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.

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Glynde & Beddingham v Streethouse

The npower village cup finalists have now been confirmed as Glynde & Beddingham from Sussex, and Streethouse from West Yorkshire. The two teams will be competing for the prestigious npower Village Cup trophy on the 14th September at Lord’s.

Spectators are invited to come and watch the two teams battle it out for what is guaranteed to be an atmospheric, highly-charged final. Ticket prices for the day are £8 for adults and £4 for concessions.

Results round-up
The npower Village Cup quarter-finals were taking place as TWC went to press and none of the remaining eight teams had been to a Lord’s final before. Folkton & Flixton, near Scarborough, were the most northern of the remaining sides and were up against West Yorkshire side Streethouse. To the west Great Eccleston were carrying the hopes of Lancastrians while Stockton were representing the Midlands. Propping up the south were Dinton in Buckinghamshire and Glynde & Beddingham in East Sussex. But in the summer when the Ashes came to Cardiff what price a Welsh winner? Two teams from Pembrokeshire, Cresselly and Miskin Manor, faced each other in the quarter-finals, so there will be at least one Welsh semi-finalist with chance of reaching Lord’s on September 14.

Water hazard
Eynsford did not make it out of their Kent group this year but their 2009 campaign will be long remembered thanks to a spectator’s fielding against Limpsfield Chart in their regional semi-final. Eynsford’s ground is bordered on one side by the small River Darent, where kids often fetch the ball from its shallow depths. Eynsford’s Paul Smythe takes up the story: “One of our regular spectators attempted to stop a ball that was rolling slowly but surely for the river. As he collected it he tripped on a stone and fell in slow motion into the river. But he appeared to hover horizontally above the water and in that time managed to throw the ball back before entering with a mighty splash. All the players and spectators collapsed laughing as our nearest fielder helped him from the water whereupon he sat down and watched the rest of the game. It will forever be known as the Del Boy moment.”

On the day the Cardiff Test was petering out to its bore draw matters were being concluded more decisively two miles north of Watford. Langleybury were playing Dinton for a place in the quarter-finals of the npower Village Cup. Lord’s, but a blurry image in April, was coming into view there too.

Langleybury, like England, were hoping to stir memories of days past, though not as far back as 1934. This was about the spirit of ’96. That was the year the club reached its only Lord’s final, losing to Caldy by six runs. Some of the members of that team could be found on this day among the 200-odd spectators.

In the 37 years of the Village Cup Langleybury have taken part 36 times and before 1996 had managed five semi-finals as well. Since then there had not been even a quarter-final. No wonder captain Lee Channer was stuck in the toilet for most of the morning.

Langleybury qualifies as a village because of its church and school. The parish has precisely one resident – the vicar – himself a former club player. But the ground is hardly hidden behind hedges in a forgotten part of the world: it lies directly off a busy A-road with the roaring M25 not far off and the railway running alongside. But do not underestimate the effect of a circle of trees with a church peeping through. This day camels were posing as cows grazing on a field nearby. They seemed almost offended by a visitor’s surprise. A circus was in town.
The match was nearly a derby, Dinton having to travel not much more than 20 miles from their home near Aylesbury. Through a string of contributions Langleybury put together a par total of 192 for 7. The cricket from both sides was altogether different compared with the early rounds of this competition – less clunk, more class. Shots were played with immaculate straight bats and bad balls were a rarity. Late cuts, reverse-sweeps, thin edges, diving attempts at one-handed catches, direct hits, wicketkeepers standing up to pace and whipping off the bails, slide-and-throw fielding, umpires in white coats: all were commonplace and signs of a striking upturn in standards.

But most of all it was the batsmen’s timing. Cover drives played with a minimum of force sailed to the boundary with fielders hardly blinking.

As tea was being taken a very tall young man who looked a handy fast bowler came into the pavilion. It was Steven Finn of Middlesex revisiting the club of his childhood after an early finish to the Championship game up in Leicester.

