Fillongley Cricket Club

Fillongley 183 all out    Bretforton 173 all out

We are through to the quarter finals of the npower Village Cup after a tense 10 run win over the Cotswold Hills League leaders and champions. In two weeks time we host Quatt, who hail from Shropshire.

Batting first , Reg and Pro made a steady start, seeing off the opening bowlers and taking us to 39-0 in 11 overs. The introduction of their captain Jones led to things going wrong. He took wickets in each of his first three overs to leave us at 51-3. Waqar tried to hit us out of trouble but nicked to the keeper after making 14 off 11 balls. We needed a partnership, and it came from Azza and Tom Barber. 59 were added in quick time before Azza fell to what looked a very tight run out decision. Barbs went on to make 48 off 43 balls – ultimately a match winning innings. Runs from the tail got us to a competitive 183, though we were bowled out a couple of overs short.

Strangely the feeling amongst the opposition camp seemed to be that it was start the car time, even though 183 will win more games than lose them in this format. They soon knew they were in a game as the openers had no clue how to combat a brilliant spell from Junior. Davies kept out 20 balls for 2, but could have gone any time. Daud got him well caught at slip by Barber. The openers made 3 and 2, then Dell and Berry started to rebuild, taking the score to 71. At the end of Steves spell the big shots came. A six and a four, then both were back in the hutch within 4 balls. Reg took an excellent over the shoulder catch to get rid of Berry. With rain about Bretforton needed to stay ahead of the run rate so shots started to come. Jones tried to hit his second ball from Tom Nightingale and holed out to Daud on the boundary. With him gone and the score 86-5 at halfway we looked well placed. There was work to do though as Witts and Stanley put together their best partnership. They took the score to 40 short of the target before Stanley was tempted by the straight boundary and hit Tom Nightingale to Barber. A diving one handed catch from Waqar saw off the number 8 then another straight hit from Witts and a great catch above his head from Barber. Tom Nightingale took a fourth wicket leaving the last pair 11 short with 14 balls left, but an attempt to scramble a second run gave Reg a shy at one stump from 20 yards. Champagne moment!

Thanks to all who travelled. The support was magnificent. Thanks of course to all the players. A fantastic performance against a good team, but we were the best team on the day and the result was right. Apologies for not getting the report up earlier but for most of the day my liver has been recovering.