Thame headed up the hills to Wormsley Estate this past Sunday (17th), to take on Henley in the Wilf Bennett T20 Cup Final.
On a gloomy day with rain a possible threat later on, Thame lost the toss and were invited to bat. Runs came at a good pace from the off, and despite an early wicket, Ubaid Kiani (66*) continued his strong form to anchor the innings. T20 Captain Luke Hayes hit a quick 21 before a dubious LBW bought Hassam Mushtaq to the crease. Mushtaq (44) and Kiani shared a 3rd wicket partnership of 95, and with the help of a generous amount of extras, Thame were pleased to post 180-3.
Henley came out firing; Connell’s 89 off just 37 balls got the score up to 117 after just 10 overs, before his demise to Brad Watson. With a heavy defeat on the cards, Thame sought a miracle through Robbie Jackson, whose 2-17 from 4 overs brought the run rate down and got new batters at the crease. Mushtaq and Nikhil Nomula also picked up a late wicket each, but Henley were able to get over the line by 5 wickets with 4 balls to spare.
The match ended a lot closer than it looked like at the half way mark of the 2nd innings and Thame can be proud of doing so with a young side, against a team from the division above.
Captain Luke Hayes had this to say; “Unfortunately we didn’t bowl well enough, apart from RJ who really showed his class. It was good to get to the final of the Wild Bennett competition, especially with all the juniors that we played with along the way. Hopefully we get the opportunity to play at Wormsley again in the years to come and get our hands on that trophy.”
Congratulations to Henley! Commiserations to Luke and his team. Thank you to those who came to support and helped run the games along this T20 campaign – fingers crossed for one step further next year!
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