New Forest Club Cricket Association Stone Cup final: Pylewell Park beat Burley to retain the Stone Cup
Stone Cup final
Pylewell Park CC 122-6
Burley CC 79-8
FOLLOWING heavy rain last Thursday, the clouds parted, allowing Pylewell Park to beat local rivals Burley in the final of the 18-over Stone Cup.
Pylewell hosted the event after lifting the New Forest Club Cricket Association’s 18-over knock-out competition last season.
Pylewell skipper Brad Varley called correctly and elected to bat first when, despite the bright conditions early on, the light in late July would always be an issue towards the end of the evening.
He then opened with John Royan (40), who proved to be the anchor of the Pyewell innings.
Royan was joined by, amongst others, Alex Adkin (34), who hit four boundaries, including a towering six, and Jack Ferrar (19), who also hit two spectacular sixes.
H. Singh and Manjeet Grewal were the pick of the Burley bowlers, taking five of the six Pylewell wickets that fall.
Burley needed to score 6.8 runs per over to win the match and, despite the steady start provided by Kieron Hudson (12), were soon behind the required rate.
H. Singh (11) and Grewal (12) provided some desperately needed acceleration, but with the light fading, they were never really in the hunt.
Credit for that must go partly to the economy of the Pylewell bowlers, particularly Will Slade (3-9), and their focus in the field – a focus perhaps aided by the smell of a barbecue wafting across the pitch as the shadows lengthened.
The Pylewell players and their supporters enjoyed the products late into the night to celebrate a second consecutive Stone Cup win for the club.