Appleby Frodingham reach Northern T20 Blast finals

 

Yesterday, at Lindum CC in Lincoln, our Premier Division leaders won their Group 7 Area semi-final and final to go through to the Northern Area finals of the national Vitality T20 Blast. 

 

Frodingham dispatched Spondon CC of Derby in the semi-final by seven wickets. Four wickets each for Joe Baker and Paul Hilton saw the Derby side skittled for 56 in 15 overs, before Jamar Ifill’s 24 led the Steelmen to victory by seven wickets inside ten overs. 

 

In the final, Frodingham were up against Bracebridge Heath of the Lincolnshire League. After being asked to bat first, Matt Fowler (52 off 47 balls) and Jamar Ifill (50 on 27) put on 83 for the first wicket. When Ifill was out, the innings lost a little momentum, but with Jordan Cook contributing 25, the Steelmen reached 159-4 in their 20 overs. That proved to be more than enough, with Joe Baker taking two early wickets to put Bracebridge on the back foot, Paul Hilton and Kieran Lindley weighing in with a couple each, and Cook taking three of the last five, as Frodingham completed a comfortable 50-run win. 

 

The area finals will be held at Denby CC, Derbyshire on Sunday 15 August, where Appleby Frodingham will play Cheshire PL t20 champions Alderley Edge in the semi-final (10am start). The second semi is Westhoughton CC (Bolton) against Barnard Castle CC (NY&SD); which will be followed by the two winners playing off for a place in the national final. 

 

Sadly, the Houghton Main’s run in the National Village Cup is over. Having bowled Alvanley out in the 40th over for 128 at Middlecliffe Lane yesterday, with a couple of wickets each for Michael Bates, Matty Bowering, Dylan Smyth and Callum Honeyman, the home side would have backed themselves to progress - but it was not to be. The batsmen struggled from the start against Alvanley’s accurate attack, and the fact that there were only four boundaries in the whole innings told its own story, as the visitors won by 28 runs. 

 

In the Mick Savage Trophy, there were sem-final wins yesterday for Rotherham Town over Wakefield Thornes 2nds and for Sheffield Collegiate 3rds over Norton Oakes. There was a tight finish to the game at Clifton Lane, which had been reduced to 32 overs per side. A third-wicket partnership of 75 for the third wicket between Talha Talha (53) and Dhruv Shahi (30) was the backbone of the home side’s 170-8 after they had been put in to bat. Joe Cuthbertson (53) and Kieran Donnachie (29) then put on 80 for Thornes' first wicket in reply, but after Donnachie had been run out by Wasim Rana, followed by a couple of wickets each for Irfan Mirza and Saleem Karim, plus a couple more run outs, the visitors were restricted to 165-9, and Rotherham were home by five runs. 

 

At Abbeydale, Collegiate 3rds decided to bat first, and were in some trouble at 80-6. Tom Hancock (35) and Lawrie Brennan (50 not out) then added 74 for the seventh wicket to help their side reach 179-8 in their 40 overs. A thee-wicket opening burst by Mansoor Shinwari had Norton Oakes at 22-3, and despite 28 from George Brooks and 31 from Callum Semple, they never really recovered. Tate Miller weighed in with 3-21 and the Collegiate side completed a comfortable 51-run win. 

 

The T20 Plate Group Final between Aston Hall and Notts & Arnold at Green Lane fell victim to the weather and has been rearranged for Sunday 15 August.