16 September 2019

The Conference Cup for the Bertie Joel Trophy - 2019 Final

Bexley CC v Cambridge CC

Blackheath CC hosted this match on Sunday 15th September, on a warm sunny late summers day.

Bexley won the toss, and elected to bat on a well prepared / good looking wicket. Opening batters Calum Basey and captain Adam Riley brought up a fine 50 run partnership in the 12th over, but 2 overs later Riley was caught behind by Michael Turner off 1st change bowler Jake Lawrence in his 2nd over, and the same combination dismissed George Haley, 1st delivery. This brought Adam Ball to the crease for a 97 run / 20 over partnership, which he dominated; 9 x 4’s in his 64 runs. Cambridge rotated their bowling to no avail, and it required the return of opening seamer Henry Campbell to dismiss Ball, then Basey (52), in his final 2 overs. However Bexley had the upper-hand, and 73 runs came off the final 10 overs, with handy contributions from Matthew Stiddard (33) and Shaun Evans (24). 

To be honest, Cambridge were never in it with their batting performance. 16 year old Jaskran Singh took a wicket in his 1st over, then the experience of Jason Benn and Adam Ball decimated the remaining Cambridge top and middle oder; 43 for 7 wickets in 16 overs. The left arm spin of Freddie Foster wrapped-up the last 3 wickets. 

No doubt Cambridge will come again in this competition, as their name (as Cambridge Granta) is on the Bertie Joel Cup itself, 4 times.  For Bexley this was sweet success following their runners-up place last year. 

For his billigerent innings and 4 wickets, Adam Ball, was awarded the 'Man-of-the-Match'.

The full scorecard for the final is here   And the match results for the complete 2019 competition can be found here