U13s Win BYCL Cup

Sunday 15th June Finch U13's travelled to Boyne Hill CC to compete in the semi-finals of the BYCL Cup. The draw was done at 10am and Finch were to play old rivals Slough on the second ground and Falkland would play Cookham Dean on the main ground. Finch batted first and found the going difficult against an expected disciplined attack, with long boundaries and outfield to match. None of the batters really got going and posted a modest 89 off their 20 overs. Slough were in confident mood but some very tight bowlling from Max Snaddon, Dan Marles, Dan Skinner and Sam Gomarsall kept the pressure on the Slough batters. Two wickets in one over caused the Slough ship to rock and the Finch bowlers kept applying the pressure as the run rate started to increase. With a few batters trying to accelerate, wickets fell at regular intervals and eventually the 20 overs were bowled with Slough falling 8 runs short. Having been second to Slough on a number of occasions, this was a well deserved victory for the boys. We were now in the final and our opponents would be Falkland. Finch lost the toss and were inserted as Falkland had successfully chased down their opponents semi final total. However, the Finch batsmen now opened their arms and took toll of some less disciplined bowling and fielding with Dan Lincoln, Dan Marles, Tom Potter, Jack McClean all hitting the boundary with regularity. They also pushed the ones and twos to keep the scoreboard moving and Sam and Darrius finished off the overs with a flurry of shots. Falkland now had to chase a massive 151 for victory. Again the Finch bowling was tight but Falkland put up a real fight to try and reach the target. With sharp fielding and good field settings, those important boundaries for Falkland just would not come and Finch in the end were the deserved winners. All the teams were a credit to their clubs, producing some fine cricket and played in 'The Spirit of Cricket'. It was therefore fitting that Finch not only received the BYCL Cup but also an MCC Spirit of Cricket trophy for winning which they will now keep. Finch now go forward to the regional finals in July and if successful, will then go on to the national rounds played at Rutland in August.