c. Hodson b.Walker |
7 |
|
N O’Brien |
c. Coley b. Brown |
18 |
|
M Adams |
c&b O’Brien |
20 |
|
N Barlow |
b. Finch |
39 |
|
C Smith |
b. Greenop |
8 |
|
H Walker |
b. Rutter |
1 |
|
N Furley |
b. Lennie |
22 |
|
J Speak |
Not Out |
13 |
|
M Finch |
b. O’Brien |
5 |
|
P Speak |
DNB |
|
|
D Brown |
st. Hodson b. Mankad |
19 |
|
A Brown |
DNB |
|
|
C Coley |
Not Out |
21 |
|
R Bunting |
DNB |
|
|
D Locke |
Not Out |
21 |
|
G Greenop |
DNB |
|
|
C Dredge |
DNB |
|
|
M Lennie |
DNB |
|
|
R Rutter |
DNB |
|
|
|
Extras |
12 |
|
|
Extras |
14 |
|
|
Total for 4 wickets |
169 |
|
|
Total for 7 wickets |
172 |
|
Bowling |
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|
|
Bowling |
|
|
|
Rutter |
8-2-32-2 |
|
|
Walker |
8-1-24-1 |
|
|
Dredge |
8-4-15-0 |
|
|
Lennie |
8-1-18-1 |
|
|
Brown |
8-0-34-1 |
|
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Brown |
8-0-19-0 |
|
|
Locke |
8-3-18-0 |
|
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Bunting |
6-0-36-0 |
|
|
Adams |
5-0-40-0 |
|
|
O’Brien |
8-0-25-2 |
|
|
Finch |
8-1-18-1 |
|
|
Greenop |
3-1-13-1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mankad |
4-0-23-1 |
|
Reports
Last Ball 6 Gives Cheltenham Victory
Storybook end to lord’s cup final
To win, they wanted four off the last ball, and David Locke hit a six. Beat that for a finish – and at Lord’s too. As the man said afterwards in the beery blur of one of the world’s most famous taverns, if the story had been written before the event, nobody would have believed it.
And if Locke never has a finer memory than the £150 six he hit to win the National Knock Out for Cheltenham, he should still die a happy man.
It really was an incredible ending to an occasion which will never be forgotten by anybody who was there – from Cheltenham and Stockport alike.
To think that after seven matches each, everything depended on the last ball. The bowler was Ross Bunting, left arm medium over the wicket, and the batsman on whose shoulders it all rested, was David Locke.
During the period of crescendo which had built up during the preceding overs, Locke had swung his bat often, without getting hold of the ball properly.
Bunting, it transpired afterwards, decided that the best way to stop a boundary would be to aim a yorker at the leg stump.
But it flew high out of his hand, and the crack of Locke’s bat was heard all over St John’s Wood. Then he flung the bat almost as high as the ball had risen, before the other batsman, Chris Coley, landed on top of him.
Joy – And Tears
The players’ wives, some of them, had nothing to offer but tears as the situation developed. And when the match was won, normally sober men bounded towards the wicket, joy in every bounce.
Locke, his face a sloppy grin, walked off with Coley’s arm around him. Skipper David (“It’s the proudest day of my life”) Brown was the first to reach him on the way back.
It was a stupendous achievement on Cheltenham’s part. During the six hours’ combat they had seen the game swing towards them, away from them, back their way and, during the latter part, away from them again.
While they were fielding, Ashok Mankad defied them. Scoring extremely slowly at first, he steadily built up and then cut loose and finished with 83 of Stockport’s 169 for four.
Halfway through their 45 overs, Stockport had only 54, and Cheltenham held sway.
Adams Unlucky
Colin Dredge, giving away only 15 runs in his eight overs, and Rick Rutter, whose first spell was tidy, had done their jobs well.
The unlucky bowler was Maurice Adams. He is not as quick as Dredge, Rutter and Malcolm Finch and his bowling, though accurate enough, brought a stack of runs for Ashok, most of them square on the off-side.
David Brown and David Locke, the two spinners, were deviously effective. A dangerously high proportion of full tosses by Locke went unpunished.
And Brown, though not inexpensive, got the vital wicket of Neil O’Brien, a firm striker of the ball. O’Brien was looking well settled when he flashed at a short one and was caught behind by Coley.
The score then was 38 after 17 overs and Stockport were just beginning to pull themselves out of their becalmed state. Though their run rate increased, they had nobody else who threatened the power hinted at by O’Brien.
Shrewdly, Brown had kept back Finch, who was brought on to stem the flow at a time when Stockport needed to keep it going. He responded to such an extent that he not only conceded a mere 18 runs, but he ended the partnership between Ashok and Nowell Barlow.
Barlow, not regarded as a major batsman by Stockport, belied their cautious opinion of him, and Cheltenham must have been very glad to see him go after his stand of 97 with Ashok.
Those Quick Singles
Thereafter, it had to be quick runs, and the last 11 overs produced 70 runs which, it seemed at the time, gave Stockport the edge.
Right from the start of their innings, Cheltenham did what Stockport had not done; they went for the nigh-impossible singles and their gamble paid off – in the end.
