Sarisbury At Lord's
By Ray Hammond
Finals Night: Final, SACC v BAT Sports, 23 April 2006
BAT sports Cricket Club were safely through to the final of the 2006 Hampshire Indoor Cricket finals having dispatched Hook and Newnham CC in their semi-final. They were in a fairly euphoric state of mind anyway as only a week before they had been up at Lords and had lifted the National Indoor Title in convincing style. Now the top team in the Southern Premier League were about to play against a side that had finished 38 places below them in Hampshire League Division One. It is hard not to believe that BAT were in a slightly complacent frame of mind.
Sarisbury? They were floating a bit. If we can beat Winchester anything is possible!
Sarisbury batted first and bowlers Banks and Linge gave no sign of complacency as they bowled a really tight line to Bondy and Clarky. The fielding was superb too and the score was contained to 50 off 6 overs, but no wickets yet. That changed in the 7th over however when Michael Bond was well caught by Dave Banks off Adams' bowling. This brought skipper Simon to the crease and he was clearly determined to up the pace and hit a 6 early on. Steve Clark retired after a superb, controlled 25 (7x3s and a 4 without giving a chance) and Pete arrived with the same intention as Simon. They both hit and ran well, carrying the score through to 107 off 11 overs with the look that they were ready to make the most of the last over. This over was a cracker, bowled by Lee Savident with BAT fielding like men possessed and Sarisbury going for the runs in thrilling style. Pete was run out without adding to his 23. Dom then smashed a 6 and a 3 before being run out. Keith was stumped for a duck and in the end the over cost 11 runs giving the boys a total of 118. Not many, but they had defended 10 less in the semis!
The BAT start was incredible with Banks and Kenway gone in 7 deliveries! Dave Banks was well caught by Clarky off Dom and Richard Kenway run out for just 1. Now Savident and Nigel Bungay set about repairing things. Pete's 2nd over was butchered for 16 but apart from that the bowlers and fielders clung on grimly, refusing to allow BAT to cut loose. Savident and Bungay both retired and though the score was respectable it wasn't enough (66 off 9 overs) and soon Adams was caught (another brilliant take) by Clarky off Keith. Steve Clark now bowled his last over for Sarisbury in any form of cricket. It went for 11 runs but yielded the vital wicket of Nigel Bungay, run out for 31. It was now 78 for 4 off 10 overs. The penultimate over was bowled by Keith to BAT's number 6, Linge. Lee Savident was at the non striker's end, desperate to get the strike to try to hit the unlikely 40 needed off 2 overs. We spectators were mesmerised! Forty off twelve balls was impossible, wasn't it? Then again, this was Lee Savident, ex Hampshire pro and one of the most violent strikers of the ball in the Southern League. BAT supporters were desperate, "just get Sav on strike!"
But they just couldn't get Sav on strike.. Keith's over consisted of 5 dot balls and a single! Linge tried to smash it to the back wall but he just couldn't get hold of him. Then he tried to push a 3 but Keith bowled it too straight, on a perfect length and there was nothing to hit, and in any case, the fielders swooped on every ball, strangling the life out of the BAT innings. Keith finished with figures of 1 for 16 off 3 overs. When Dom started the final over, BAT needed 39 from 6 balls, game over? Savident scored just 9 more while running out poor Linge for 5. Sarisbury had won the Hampshire Indoor Final by 30 runs! Dom's figures were 1 for 18 and Pete and Clarky both went for well under 10 an over each. Nobody could quite believe it.
Mike Vimpany was there to report these extraordinary events and photograph the new champions. Steve Clark was awarded the "Man of the Match" for vital runs, tight bowling ("Just bowl it straight, Clarky") and 2 superb catches. Truth to tell, the trophy could have gone to at least 2 other players, but nobody minded, Clarky is such a lovely bloke. Besides, he was about to set off back to Aussi-land, taking some special memories with him, I hope.
Vimpany didn't let us down. The headlines in the "Echo" were "Sarisbury Athletic sprang the biggest shock in Hampshire Indoor cricket History by toppling reigning ECB Champions BAT Sports to become the new County Champions"
Good eh?
A few days after the event Club Secretary Penny received a note which she pinned up on the club notice board,
"Sarisbury Dude,
May I offer my felicitations to all at Allotment Road for their excellent victory in the Hampshire Indoor Cup yesterday evening. BAT were callously dumped out in the final by finishing 30 runs short of Sarisbury's 118 after Winchester had been beaten by the narrowest of margins in the semi-final.
I guess you may have heard this by now, but from the opposition point of view, it was certainly a deserved victory with the bowling and fielding of particular note. What stuck in my mind were the 2 excellent catches for Steve Clark, and Keith Hammond proving almost impossible to score off in the crucial final stage of the BAT innings.
Its now up to you guys to carry on the Hampshire tradition in the National Competition next winter. I will be intrigued by such developments!!!
Have a fabulous life continuation, and I'll catch you presently!!!
Ta V much.
Stephen G. Jones
Scorer . BAT Sports CC"
BAT (Now Totton & Eling)are that sort of club!!
(The note stayed on the board for 2 years!)
The summer was now rushing upon us and indoor cricket had to be put aside for more important things. Anyway, nobody really imagined that our club could play at Lords next year, did they?
