Thane's men overcome Andover in t20 cup semi-final (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Thane's men overcome Andover in t20 cup semi-final

1:00pm Thursday 29th July 2010 in

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HOOK and Newnham Basics Cricket Club are looking forward to a big day out at the Rose Bowl after reaching the final of the Southern Electric Cup.

Ben Thane’s young team beat fellow Southern League division two side Andover by 11 runs in the semi-finals of the Twenty20 competition last Sunday.

Hook got off to a bad start after captain Thane lost the toss and saw his side put in to bat. Victory certainly looked far from assured as they finished their 20 overs on 127-9.

However, a fine display with the ball and in the field won them the game, with Kevin Poulter taking three wickets and fellow spinner Anik Divecha conceding just 11 runs from his four overs. A trio of run-outs stopped Andover getting up a head of steam and they could only make 116-9.

Captain Thane said: “It was absolutely awesome. The whole team batted, bowled and fielded fantastically. Nobody left anything out there.

“We knew that 145 was probably a par score on that pitch so we thought we were a bit shy, but we had nothing to lose. We went out to field with that attitude and put in a magnificent performance.”

Hook’s victory sets up a final against division one outfit Bashley (Rydal) under the floodlights at the Rose Bowl on August 19.

“Making the final puts the club on the map a bit more, and the whole place is buzzing,” Thane added. “We are all really looking forward to playing at the Rose Bowl now.”

Having been put into bat, Hook made a solid start but suffered a setback when danger-man Jordan Hobday was dismissed for 17.

Thane took on the run-scoring mantle before being run out on 27, and wickets fell at fairly regular intervals after this.

Last pair, Poulter (10) and Alex Cates (8) managed to see out the final few balls, putting on a vital 16 runs to get Hook to 127-9.

This did not look enough and Andover looked good at 77-3, but Poulter struck twice in quick succession, claiming the vital wicket of James O’Gorman, who made 45, to get his side back into the game.

Wickets fell fairly regularly after this but Thane had chosen to use Hobday and Divecha, his death bowlers, earlier than he would normally.

Part-time bowler Richard Willcock was asked to bowl the penultimate over with Andover needing 25 runs and he did a great job, going for just five.

That took the pressure off final over bowler Thane and Andover were unable to get the runs.