At times, though, they paid for it. Maurice Adams, in a typically harum-scarum knock, had five run-out appeals against him and two of them were painfully close.
He went just as he was beginning to middle the ball. He drove one hard back down the wicket and O’Brien held one of those reflex catches that bowlers do.
Selby Mudway had been first to go, stepping out to drive and getting an edge in the sixth over. But John Goode, the only batsman to look entirely at ease, motored steadily on.
Smith Unhappy
He gathered 48 before being run out on his own call, and Colin Smith, ill at ease against leg-spinner Geoff Greenop, and Malcolm Finch, playing one over from O’Brien, were not there long.
Noel Furley helped it along with two swept fours off Greenop. The second sent up the 100 on the in the 32nd over, and left Cheltenham with 65 to score in 15 overs.
All along Cheltenham had been chasing a rate of between four and five an over, and when Furley was bowled by Murray Lennie, their handy stand left 29 to be scored off six overs.
It was either side’s game. Stockport had dropped two down-the-throat catches and had given away runs in the field. But their first-line bowlers were still available.
Brown went, stumped going down the wicket to Ashok’s off-spinners. Five overs left, 24 needed, three wickets left. Stockport’s game?
With Coley and Locke together, the runs were hit, scrambled, or begged. Four overs left, 20 needed.
The 43rd over, bowled by Lennie, brought only 2 runs. Two overs left, 13 needed. Now, Stockport must win.
Nine balls left, 11 needed, Eight balls, 10 runs. Seven, nine. Eight wanted off the last over.
The first ball brought Locke a single, and the second brought a bye. The third ball was missed. Locke took a single off the fourth, and Coley left Locke his target of four, with a single off the fifth. You know the rest.
Those Final Overs - Different Perspective
At tea, Cheltenham had scored 36 off 13 overs with Selby Mudway back in the pavilion, as reported in Saturday’s Sports Echo.
Now Derek Goddard takes up the story of those dramatic overs after tea:-
After 17 overs, Cheltenham had slipped below the required rate, but Adams set them back on the path with a lofted, straight-driven four off Bunting, to take the score to 51 by the end of the 18th.
Again Adams only just got home on a quick call from Goode, when Walker threw down the stumps from mid-on. In one over Bunting sent down three full tosses, and two of them brought fours, one to Goode, the other to Adams.
The 20th over, bowled by Adams, brought 10 runs.
On 66 for one Walker dropped Adams at mid-on, and then almost ran Adams out – the fifth near run-out. They needed 102 in 25 overs.
For the 22nd over, O’Brien replaced Bunting and had Adams caught and bowled, going for another big drive. He had made 20, and with Goode, had put on 56.
Smith was off the mark with a drive backward of square for four, off a full toss in the 24th over. So, by midway through their innings, Cheltenham had made 71 for two, compared with Stockport’s 56.
Goode drove square for two off O’Brien with a strong appeal for run out turned down by umpire Herman. Stockport obviously did not believe it. Goode, then on 39 and Cheltenham 78 for two, in the 26th over.
Smith Bowled
For the 27th over, Greenop came on to bowl leg-breaks, with two left-handers to bowl against. The last ball of his over bowled Smith, playing across it. The ball before had been full toss and Smith had not got hold of it.
Things still looked good for Cheltenham at 82 for 3, off 27 overs with 87 needed off 17 overs.
Two fours, both by Furley off Greenop kept the score moving, and the second sent the 100 up, in 31.4 overs.
Furley had a ‘life’ on 103 in the 32nd over. He mistimed a hook and it went straight to Lennie, at mid-on. He dropped it.
Ashok threw in and Goode was run out on 48 with the score at 105, in the 32nd over.
Finch Yorked
Walker came on for Greenop, and Finch started with four through O’Brien’s legs, but he soon played right over a yorker from O’Brien and was out with the score on 115, in the 34th over.
After 34 overs, 54 needed with 11 overs left. Fifty needed inn less than 10 overs, nine overs left, 46 needed.
Eight overs left, 42 needed, and Ashok brought on. Brown hit a four through cover after Bunting misfielded and eight came off the over – 34 needed off seven overs.
Lennie on again and Brown hit straight past him off the back foot, but Furley was bowled, middle stump. The wicket-keeper threw stump in the air and it landed on Furley’s head. Six overs left, 29 needed.
Brown Stumped
Brown went down the wicket to Ashok, missed and was stumped for 19 on 143 with 5.3 overs left and 27 needed. Five overs left, 24 needed, three wickets to fall.
Four overs to go. Coley and Locke there needing 20, three overs to go, 15 needed.
Only two off Lennie’s over – the 43rd – left Cheltenham wanting 13 off two overs.
One to Locke, first ball from Ashok, third one to Coley – nine balls left, 11 needed: 8 balls left, 10; seven balls left, nine. Eight needed off last over – Locke to face.
Bunting for the last over – one to Locke first ball, bye second ball, third ball missed, one to Locke fourth, leaving five needed off last two balls; one to Coley off the fifth, four needed…
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