All know Finn here. Six years back he was playing for Langleybury in the Village Cup as a “little skinny lad”. “There’s an expectation every year because the Village [Cup] is the biggest competition that you play in,” he says as he watches Dinton ominously bide their time with a wickets-in-hand approach. “You can see that by the people here – you don’t get this on a Saturday. It’s a better crowd than we get at some of our Championship games.” As he talks, Matt Fry, a member of the ’96 team, pauses for a word as he passes along the boundary. “4th Team Player of the Year if I’m not mistaken.” “2002,” adds Finn.

The chances of Finn’s club making further progress began to look as likely as a draw at Cardiff. And while England played out dot ball after dot ball in Wales, Dinton’s young captain, Ashley Smith, was putting together an entertaining innings of control and style.

Two wickets for one run had the locals chirping but Smith maintained his cool and sealed a comfortable victory with a clip through midwicket for four that was as elegant to watch as Monty Panesar’s dive for the crease off the last ball at Cardiff was not. For Langleybury the shadow of ’96 looms large for another year.

Benj Moorehead is editorial assistant of The Wisden Cricketer

Under A perfect summer sky and surrounded by rolling Hampshire fields it is not difficult to cast one’s mind back more than 250 years to when Hambledon was the country’s premier cricket club. A quarter of a millennium later, the club’s legendary Broadhalfpenny Down ground is still used, primarily for 3rd XI fixtures but Hambledon’s main home is now the gently sloping Ridge Meadow.

Nor is it difficult to imagine the atmosphere only 20 years ago at Ridge Meadow when Hambledon won their national semi-final in front of 3,000 supporters to secure a day at Lord’s. The Hambledon legends sitting outside the pavilion, and one still playing, certainly haven’t forgotten. “We had an exceptional team that year,” remembers Mark Le Clercq, still batting at No.3. “A lot of experience and a lot of lads who had grown up together and played together for 10 or 15 years. We only played about 12 players in the whole tournament.”

Robert ‘Topsy’ Turner, the best Hambledon player in living memory, agrees and has now retired to become Hambledon’s keenest supporter. Does Topsy, now in his 60s, wish he could be out there today? “Oh yes. If my knees were all right I’d be playing,” he says matter-of-factly. So far this year, though, Hambledon have been doing just fine without him. Having beaten Easton and Martyr Worthy, the team that kicked off TWC’s Road to Lord’s, by 30 runs and then Burridge by 160, the ancient club had been Hampshire’s form side going into the regional final against Paultons.

Batting first on a slow, low track, Hambledon were initially pinned down by the visitors, for whom Chris Dunn put in a heroic nine-over spell up the hill under the scorching early afternoon sun. Captain James Scutt, who scored a century in the last round and also hit a ton in the league the day before, was run out early on and it wasn’t until Dan Hewitt reached the crease at third wicket down that the run rate began to pick up. The allrounder’s excellent running and stylish stokeplay brought him 77 not out and hauled the home side to 198 from their 40 overs.

Paultons had their work cut out and a succession of top-order batsmen fell to rash shots and run-outs. Three fearsome sixes from Andrew Collins briefly put the frighteners on Hambledon before he was dismissed by James Atkinson (4 for 34), as Hewitt took his second fine catch on the deep midwicket boundary. “If you’re going to hit it to anyone, hit it to Dan,” mused a happy Topsy Turner as he strolled into the clubhouse for another pint while the Paultons lower order scrabbled to 117 all out.

From here on in, Hambledon are hopeful of a cup run like 1989. “As soon as you can get out of the county round then the momentum takes over,” says Le Clercq. “People want to play and we’ll get a lot more people following, a lot bigger crowds.” And if the Hampshire side are to repeat the achievement of 1989, it will, of course, be under Topsy Turner’s watchful gaze. “Oh yes. I’ll be there,” he grins.

