The heat was on at Cornwood CC for the Wombat Under 19 T20 finals day with temperatures approaching 30 degrees as 4 sides battled it out for the trophy. 

The semi-finals saw home side Cornwood Cyclones were drawn against Heathcoat Chargers on Delamore Park with Bovey Blitz playing against Ruby Royals on Oak Park. 

 

Cornwood Cyclones v Heathcoat Chargers  - Scorecard

Heathcoat won the toss and elected to bat. Having won the competition for the past two seasons the Chargers were dubbed as favourites going into the day. Opener Sammy Broomhead got the team off to a good start and retired for a well made 51* off 34 balls. Cornwood struck back though taking regular wickets. Pick of the bowling was Joe Davies who (3-29), closely followed by 15 year old Harrison Hodge (2-25) and keeper Noah Carlisle bagged an impressive 4 stumpings! Artie Evans struck the ball well at the end to help post a score of 150. 

Noah Carlisle led the chase from the front for Cornwood and together with brother Ethan put on 87 for the 4^th wicket, both retiring with impressive fifties.  Heathcoat rotated the bowling with Cornwood needing a run a ball from the seventeenth over. Jack Lane, Anunt Dhulkotia and Josh Whiting got the team over the line with 7 balls to spare.

 

Bovey Blitz v Ruby Royals – Scorecard

On the main Cornwood Oak Park pitch Bovey Blitz and Ruby Royals (Hatherleigh/Holsworthy) contested the other semi-final. The Blitz dominated the Royals from the outset with Ben Kay (2-9) striking early followed up by the pace of Harry Mount (3-12) and Jack Ansley (3-13) who accounted for middle order. Jasper Presswells 25 was the only score of note as the Royals faltered to 80 in 19.3 overs. 

It was a calm chase for the Blitz with Jake Pascoe (48* from 36) and Harvey Brown (20* from 38) knocking off the runs within 12 overs. 

 

Bovey Blitz v Cornwood Cylones – Scorecard

In the final, Cyclones won the toss and put the Blitz in. It was a fairly quiet powerplay with Bovey 32 for no loss at 5 overs. Mount was then dismissed bringing captain Sam Harvey to the crease, the only time Harvey hasn’t reached 50 this Under 19s season was when the chase finished with him on 49*. He continued this fine form and despite losing his partner Pascoe (39) hit a blistering 51* from just 21 balls. This opened the door for Ryan Jones to then hit 32* from 22. The Blitz finishing on 192-6. There were few positives in the field for Cornwood, although two wickets in the last over gave Sam Ford figures of 4 overs, 16 dots, 3 for 15.

The momentum continued with Bovey as Harvey and Kay made early breakthroughs. With both Carlisle brothers dismissed the target quickly became out of reach for the home side, Jack Lane the only batter making more than 20. Ben Kay was the pick of the bowlers (2-8) closely followed by Harry Pitman (2-12) and player of the match Sam Harvey (2-23), the Blitz winning by 111 runs. 

 

Congratulations to the Bovey Blitz who were thoroughly deserving winners of the competition for 2023. 

A big thank you to Cornwood CC for hosting the finals day as well as Mark Tyler for providing music and competition sponsors Wombat Cricket. 

Thanks also to the players, managers, scorers and umpires for a great day of cricket.