Newdigate 278-7 vs. Purley-on-Thames 279-8

Newdigate played host to Purley-on-Thames at the Brocus for the Quarter finals in the nPower Village Cup on Sunday. The visiting skipper Patrick Allen won the toss and decided to field on the hottest day of the year so far. The Newdigate openers of skipper Ruky Wickremasinghe and Paul Bettesworth both struggling to find any form so far this year waledk out to take full use of a track that looked full of runs for the asking. After an early let off by Allen at slip Bettesworth (29) started to find the boundaries and with Wickremasinghe put on an quickfire 65 in just 9 overs before the latter fell for an aggressive innings of 34 including 3 sixes and 3 fours. The platform was set for the rest of the batters to carry on and set up a good total. At the 15 overs drinks break Newdigate were well placed with 86 runs on the board for the loss of the two openers. With the middle order batters keeping the tempo up and finding the regular boundaries, the home team was marching on to a mammoth total. Richard Callcut once again carried his good form to bring up yet another fifty before falling for a well made 67.contributions were also there from Hiten Patel (32) and Mark Rance (24*). Newdigate finished their innings on 278 for the loss of 7 wickets in the allocated 40 overs. For the visitors, skipper Allen 1/35 and Julian Fernando 2/63 were amongst the wicket takers.

The run reply from Purley-on-Thames had to be a positive one with the asking rate at just under 7 runs per over. But with the track playing very true and the short square boundary the home team too knew that it was going to be an aggressive reply from the opposition. An early break through came from Ben Crook when he had Meesham caught by Allan Cooper in the slips for 9. That was to be the only success Newdigate would see for another 27 overs, with Skipper Allen looking in menacing form and Dan Clarke too hitting his strides early on. The pair went on to put up a 2^nd wicket partnership of 206 before Clarke fell for 83 missing out on a very well deserved hundred. But the visiting skipper did not falter as he went on to bring up an excellent hundred and push his side towards the winning target. But as always there was to be a twist in the tale as Purley-on-Thames who looked like they were going to ease pass the target lost Allen for 132 and went on to lose 5 more wickets in 5 overs to add some excitement to the game that had already been a very highly competitive one. Allan Cooper and Ben Crook coming back on to start the collapse for the home side.

Needing 7 to win off the last over from Callcut the visiting team lost another wicket to make even tenser for the players and supporters from both sides who were cheering on for their side to push towards the finish line. One run , one ball, 8 wickets down, all the fielder as close as they could be around the batsmen, Callcut bowls and Vikram Kamath pushes and runs just making his ground to put Purley-on-Thames to the Semi Final. Allan Cooper 3 for 47 and Callcut 2 for 49 shared the wickets with Crook 2 for 56 and Wickremasinghe too supporting with the ball for the home team. An excellent game of cricket that kept both teams interested all the way thru and finally going down to the wire with Purley-on-Thames just crossing the finish line.