Ashtead triumph in ECB National T20 quarterfinal at Exmouth

Excited supporters and bleary eyed cricketers assembled early at Woodfield Lane to board a coach for the 4 hour trip to Exmouth. A stop at Fleet services to pick up Paul Harrison, and an unplanned exodus of players (and others who should know better) to hunt for burger king for breakfast, and the clearly much needed food livened up the atmosphere. It was a jolly group and an untroubled journey, with jocular cries of "are we there yet?" and at last "I can see the sea", we finally reached the picturesque setting of Exmouth CC, right by the beach. Our hosts were waiting to welcome us with a buffet lunch.The wicket looked good, the outfield somewhat undulating, the pitch frequented by seagulls.

The toss was had, Ashtead won and chose to bat, nervous spectators disappeared for a stroll along the beach, the scorers climbed up into the lofty scorebox.

The batting was opened by Mike Sanderson and Danny Miller who got the Stags off to a fine start, despite some near suicidal running. Sanderson was eventually run out for 19 in the 7th over with the score on 38. Miller with help from John Vaughan-Davies pushed the score on the 54 before being caught by Benton off Chappell for 26. Vaughan-Davies was joined at the crease by Paul Harrison who looked comfortable from the outset and played some lovely strokes including 4 massive sixes. Once Vaughan-Davies was lbw to Chappell for 13, other batsmen came and went without much luck. With two wickets for Trevor Anning in the 19th over, including that of Harrison for 51, Ashtead's chance of a flurry of runs at the end had gone. However some quick running between the wickets giving Josh Pickering 7 off the last over extended Ashtead's score to 128 off their 20 overs.

To some doubting spectators the target seemed too low, but the Stags bowlers were determined and the fall of Exmouth's opener lbw to Tom Homes for a duck in the first over and Dawson bowled Tom Deighton in the 4th was a useful start. Rain was in the offing and Duckworth-Lewis par scores were displayed in case of need. Exmouth's Richard Baggs and Sebastian Benton gradually chipped away at the target and in particular Benton looked dangerous. Enter John Vaughan-Davies into the bowling attack and first Baggs was bowled for 22 and then some very nifty keeping by Paul Harrison and Benton was stumped off Vaughan-Davies for 40. The score was 81-4 after 13 overs and Exmouth needed 48 runs off 7 overs.

Ashtead's bowlers kept up the pressure and Exmouth's remaining wickets fell for 34 runs: four were clean bowled, followed by a run out and finally the last man was caught by Tom Homes off Deighton on the first ball of the final over. Exmouth were all out for 115, Ashtead had won by 13 runs and their remarkable run continues: now 6 premiership sides have been defeated and no one can quite believe it. Many thanks to Exmouth CC for their friendliness and hospitality.

Probably the less said about the journey home the better, but lets say it involved lots of singing, frequent stops, oh and the viewing of a large number of skimpily clad girls cramming themselves into a phonebox!

Good luck to the boys in the remaining two league games and watch out for us on Sky Sports at the T20 finals on 9th September!