West's Herts are broken as we win thriller

Cricket can sometimes be a slow-moving sport, with passages of play during which not much, if anything, seems to happen. But sometimes it has the ability to create the most dramatic endings, and this classic final was one such occasion.

The first task for skipper Alec Chappell was to win the toss and bowl, which he successfully accomplished. Off the back of a close semi final, our boys were tired but we have a line up that's made for chasing rather than defending a score and bowling first was important. Chappell and Will Price took the new ball, and both bowled tidy spells to West Herts' conservative opening pair. Chappell made the breakthrough; Raja chipping to Joe Hawkins at mid on for 0, while Will's efforts got the rewards they deserved when Vyas gave him a straightforward return catch. In between those wickets, Alex Portas trapped Ivory plumb in front and our opponents slumped to 27-3 in the sixth over.

However, the efforts of the previous game seemed to catch up with us for half an hour, and some sloppy bowling and fielding saw West Herts accelerate to 80-3 six overs later. With our bowling options running out, we needed inspiration from somewhere and it came in the form of a quite brilliant piece of fielding from Coby Miles. Sprinting to his left to save four runs from Ranabahu's leg side clip, he not only stopped the boundary with a sprawling dive but then fired a rocket throw straight into the waiting hands of Alex Portas and he smartly removed the bails. It was a piece of fielding that would not have been out of place in the club's first XI, and it inspired the rest of the side to raise their game for the final few overs. Adam Bassingthwaighte's excellent afternoon behind the stumps saw him complete another run out, picking up brilliantly to run out Shah from Charlie Peace's fine throw, before combining with Joe Burslem's tantalising slow left arm spin to pick up a pair of good stumpings.

Burslem rewarded the trust of his captain by bowling three overs, including the final one of the innings, and taking 4-16, one of the wickets owing much to a great tumbling catch by Joe Hawkins at mid off.

West Herts' final wicket fell to a run out from the innings' final ball, and their score of 123 felt like par on a big outfield.

As our reply unfolded, it suddenly felt like electing to bowl first might not have been such a good idea after all. Adam Bassingthwaighte was unable to continue his fluent form from earlier, chipping tamely to short extra cover for 1, before Matt Pike and Alex Portas got their wires crossed and Portas was run out for 7. Pike tried to make amends with some bold hitting, but chanced his arm once too often and was caught from a skier for 27. When Joe Hawkins fell for 10, palpably LBW to a ball that stayed low, we were 61-4 and had used up over half our overs.

West Herts' bowling attack lacked the pace of ours, but off spinner Pickard was turning the ball considerably and all the bounce and pace had disappeared from the track. It needed something special if we were to get back into the game and fortunately skipper Alec Chappell was the man for the job. With Joe Burslem at the other end, we began to chip way at the total. This pair had batted beautifully together to win an U16 game in Billericay a few weeks ago, and they again demonstrated their ability to run aggressively and find gaps in the field. When Joe fell for 14 in the sixteenth over, the pair had put on 30 at a run a ball and we were still in the game. Coby Miles came next, with 24 needed from the final three overs, and with our two fastest runners between the wickets together we put West Herts' fielders under pressure. After hitting a clever improvised boundary, Coby departed, but by now Alec was timing the ball well and finding the boundary with sufficient regularity to keep us in the hunt.

To have Will Price coming in as low as eight is testimony to our depth, and in the nineteenth over he stroked a vital three that brought Alec on strike to hit a crucial boundary. That left us needing 10 to win from the final over; the type of target that our coaches regularly set the boys in practice but that is not quite so easy in a cup final before a large crowd.

With Will on strike, Alec called for a suicidal single that saw Will run out for 4 but got Alec back on strike. With Sam Gardner for company, Alec hit a four and two from the next two deliveries, leaving four to win from three balls. The odds seemed to have swung in our favour again, but Ahuja's next two deliveries were hit to fielders and it all came down to the final ball. Unlike in first class T20 cricket, there are no fielding restrictions in our game, and understandably the West Herts skipper sent his men to the boundary. The final ball was full and straight but Alec hit it hard towards the deep midwicket boundary, just to the left of one of the fielding side. It looked like our efforts would be in vain but unfortunately for the young lad he mistimed his attempted stop and the ball squeezed past him and over the rope. With the scores level, we had won by virtue of losing fewer wickets.

It was a cruel but exhilarating way to win any game of cricket, but particularly a final. For the West Herts side who had battled so hard and come so close it must have been horrible to see a teammate make such a critical error, but that's cricket. From our point of view, to win two close, hard fought matches in a single day was a terrific achievement. Every single one of the 12 boys who played on the day contributed, and the spirit and behaviour was immaculate throughout. Both matches were played in a sporting manner and credit must go to our opponents who each took their narrow defeats gracefully.

For our boys, this was a rich reward for the efforts they have put in over the last few seasons. While an influx of talented players in the past two seasons has seen us improve significantly, six of the boys in the side have been playing under my management since the age of 7, and they, like the newer boys, did themselves proud today.

Well done to all the U14s this season. You deserve your success.