npower Village Cup final, Lord’s, September 14 2009

Glynde and Beddingham (207-9) beat Streethouse (201) by six runs

It was the victory of south over north but in the end it was a Yorkshireman who won the 2009 npower Village Cup for Glynde and Beddingham Cricket Club. Under attack from two Streethouse batsmen who were evidently in the zone, Mark Beddis, the one Glynde player not heralding from Sussex, took both wickets in the penultimate over of the match and with them the Village Cup.

That the match would be tight at all seemed unlikely after Glynde had passed 200 in their 40 overs. Streethouse – from west Yorkshire – started well with the priceless wicket of Dominic Shepheard but his tall partner Joe Adams refused to budge. Callum Smith came and went quickly but managed to score a succesion of boundaries through a ring of close fielders. Adams, omniously quiet in the early overs, started striking the ball cleanly and breezed past a fifty off 68 balls.

The 100 was up in the 22nd over and Glynde were looking at a healthy total well above 200. But Streethouse captain Richard Vigars came on to take two wickets, the second of which was Adams, bowled when swishing to leg. A run-rate which was threatening to creep above five an over began to descend.

Then came a curious little innings by Glynde’s Dominic Harris, a man whose diminutive size is as striking as Adam’s towering stature. He needed two escapes, the first in the 32nd over when he was dropped at deep mid-on; then when Harris was given out stumped on 15 only for the square-leg umpire to reverse his decision after consultation with his colleague. Apparently the Streethouse wicketkeeper had not broken the wicket cleanly.

It proved critical. Harris went on to a quickfire 41 which brought the total above 200. Of note was an outstanding single spell of spin from Jonathan Hughes, who finished with 3-33. The Glynde innings played out to much amusement – the birthday boy Dale Tranter was happy-birthdayed all the way to the crease by the Glynde fans only to be happy-birthdayed all the way back to the pavilion by the Streethouse supporters after a first-ball duck.

The Streethouse innings seemed always on the verge of collapse despite Callum Geldart’s fluent 34. Tumbling wickets, helped by Shepheard’s excellent spell of medium pace, meant a long period of rebuilding. Only opener Paul Langley stood firm.

At 98-5 after 22.1 overs out walked Vigars, the man who had steered his side to the final with five wickets and a tail-guiding 30 as the Yorkshire team won by a single wicket. Vigars was needed to perform a similar role again at Lord’s today.

For a while it seemed a lost cause: boundaries were scarce and quick-run singles were as much as Streethouse could manage. Then came over number 31. Langley hit a six and everything changed. Ollie Bailey, who until then had bowled a very tidy spell of legspin, was hit for three more sixes in the next over as Vigars freed his harms. He was at it again in the next over, and Langley reached his fifty off 81 balls, a foundation if ever there was one. But, decided Beddis, a foundation to nothing.

Benj Moorehead is editorial assistant of The Wisden Cricketer