As 2015 draws to a close I've cast my mind back to the summer and in particular this year's National Village Cup run
The Road to Lord's
On Sunday 13th September Foxton Cricket Club graced the hallowed turf of Lord's to compete in the 2015 final of the Davidstow National Village Cup in the most prestigious game in the club's history. Their opponents were Woodhouse Grange CC of the York Senior League, finalists on no less than six previous occasions and champions on three.
However, in order to reach the showpiece event of the competition Foxton had fought their way through six previous rounds of tough competition. It started all the way back in May with the first regional round against Hethersett and Tas Valley of Norfolk. In a reduced overs game Foxton came away victors by 32 runs, Cei Sanderson staring with the bat scoring a quick-fire 74 not out - a start of things to come perhaps? Foxton then saw their way past local rivals and fellow Cambs and Hunts Premier side Fordham before defeating Worlington CC by 88 runs in the regional final. This time it was Henry Hunter and David Fagan who were the top performers with bat and ball respectively.
The first national round is the furthest Foxton had previously ever made it in this competition and there was a real sense of excitement amongst both players and supporters as the team travelled to Steven Finn's old club Langleybury CC near Watford. After winning the toss and choosing to bat Sanderson stole the show with a sublime 123no out of Foxton's total of 225. Tyler Deas took a wicket in his first over with the new ball which riled the newly formed Western Terrace and in just over 30 overs Langleybury were bundled out for 111 meaning Foxton had reached the Quarter Final for the first time in their history.
For the Quarter Final Foxton were drawn at home against Sibton Park CC from Kent, unfortunately the game succumbed to the weather and as per the rules of the competition had to travel away the following weekend. In glorious sunshine at a picturesque ground just outside Folkestone, Foxton won the toss once again and Sanderson continued from where he had left off a couple of weeks previous, this time scoring 115 at more than a run a ball taking the score to 225. The déjà vu carried on into the second innings, this time both Deas and Jeffrey Douglas claimed wickets in the their first overs, immediately putting Foxton on the front foot with Sibton 6-3. The opposition fought back hard but were eventually all out for 167, Douglas the pick of the bowlers taking 4-27 in two hostile spells.
When the competition had started back in May, very few would have been confident of saying that Foxton would be one game away from playing at the home of cricket but come August that dream was a reality. The opposition were Goatacre CC of Wiltshire, stalwarts of the National Village Cup and the location was Foxton Recreation ground, packed out with hundreds of supporters of both teams on a warm and sunny August afternoon.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat first on a hard deck with a lightning outfield Foxton posted 245 from their 40 overs, Sanderson amazingly scoring his third consecutive century, a new record for the competition and a special innings given the pressure of the situation. With the ball Foxton started well restricting Goatacre, Deas continuing his good form bowling his 9 overs straight through for only 26 runs. As the halfway mark approached Foxton were well on top with the run rate creeping up at the end of every over. Goatacre however, and especially their captain Ed Wilkins, did not take any notice of this as they went about constructing a superb display of batting under pressure. As the overs ticked by the boundaries started to flow and the Foxton bowlers started to feel the heat, serving up what can only be described as one or two 'loose' deliveries. With three overs remaining and only 18 runs required it was Goatacre who were in the box seat for probably the first time in the match, captain Wilkins had just bought up the second superb century of the day and Foxton were feeling the pressure. Jeffrey Douglas was bought back into the attack and succeeded in bowling a tight over meaning it was left to Paul Dean to try and defend 15 needed off the last two overs. In the next 6 balls Deano would further secure himself Foxton legend status as he firstly had Rigali dismissed to a sharp James Coe stumping followed by the key man Wilkins who skied to deep square leg where Akbar Akther showed nerves of steel to hold onto a steepling catch. It was left to Douglas to close out the game with 9 required off the last over with five tight deliveries, including a Coe run-out, it was 6 required off the last delivery, the opposition batsman could only manage a single a Foxton were victors by 5 runs. Huge celebrations ensued because The Foxes were going to Lord's!
A huge amount of credit must go to all of the supporters from both teams who helped make the semi-final such a special day and to Matt Gray and his team of helpers for getting the ground into the best it's ever looked, next stop St John's Wood.
The Foxes gathered in the hotel lobby on the morning of the final, after kindly being put up by the sponsors of the competition in the Marriott hotel on the Saturday night, feeling excited but nervous. Arriving at Lord's Foxton were delighted to hear that they had been given the home dressing room for the day and on a cool but dry morning the boys headed out to warm up on the nursery ground. Everyone was gradually becoming settled into their new surroundings and enjoyed a rousing team talk from coach Coleman before going back to the dressing room for the toss. The toss was won by Woodhouse Grange who decided to bat first on a morning which looked bowler friendly and as the eleven Foxton men walked out onto the hallowed turf they were confident of early wickets…
After 23 overs had past however and the sun has come out Foxton were looking down the barrel of a big score to chase, Woodhouse Grange had moved relatively serenely to 120 for the loss of no wickets. The Foxton bowlers of Deas, Douglas, Cambridge and Sanderson all toiled away to no avail with the break-through eventually coming from the off-spin of Fagan. Fagan was the pick of the bowlers on the day taking overs 1-39 off his 9 overs. With wickets in hand going into the last 15 overs Woodhouse were able to accelerate and took advantage of anything loose as they pushed their score beyond 200. The moment of the innings however surely went to Jeffery Douglas who took a sublime one handed diving catch to dismiss the opposition skipper off the bowling of Gareth Roots. At the end of 40 overs Woodhouse had taken their score to 256, a daunting but reachable target on what was an excellent batting track and quick outfield.
After the best cricket tea of our lives (sorry Bev), opening the batting for Foxton was leading run-scorer Cei Sanderson and captain Adam Webster who had pushed himself up to opener to try and push things along early on. Unfortunately the experiment failed as Webster was dismissed in the 8th over LBW for 2, Sanderson however was looking comfortable as ever. Hunter was dismissed soon after for a quick-fire 18, caught in the deep trying to find the grandstand once again and was shortly followed by Fagan, this bought the ever imposing Jeff Douglas to the crease. Sanderson and Douglas began to rebuild for Foxton, running hard and taking the boundaries whenever possible. As he settled in Douglas looked back to his best with the bat, playing the shot of day with a brutal lofted straight drive onto the away changing room balcony. In this time Sanderson moved to an excellent 50 and had the honour of raising his bat to the vocal Foxton supporters.
Following the dismissal of Jeff Douglas for 47, Foxton continued with their attacking approach as new bat Roots went about keeping up with the required run rate. He and Sanderson took to score up to 177 before Sanderson, now struggling with injury was caught in the deep for a fine 74. Sanderson had racked up 424 runs in the competition at an average of 106, a superb achievement. With the required rate at more than 10 an over Foxton now needed some big hitting; Roots, Akhter, Coe and Dean all gave it their best shot but unfortunately it wasn't to be as Foxton ended on 237-8, falling 19 runs short of their target.
The run chase may not have been successful but in any other year 237 would have been a good enough score to win the final. Credit must go to Woodhouse Grange for their 4th National Village Cup title, they batted very well and gave Foxton very few chances.
A huge amount of thanks must go to everyone who turned out to support Foxton on this special day and to Lord's and the MCC for hosting a great final.
Foxton will be back in 2016 looking to go one step further.
Adam Webster