Griffins hold their nerve to win yet more silverware
WINNING has definitely become a habit for Griffins and they have the silverware to prove it.
Tom Kirk lifted his third trophy of the season in the Saturday afternoon sunshine and probably breathed a sigh of relief as he did so after a tense GCA Cup final in which both sides had spells as favourites to take the win before his side emerged narrow victors by just six runs as Luke Bichard took the final wicket in the 49th over.
Meanwhile, Wanderers-Irregulars were left wondering what might have been having restricted the evening and weekend champions to just 169.
If only their first eight batsmen had shown the application of their nine, 10 and jack, who so nearly pulled off a remarkable comeback having seen their side slump to 97 for 8 in the run chase.
But the run-rate was never an issue and Ant Stokes came within a whisker of getting them across the line with an knock of great character as he found mature support from two juniors at the other end.
Harry Duke, fresh from a century the previous day, did a superb job in keeping Griffins at bay for all-but the last of his 62-ball innings from which he chipped in with a valuable 16 and last man Ben Johnson showed great composure and determination too.
They certainly did not deserve to be on the losing side, neither did the younger Stokes brother who was the game’s top-scorer with 46 from 54 balls, but with no margin for error as the game came down to its final throes, his attempt to whip a straight ball from Bichard into the leg-side failed and it was game over.
The reply had begun promisingly as Matt Stokes and Lucas Barker put on 36 for the first wicket inside eight overs with little fuss, but when the former tried to cut a Dane Mullen delivery that was too close to him for the shot, it sparked Griffins into life.
Mullen continued his excellent season by trapping Barker LBW in his next over before Ben Wentzel and Tom Nightingale steadied the WIs ship for a while.
However, when Wentzel chipped a tame catch to Kirk at one of the two short extra-cover positions to give man-of-the-match Adam Martel the first of his four wickets, it led to a domino effect as the batting side lost six middle-order wickets for 34 runs with the Griffins captain claiming the other two of those.
With the opposition yet to reach three figures, Griffins had become red-hot favourites and the bowlers continued to do their job, but time was on WIs’ side and Stokes jnr so very nearly made it count with his youthful accomplices.
It was Luke Le Tissier who eased Griffins’ nerves when he produced the ideal off-spinning delivery to turn through Duke’s gate and crash into the stumps with 18 runs still required.
The tension continued to grow as WIs kept chipping away, but as Kirk kept reminding his troops, victory was ‘just one ball’ away and Bichard came up with that ball to seal the cup.
Earlier, the Griffins innings had promised so much but when momentum swung, it did so dramatically.
Although they lost Nathan Le Tissier in the second over as he had his middle stump plucked out of the ground by a good nut from Johnson, a second wicket stand of 81 between Luke Le Tissier and Adam Martel seemed to have their side on course for a large total.
The older of the Le Tissier cousins had to see off some probing stuff from Matt Stokes initially and he played and missed on several occasions, but having weathered that storm he started to find scoring opportunities while at the other end Martel was batting like a dream.
His confidence obviously buoyed by his big golfing triumph of two days previously, virtually everything was coming off the middle of his bat as he sent some majestic shots through the covers for four.
Barker understandably turned to spin at first change and the slow bowlers stemmed the flow of runs to an extent, but there was nothing that immediately suggest that they would have a major impact.
That was until Johnny Bailey produced a beauty that took the top of Le Tissier’s off stump in the 19th over.
With the danger man gone for 35, things got even better for WIs in the next over as Martel tried to turn an Ant Stokes delivery around the corner towards fine leg only to get a leading edge that looped up enough for Waleed Jami to dive forward at mid-wicket and grasp the vital catch.
The older Martel had faced 52 balls for his 40 and made batting look so much easier than anyone else in the innings.
Certainly his brother Jordon struggled to time anything and his stay was only prolonged by WIs dropping a couple of sitters to give him a couple of lives. They did not prove to be too costly though.
Griffins played a part in their own collapse as a mix up between Martel and Matt Philp saw both batsmen at the same end after a fine diving stop in the covers from Duke to gift the fielding side a run out.
Shortly afterwards, Duke castled the younger Martel to put him out of his misery and skipper Kirk departed on the same score as he miscued his attempt to hit Martin-Dale Bradley over the top and found the safe hands of Gashirai Masvikeni – 116 for 6.
It got worse before it got better for Griffins as teenager Marcus Thomas was skittled by Bradley, but Bichard and Nic Buckle both played some nice strokes in adding 30 for the eighth wicket, which was to prove vital in the context of the match.
The return of seamer Stokes to the attack proved the catalyst for the last three wickets to fall, though, as he accounted for both of those batters.
Bailey finished things off with the help of a remarkable one-handed catch from a back-peddling Duke at mid-on to dismiss Adam Wakeford with more than four overs of the allotted 50 remaining.