Benj Moorehead is editorial assistant of The Wisden Cricketer

Players competing in these early rounds of the npower Village Cup tend to fall into two groups. The first is for the self-mockers. “We’re glad to have got an XI together, I wonder if we’ll go past 50 today,” that sort of thing. Mention a Lord’s final and they choke on another mouthful of cake.

The second is for those who already have September 14, the date of the final, penned in their diaries. They enjoy the games as much as their self-mocking opponents. But take them aside, talk about the Village Cup, and a steely expression comes over their faces. They want to win. Not today’s game, not next week’s, but the whole damn tournament.

To this group belongs Steve Green, captain of Easton and Martyr Worthy, a few miles from Winchester. “We expect to win the Hampshire section,” he says. “We believe we can beat anybody.” Steve has the Village Cup in his blood – he grew up watching his father play in the competition. But there is more to it than that.

Three years ago Easton were a win away from Lord’s. Timsbury were their semi-final opponents at the pretty David Roth ground, Easton’s home. Around 500 supporters turned up, so many that the boundary ropes were pulled in to create space.

“I told them to go out there and hit the ball,” Steve says, recalling how Easton were chasing 166 for victory. “But they got nervous, perhaps thinking of Lord’s, and dug themselves into a hole.” After a reasonable start Easton collapsed. Steve was run out. These are the images flashing through his mind as he recalls the day. There was more frustration last year when chasing 171 against Valley End, the eventual champions. Again Easton began well, again they collapsed, again Steve was run out. There is reason for that steely expression then.

Last month Easton went down to the south coast where they made light work of Curdridge in Round 2. It was Steve himself who took the attack to Curdridge, belting the ball with a ferocity that had the fielders fishing in the hedges. He eventually fell to a catch at long-on two runs short of his hundred. “I lost count,” he says. “I thought I might have needed a six.” Steve was bubbling with frustration as he trudged off, but Easton’s 204 for 8 was too much for their opponents.

The Curdridge players were not disheartened. After all, this was just a bit of fun. Had they ever made it close to a Lord’s final? The very suggestion made them chuckle.

Benj Moorehead is editorial assistant of The Wisden Cricketer

Curdridge v Easton & Martyr Worthy, Round 2, Sunday May 3 2009

Easton 204–8 beat Curdridge 163-9 by 41 runs

Hundreds don’t come around too often in 40-over cricket. Last year there were 33 of them from more than 500 matches in the npower Village Cup. When you come in number five there’s even less of a chance. All of which made Steve Green’s match-winning 98 on Sunday the more frustrating.

Green is captain of Easton and Martyr Worthy, who had made the trip south to Curdridge’s tree-lined ground which lies within a few miles of Southampton. It was round two of the cup’s regional phase on another pretty Hampshire ground with a slope so steep you could call it a hill. One man duly appeared with his dog while a grandfather took a wide-eyed boy slowly around the ground. Those who stood still were soon warming their hands, unless you were the one sleeping under blankets on the bench.

Curdridge’s chirpy New Zealander, Paul Martin, had nipped the ball around on his way to 2-16 from his nine allotted overs to have Easton in trouble at the halfway stage of their innings. Enter Green, who was coming off a 96 the previous day in a friendly match.

Slip cordons aren’t too common in the Village Cup, but had Curdridge employed one they might have had Green well before he took his side to a total above 200. At the other end was Andy Birch, and he was the anchor as the pair added 125 at better than a run a ball.

The onslaught came from Green, whose heavy build brings power to his strokes. Balls pitched up were sent into the small pavilion on the leg side and when the Curdridge bowlers then dropped short Green would swivel on his legs and heave the ball for four. Balls got lost in hedges. He was closing in, and his team-mates knew it.

“They were shouting at me, telling me how many I needed,” said Green. “But I lost count. I thought I might have needed a six.” Clearly he did, for he launched another ball to deep mid-off, where the sort of catch was taken that is often spilled at this level. Green left the field frothing. “I think I haven’t scored a century for five or six years,” he said.

