Cope steers OCs to Cricketer Cup success

OCCC 243 for 7 (Cope 98, Allen 63, Waters 34) beat Bradfield Waifs 209 for 9 (Williams 104*, Rollings 3-25, Hannah 2-45) by 34 runs 
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Matt Crump lifts the trophy

Only eight years after becoming the first new side to be welcomed into the Cricketer Cup, we won the trophy in our third final with a 34-run victory over Bradfield Waifs. A third-wicket stand of 130 between Alan Cope (98) and Duncan Allen (63) was the foundation of our 243 for 9, and that was backed by good bowling and typically excellent fielding to secure a win which was all but done and dusted long before the close.

Both sides arrived at an overcast Wimbledon on the back of four home wins. The OCs made two changes to the side which thumped Charterhouse in the semi-finals, Bruno Broughton back in for the veteran Michael Chetwode and Elliott Hannah preferred to James Halton. Rob Jones, who had to undergo surgery on a finger broken in the quarter-final, and Brad Scriven, starting a longer-term comeback, were also sidelined. The athletic Paddy Harman came back as 12th man, relegating Will Howard to a role as his assistant. Bradfield’s problems came from players on Minor County Championship duty, while their skipper, Will Kendall, was struggling to overcome a shoulder injury.

Kendall won the toss and stuck us in on a track which we expected, based on what we had experienced in last year’s final, would be hard to score on, and so it proved. The threat of rain, which would favour the side batting second, must also have been a factor.

We started cautiously as the first over produced four balls that kept low and then one which spat off a length. Jack Scriven, the batsman of the season, fell for 0 in the third over, top edging to slip, and then Allen survived two confident shouts for leg-before in the following over before he had scored.

Alan Cope on his way to 98

Seren Waters, the match-winner in the semi-final, was not quite at his best, not aided by the pitch, but gradually found his touch before he tried to run a ball down to third man but only managed to steer it to the keeper. At 52 for 2 after 12 overs the game was evenly poised.

Shortly after Cope joined Allen the heavens opened and for 25 minutes rain lashed the ground with only tarpaulins protecting the square. But as it eased the sun came out and less than hour was lost.

Cope and Allen then showed their class, pressurising the fielding side with constant and assured running, content to take as many singles as they could as the fielding grew ragged, and taking boundaries when the chances came. At the start a score of around 230 was believed to be par but, for a time, we dared to dream of a total well above 250.

Allen’s dismissal in the 40th over triggered a wobble as we slipped from 182 for 2 to 221 for 7. Michael Burgess (1), sleepless after a night of celebration after Reigate had secured the Surrey title, somehow managed to reach a ball sailing over his head and steer it to midwicket in a manner which would have impressed the neighbouring Centre Court; Matt Crump (1) was left high and dry after a calling mix-up; Tom Crump lofted a high full toss to midwicket for 10; and Will Langmead was bowled first ball.

Duncan Allen lofts a six over midwicket

Cope, until recently lambasted for not delivering on the big occasions, grew in stature as wickets tumbled and kept the scoreboard ticking over and in the latter overs opening up with skill. He had earlier provided the day’s only controversial incident when he stood his ground in the face of a vociferous appeal for a catch behind down the leg; the keeper had earlier spilt a similar chance.

Hannah did well to keep him strike in the death overs, and Cope was only denied a deserved hundred when he scooped the final delivery – which would probably have been a wide – into the leg side where he was caught.

The score of 243 for 7 may have been less than seemed possible but we knew on this kind of track it was very defendable. Bradfield had also handed us 21 wides and three no-balls, as well as around 20 runs with some below-par fielding.

Our new-ball pair of Matt Crump and Will Rollings were something of an unknown quantity, even to us. The previous day Rollings had been banished to the naughty boy step after back-to-back beamers, while Crump had managed 15 wides in five overs. Fortunately, they had got all that out of their system when it mattered.

Matt Crump fails to hold on to a looping return catch

Bradfield’s strength, by their own admission, was their batting, but they started horribly when Charlie Russell – who had made brisk fifties in the previous rounds – uglily hoiked his second ball from Rollings to Matt Crump, and Shelvin Gumbs dismissal soon after was only marginally more excusable. At 15 for 2 we were in the box seat.

Hannah’s introduction into the attack proved crucial as he trapped Hampshire’s Hamza Riazuddin leg-before in his second over, and the third bowling change – Broughton for Crump – proved just as inspired as Will Chaloner, until then solid as a rock, played over a superbly tossed up delivery. It was not quite all golden captaincy – in between those changes Allen saw his first ball disappear for six before pulling a groin in his second over.

In Hannah’s next over Kendall, visibly incapacitated, was unable to get over a shortish ball and Burgess took the catch. At 43 for 5 there seemed no way back for Bradfield, and another change brought the sixth wicket as Scriven bowled Jonathan Gaffney.

Michael Burgess catches Will Kendall off Elliott Hannah

At that point Henry Corp headed to his car to uncork the champagne, others started wondering what time we would be at The Ship and an excitable Howard frolicked round the boundary as only he can. But Curran Gaur (35) and Craig Williams put on 60 for the seventh wicket in what seemed little more than a consolation stand which was ended when Waters pinned Gaur in front of his stumps. Then the fun started.

Williams, with nothing to lose, started hitting out. Hitting almost exclusively on the leg side, he started savaging the slow bowlers, with Waters (1 for 44) taking the most punishment including three sixes over midwicket off four deliveries. Although No.10 Oliver Smithson kept his end up he was unable to match his colleague’s blitzkrieg and the reintroduction of the seamers eased the nerves of the large OC contingent as they proved much harder to get away. Even so, it was only when the required rate headed into double figures they started to relax again.

The one dampener for the OCs came when Tom Crump dived to stop a far-from-powerful drive, getting struck in the mouth as the ball bobbled. He was led away bleeding copiously and later had 15 stiches in his tongue.

Williams reached his hugely entertaining hundred in the last over – only the fifth in a final – by which time Smithson had departed to another bullet-like throw from the deep from Harman and the game was decided.

Matt Crump collected the trophy in glorious late-summer sunshine and then the celebrations started, inevitably continuing at The Ship. It was a match played in the right spirit and where we deserved our win, although Bradfield fought hard throughout and ensured it was never anything other than entertaining.

For such a young side - and with so much talent about to arrive from the current Cranleigh 1st XI over the next few years - this win ought to be the start of a very special period in Cranleigh cricket history.

• We have been drawn away to 2013 winners Old Tonbridgians in the first round of the 2015 competition.