CUMBRIA County Cricket Club have booked their place in the National One Day Final for the fourth consecutive time with a win against Suffolk.
The visitors won the toss and elected to field in what were extremely windy conditions at Sudbury Cricket Club on July 16.
Chris Wright, making his third appearance in this season’s trophy, steamed in from the Church end and took a wicket from each of his first three overs.
Suffolk were 29/3 off 12 overs when Ben Parker scooped the ball for Matthew Sempill to catch at ankle height at mid-on after spin bowler Freddy Fallows came into the attack. In the next over, Fallows clean bowled Josh Cantrell.
By the half-way point, Suffolk were 74/7 in their innings having lost Adam Mansfield to Michael Slack’s delivery and Thomas Harper lbw to Matthew Siddall.
In the 32nd over, Nico Watt stumped Freddie Heldreich – a three season regular in Northamptonshire's CCC Vitality Blast team.
The hosts set a below-par target of 150 for Cumbria to win, which they handled with demonstrated patience and calculated-risk shot selection.
Partnerships win matches and that proved to be the case for Cumbria. Sam Dutton and Ben Walkden notched up 25, Walkden and Marcus Stables made 49, Stables and Slack accumulated 25 and Slack and Sempill made a further 25 runs.
In his innings, Walkden thrilled the crowd with a six that shot through the hedge to the Bowls Club, narrowly missing a burger van, and then another six which soared over the Pavilion, across the road to the tennis club.
Walkden’s two sixes weren’t to be outdone by Slack’s who powered the ball over the road towards the plumping and electrical yard.
Cumbria were 133/5 off 39.5 overs and required just six runs to win with nine overs to go. Within six balls, Sempill cut and swept two fours to seal the victory and bring a magnificent team effort to a victorious close.
Walkden finished Cumbria’s top scorer on 35 runs off 61 balls, followed closely by Stables scoring 30 off 83 and Slack 20 off 58.
The win sets up a tie against Berkshire for the fourth time in succession on August 27 at Wormsley.
Ticket information will be publicised on Cumbria CCC social channels in the coming days.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here