The Seagulls conducted a composed run chase, with Josh Butler shining once again at the top of the order, to avoid any dramas at the KGV on bank holiday Monday as they defeated Wanderers by seven wickets in the final.
In a line-up missing several regulars including Island all-rounder Matt Stokes, Lucas Barker knew he had to value his wicket highly for Wanderers and play the anchor role, which he did with assurance, making a fine 71 from 94 balls with three boundaries.
Others chipped in around him, with Harry Sherbourne sharing in an opening stand of 46 before Charlie Clapham and Andy Biggins contributed 25 and 33 respectively in the middle order.
But the Cobo bowling remained tidy throughout with Kieran Le Gallez and Dan Brown both economical while there were wickets for Butler and Zak Damarell before Tony Merrien was introduced late in the piece and was rewarded for his accuracy with three wickets as Wanderers were restricted to 215 for 6.
‘The outfield was pretty slow, so that was around par, maybe just under,’ said Cobo captain Ollie Nightingale.
‘Lucas played nicely, did not take risks, but they never really got away at all, they batted at a similar pace throughout.
‘Tony Merrien bowled well at the death. He did not bowl until the end of the innings and he kept it straight.’
In the absence of the injured Tom Nightingale, teenager Evan Le Huray got his chance to open the reply with Butler and they put on 49 before the youngster felt to Louis Steyn.
Ollie Newey then joined Butler in a second-wicket stand of 116 that broke the back of the run chase and although both batters fell on the same score, Newey just shy of a half-century while Butler departed for 82 which included 10 fours, Damarell and the skipper saw Cobo home without any alarms and more than seven overs to spare.
‘Josh and Evan had a good little partnership first up then Josh and Ollie batted nicely, as they have done all year. Ollie was pretty aggressive, took the game on a bit more,’ said captain Nightingale.
‘Then Zak came in and whacked a few, got the job done.
‘We’ve won the GCA Cup and now the Weekend League, so very pleased that we’ve got both domestic weekend trophies and we have used lots of different players this season.’
Cobo have the chance to make it a treble when they face Farmers-Caesareans in the Channel Islands League final in Jersey on Saturday 12 September.
