Quarter-Final Report

The four quarter-finals of the Beechbrook Capital Cricketer Cup resulted in some exciting matches and, surprisingly, wins for all the sides playing away from home. The easiest victory came for Old Bedfordians at Stowe. The Templars struggled to 175 all out in 49 overs, which was quite good after being 118-8. Ewan Hughes Rowlands top-scored with 40, Ben Slawinski taking 4-27 and Edward Wharton 3-41. For the second match in a row Bedford won by 10 wickets in just 20 overs - and with a completely different opening pair to the one which had chased down 226 at Sherborne. Edward Wharton completed a fine all-round match with 91 off 64 balls and Jamie Dunk 63 off 62 balls.

Old Bedfordians now host Old Cliftonians in the semi-final. Clifton last won the Cricketer Cup in 1993, their only success, and Bedford have never reached the final. At Cranleigh Clifton made 261-7 in their 50 overs - Will Naish 60 and Jonny Sadler 41, George Ealham taking 3-50. Old Cranleighans were never in charge of the run chase, but former Sussex and Warwickshire wicket-keeper Michael Burgess made 89 and was eighth out at 197. Louie Shaw took 5-22 for Clifton.

The bottom half of the draw has a more familiar feel as Old Tonbridgians and Old Millfieldians came through tough matches to face off at Tonbridge for the second year running., although last year’s contest was a quarter-final. Repton Pilgrims won the toss against Tonbridge and batted. At 217-2, with 9 overs left, they were in the box seat. Then came an astonishing collapse of 8 wickets for 9 runs in just 5 overs. Sam Hadfield took 4-29 and Kent’s Marcus O’Riordan 3-48 as Repton committed their own version of hara-kiri. Tonbridge lost two early wickets but Will Nolan 68 and Marcus O’Riordan 48 steadied the ship with a stand of 111, and then Hadfield with 33 and Bevan-Thomas with 42 not out took the beaten finalists from the last two years to the win with 7 overs to spare.

Old Millfieldians travelled to last year’s winners, Bradfield Waifs. The Waifs reached 182-1 thanks to a stand between Sheridon Gumbs 99 and Imran Malik 44, but, with 15 overs to go, failed to capitalise and only made another 92, finishing on 274-7. Millfield’s opener George Hankins made 61, but, although they were always up with the clock, wickets fell steadily at 152-3, 182-6 and 238-7. They were much indebted to Gabe Gallman-Findley’s 87 not out, along with cameos from Harry Ellison 42, Will Jenkins 36 and then Alisdair Easton 20 not out to win with nearly 2 overs to spare.

The semi-finals will be played on Sunday 27 July, and the final at Arundel on Sunday 10 August. As ever, those teams able to get out their strongest sides in the holiday season are likely to prosper

Old Bedfordians v Old Cliftonians

Old Tonbridgians v Old Millfieldians