Still, it was more than enough to beat Curdrige, who first played in the Village Cup in 1969 but hadn’t made an appearance for a good few years. Despite an encouraging start the Curdridge batting order was overcome by Matt Bolland, whose height puts batsmen on the back foot and thus susceptible to a full length. Bolland has now taken eight wickets in two cup matches.

Curdridge have never gone beyond the regional phase and are several rungs below Easton in the pyramid structure of clubs. It is difficult to attract young players, according to the captain Mark Emms. “My son played a couple of games last year. Then he got his first BMX and now I can’t tempt him away. It’s very hard to get young players to play. Very few want to commit themselves for a whole day on a Sunday. They tend to play a bit at school and then they drift away. We tried to set up a colts section through our local school but it didn’t happen.”

But if young support is dwindling, there is loyalty elsewhere. Mike Gibson is 68, and has been at Curdridge for thirty years, playing up until three years ago. “Somebody asked me to play for Curdridge and I said as long as I can just bring the bag and just play cricket I will come,” he says. “I’ve done practically everything for the club since, including being chairman at one time. Now I’m just a supporter and a drinker.”

Benj Moorehead

TWC will report on Easton’s next match and follow the winners of that and each subsequent game through to the Lord’s final

Easton & Martyr Worthy v Bramley, Round 1, Sunday 19 April 2009

Easton (165) beat Bramley (83) by 82 runs

Only six of the 300-odd clubs making up the 2009 npower Village Cup were obliged to take part in round one last month. Two such clubs were Easton & Martyr Worthy and Bramley, both of Hampshire. The two might have thought themselves unlucky given that the vast majority of sides had received a bye to round two. But on a warm and sunny spring Sunday, it was those still stuck in the nets who must have felt cheated of an opportunity.

Easton is a village of thatched roofs just north of Winchester with a beautiful cricket ground shaped like a bowl. Shots square of the wicket rarely make it up the slope and over the rope. Better to play straight or nudge down towards the tree that stands inside the fine leg boundary. Two sleepy sheep and a chorus of birds twittering in the trees made up the spectators. “What more could you ask for?” wondered Andy Stead, Bramley’s captain.

His side, undeniably, were the underdogs. Bramley is just 16 years old and has never passed round two of the cup. “Just to get an eleven together is a good thing,” says Nigel Alderman, who has been at the club since it came into being. “Last year we only played four games because of the weather. That makes it hard to recruit the players. This year we’ve cut the hedge at Bramley just so people realise there is a cricket pitch there.”

Alderman is one of the older members of a Bramley side with an age-range of 15 to 55. Among their number is Martin Turner, who answered an ad in the local paper to play for the team. This is his first match in 23 years. Easton are a different sort of club. They have a sponsor, a youth system and unlike Bramley, they play regular league cricket on Saturdays. What’s more, they came within a whisker of Lord’s in a semi-final on this ground three years ago, a day when so many came to watch that the boundary rope had to be pulled in to fit them all.

Bramley did well to bowl their opponents out for 165 after Easton had won the toss. David Birch, the opening batsmen, scored a skillful fifty but Bramley were able to contain the run-rate, largely thanks to the loopy offspin of Stead, who took 4 for 21 bowling off a Chris Gayle-style shuffle.

“Getable” was the word as cakes and sandwiches appeared in the hutch but sadly for Bramley, it was not to be and they were blown away by the pace of the Easton attack. Turner, enjoying his first cricket in over two decades, prodded away in his own particular manner before he was last out with Bramley over 80 runs short of victory.

Easton’s Steve Green, who grew up watching his father play in the Village Cup, was beaming. “You can’t beat the spirit of this competition. It’s the best cricket I’ve played. Especially the latter stages, with the travelling and mini-bus, the excitement and the tension of the games. We’re thinking ‘wow, it’s only so and so games until we play at Lord’s!’”

That dream is still eight games and four months away from being realised. The smiles on the Bramley faces showed, however, that it’s not always the winning that counts.

Benj Moorehead is editorial assistant of The Wisden Cricketer