DK 51 sets up last over win
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Coleshill came back from the dead at Attleborough CC on Friday night to win a thrilling Tommy Hilditch KO Cup Final in the final over against heartbroken Ansley.
Ansley had looked to have scored more than enough at the halfway mark after an explosive innings from A Sayed of 70 not out from just 26 balls seemed to have won the game for the Nuneaton based side.
However an amazing start from Coleshill's openers saw the game turned on its head. A good sized crowd despite it being a very murky dark evening were treated to nearly 320 runs but it was Coleshill who finally were to win the trophy for the first time.
Phil Trilloe, who had won the toss for Coleshill opened the bowling, and together with Spencer Pollock kept things reasonably tight for the first nine overs by which Ansley had reached 46/1. The only wicket was Craig Maconachie caught deep at third man by DK Ranaweera for a single off Pollock.
Kevin Crotty and Lee Bird were then introduced and despite being hit for two big boundaries, Bird replied to bowl Steve Marillier for 29 at 66/2 in the 11th over. Perhaps with hindsight taking that wicket was not a good idea as Sayed strode to the wicket and immediately looked dangerous, getting off the mark with a six off Crotty.
Then a key moment came when Sayed, on only 11 at the time, misjudged a Bird delivery and a skier was eventually dropped by the unfortunate Jack Field. This mistake at the time seemed to cost Coleshill dearly as Sayed together with the steady and reliable Aaron Blackmore, who closed unbeaten on 45, proceeded to take the score from 107/2 with only three overs remaining up to 158/2 from the eighteen overs permitted.
Other fielding errors by Coleshill added to their problems in the second half of the innings during which Ansley racked up in excess of twelve an over on average.
The Coleshill dressing room had a very quiet despondent feel to it between innings but skipper Trilloe tried his best to rally the troops and something said or thought must have worked because the reply started in fantastic fashion.
Left-handers Ranaweera and Lee Craig took up the chase hitting both opening bowlers Morgan and Vernon out of the attack by the fourth over getting to 41/0. Vernon's replacement Maconachie then suffered an over to forget as he was smashed for four boundaries in an over as well as bowling several no balls plus a wide which cost 26. Then when a further 9 were taken from A Sayed's second over the Coleshill crowd were starting to believe the comeback was a reality at 85/0 from just seven overs. The required rate was dramatically down to near a run a ball but then it was time to swing back in Ansley's favour as both Ranaweera and Craig were dismissed. Ranaweera's brilliant 51 came from just 28 balls and Craig made 35(33) before both went in consecutive overs. At 100/2 from ten the game was now well balanced with two new batsmen, Darren Baker and Phil Trilloe at the crease needing almost 7.5 an over for victory.
After Neil Stringer's impressive first over which saw him remove Ranaweera and concede only one run, Trilloe managed to dispatch him for a four and six to get the rate back on track. At the other end D Sayed was producing by far the best bowling spell of the game, Coleshill finding him difficult to score from.
Trilloe's quickfire 20 from 12 came to an end when bowled by D Sayed in the 14th over before replacement Dean Tune kept the Coleshill bandwagon rolling with a couple of lusty blows off returning A Sayed (replaced Stringer), hitting 11 off 10 deliveries.
D Sayed accounted for both Trilloe and Tune however and at 139/4 there were 16 balls left to hit 20 runs.
Kevin Crotty joined Baker who had steadily scored singles only to this point but now was his turn to play the lead role. Four more came from D Sayed's final over and he finished with excellent figures of 3/22 from five.
16 needed from 12 balls and the crowd knew any result was possible. A Sayed bowled the penultimate over which saw Baker start it with his first four taking a little pressure off the Birmingham League outfit. The rest of the over was then scored at a run a ball leaving Coleshill left with seven needed from the final over.
Opening bowler Morgan returned and started with a wide which didn't help Ansley's cause before Baker then inside edged the following delivery through fine leg for four to the jubilation of Coleshill supporters. With two needed the field had to come in, and Baker then smashed the next ball through the covers for four giving Coleshill a memorable six wicket victory with four balls to spare.
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A superb match well contested by two good sides and League president, Mike Kiernan made the speeches and presentations to winning captain Phil Trilloe.
The man of the match trophy was awarded to DK Ranaweera for his 51 from 28 balls.
Martin Jenkins - 22/07/2008