POLICE NATIONAL KNOCKOUT FINAL 2016

 

POLICE NATIONAL KNOCKOUT FINAL 2016 WEDNESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER

THE FISCHER GROUND, GRACE ROAD, LEICESTER

DYFED-POWYS v NORTHUMBERLAND & DURHAM

 

 

 

 

A very warm and humid morning greeted both teams as they arrived for the 2016 Final at Grace Road. With the sun burning off the mist it was to become a very hot afternoon with the sun blazing down on the ground.

This was the 6th year of Sponsorship by Police Credit Union who have supported the competition since 2011 so once again many thanks to them.

Defending Champions Dyfed-Powys were now in their 10th Final since 2005 having won 8 times and been runners up on 2 occasions.

Northumbria meanwhile were making their 3nd appearance having twice been runners up in 2003 & 2004

Northumbria won the toss and had no hesitation in electing to bat first. They made a cautious start against some tidy accurate bowling by Williams and Seymour slowly accumulating runs until the 17th over when they lost Goughty for 24 to Rich Grant with the total on 51 following the introduction of the quartet of spinners.

Smith was dismissed by Rich Grant for 0 with the total on 55.

A partnership of 59 was then built by Bailey and Greg Williams before the former fell to Cole for 50 (114-3).

With overs rapidly running out Williams and Taylor tried to increase the tempo. Williams fell for 62 (4 x 4, 3 x 6) and Taylor was finally out for 39. A couple of late wickets and the innings closed on 194-7 (45 overs). Pick of the bowling was Simon Cole 7-0-3-23.

General feeling around the ground was that although a competitive total Northumbria could be 30 or so runs short and would have to bowl really well against the strong Dyfed batting line up containing 6 former British Police CC representatives.

Rich Grant was soon into his stride hitting 4 boundaries in the opening over from Orridge. 5 overs later with the score on 22 Huw Evans was bowled for 4 by Storey with a delivery that nipped away and hit the top of off stump. Grant continued to dominate dealing exclusively in boundaries. The score had reached 60 when Gary Williams (6) was bowled by Patterson.

Storey completed his opening spell with figures of 6-4-8-1 as runs began to slowly dry up as timing the ball was becoming increasingly difficult. Between overs 10-20 only 32 runs were scored with the majority in singles.

With the total on 73 in the 20th over Grant on 55 hit a high full toss from Greg Williams to square leg. There was a short delay before the umpires upheld the decision following a “debate” concerning the legality of the delivery.

Andy Williams joined Cole and took the score up to 113 before Cole (16) was bowled by Williams. Songhurst didn’t trouble the scorers when he became Williams’s 3rd victim leaving DP struggling on 114-6.

Captain Gareth Grant joined Andy Williams and began to play an innings similar to the one seen the previous year. These two added 59 in good time before Williams fell to Orridge for 44. 173-6 suddenly became 173-7 as Phillips was lbw to Orridge for 0.

This didn’t deter Grant as he hit 4 x 4 and 1 x 6 after being joined by Davies. The experienced 2 saw DP reach their target with an over to spare as Grant finished on 43*

Gareth Grant received the City of London Cup from Mick Cartlidge (PCU) whilst Greg Williams (Northumbria) was selected by the Umpires as Man of the Match for his 62 and 3-34.

This had been one of the closest fought Finals for several years and it showcased Police cricket at its best.

Thanks go to Police Credit Union for their continued support of the Competition and to Leicestershire CCC for allowing this fixture to be played on their ground.