Blackheath’s Sam Behn celebrates taking a wicket in a spell of 4 forr 14 against Goatacre (Picture: Philip Wilcox)
By Philip Wilcox
Blackheath had a convincing victory in the semi-final over Goatacre, winning by 127 runs to make their first-ever Cawston Press Village Cup final.
The Surrey club had never made it as far as the last four since entering the very first Village Cup in 1972 but overcame two-time champions Goatacre, from Wiltshire, to go one better and secure their day out at Lord’s.
The decisive passage of play was at the start of Goatacre’s innings, when, in pursuit of 224 for victory, Blackheath’s Oscar Gilliam unleashed a spell of fast bowling which helped reduce Goatacre to 37 for 4, with all the top order back in the pavilion. Gilliam, who finished with 3 for 23, put in a performance was itself worthy of an Oscar; his pace caused problems and he extracted bounce from the pitch.
Earlier in the day, Goatacre were pleased with their start when Jif Wilkins (3 for 43) and Ewen Kenny (1 for 26) both took early wickets and the visiting openers were gone with just 15 on the board. Rob Greenway and Pete Melhuish played carefully to rebuild the innings and got their team back into the game with a stand of 70.
With Melhuish dismissed for 27 and another wicket falling shortly afterwards, Blackheath were 92 for 4 in the 26th over.
Goatacre’s bowlers had exerted control up to this stage of the match, but from then on, Greenway (who had already played some pleasing shots) and James Fortescue batted superbly to change the complexion of the game.
Greenway struck 4 sixes, along with 8 fours as he made 77 off 85 balls. Fortescue scored an undefeated 53 off only 41 deliveries; he used his feet well to come down the pitch, negating the spin on the dry pitch in this summer of drought. The pair also ran their singles well, as they put on 73.
Even after Greenway was caught, there was a flourish to the end of Blackheath’s innings with Tom Vickers striking 20 off 11 balls and Archie Freeth whacking 22 not out off 12 deliveries. The final total of 223 for 6 was more than many would have expected at the point of Melhuish’s dismissal.
Goatacre’s batters found it tough going at the start of their innings. Gilliam was the main wicket-taker, and he had good support from Tom Vickers (1 for 27) at the other end. The key wicket was when Gilliam dismissed Goatacre’s Jitesh Aruva for in the previous two rounds Aruva had made 99 and 58.
After the opening bowlers were taken off, left-arm spinner Sam Behn bowled an excellent spell to ensure there was no middle-order recovery. Behn’s control and flight saw him pick up a wicket in each of his four overs, to finish with fine figures of 4 for 14, as Blackheath booked their place in the final.
Keith Higgins and George Marshall-James commentated live on the game for Live Sports FM.
Their review of the day can be listened to here:
