This is the match report I’ve wanted to write for years and now finally I can!

The semi final win against Upminster meant we faced Shenfield in the final, who had comfortably dispatched Wanstead in the morning SF. We made one change to our XI with Ollie Foot coming in as we felt spin was key in the third game of the day on that pitch.

For the same reason, we won the toss and elected to bat this time. Unfortunately, we lost 2 early wickets to their Essex 2nd XI opening bowler, but once again, this did not deter Max as he took apart Shenfield’s attack. Austin also looked in good form before falling for 17. Unfortunately, our middle order did not fire, as we fell to 75-6 off 9 overs with Max going for an incredible 49 off just 20 balls. With Max gone, we had to regroup and Ben Foster led that, grafting hard for his 25 runs which would prove key. Ollie Foot provided some final over fireworks, including a big 6 over long off as we were all out off the last ball for 137.

Having seen all the ball striking on display, 137 looked under par but the lads went out with determination that they could do it, especially with some early wickets.
And early wickets is what we got with Austin (2-16) and Fisky (2-13) removing their best three players for low scores. Banno (3-32) also took an early wicket as Shenfield were 54-5 at the halfway stage. Although, their No.4 still looked solid, he found a partner to stick around with him and they quickly added 40 runs in just 4 overs. Just as the game was tilting back in Shenfield’s favour, James Frans (2-13) came on and took 2 quick wickets including the set No.4 batsman. Ollie Foot (1-25) also took a well-deserved wicket brilliantly caught by Alex Banhidai. We were massively in the driving seat at this point. However, Shenfield’s last remaining batter made us a little nervous and he struck Banno for 6 with Shenfield needing 31 off 23 balls. Thankfully, he struck the next ball straight to James Frans at deep square leg who took it well, effectively securing us the trophy. Banno clean bowled the final batter two balls later to win BSCC the final by 31 runs!

It was a truly incredible performance from the lads in both games. Austin did a phenomenal job skippering the side and was well supported by the other senior players. We fielded absolutely incredibly in both games, taking pretty much every opportunity, catch and stumping we had. All the bowlers bowled very well and with good discipline. We had some handy contributions with the bat too but it is fair to say, Max was player of the day scoring a ridiculous 149 runs off 65 balls across the SF and Final!

The lads really deserved this win and were excellent throughout the competition with the group stage consisting of: the comeback tie against Harlow; the incredible 230 chase against Saffron Walden, and the thrashing of Colchester. A very convincing Quarter Final win away to Chingford followed before the superb Finals Day performances yesterday.

BSCC lads dominated the top 10 individual player stats for the competition, with Max being top run scorer and Fisky top wicket taker!
Top Run Scorers in the U19 Competition:
1st: Max Sanderson: 328 runs @ 65.6 220 SR
7th: Henry Hawkins: 139 runs @ 46.3 135 SR
10th: Austin Osborne: 131 runs @ 65 124 SR

Top Wicket Takers in the U19 Competition:
1st: Matt Fisk: 15 wickets @ 6.5 5.1 Econ
10th: Austin Osborne 7 wickets @ 13 5.6 Econ

It was a proud moment for me having coached a lot of these lads for 10 years now. They’re a super talented group who deserved success and I’m thrilled it finally came in such a big competition!

The future is bright for BSCC!