Boyne Hill lift the Julian Cup for first time in 26 years
Boyne Hill claimed the Julian Cup trophy for the first time in 26 on Monday, beating Slough from the Home Counties League in a tense encounter that went down to the last few balls.
Simon Carter, skipper on the day in the absence of Ziya Mohamed, hit the winning runs for the club on their own ground, having come in cold for the final overs following the retirement of Prashant Kumar (22 retired) and Sajid Ali (27 retired) under Julian Cup rules.
Chasing 123 for victory, the pairs’ partnership had added a useful 49 and taken Boyne Hill to the brink of victory, however, as captain, Carter will have felt a few nerves striding out to the middle to try and get the job done alongside one of the club’s younger players, Ben Wilson.
Hill needed five runs from the last over and Carter smashed the third ball of the over to the boundary to seal a long-awaited victory in the competition.
The final was finally settled at the third attempt after the first match ended in a historic tie and the second one was abandoned after heavy rain.
Reflecting on a very impressive performance from Hill, particularly in the field, Carter said: “We haven’t won this since the mid90s, so it was good to get it done.
“It was also nice to win it after three attempts. It was a fairly low scoring game that went down to the last over. But it's almost better to win a close game than to run away with victory.
“I think both teams bowled and fielded very well. There was nothing wrong with the wicket, but the bowling and the fielding dominated on the day.
“Prashant Kumar got 3-16 off four overs, and eight of those runs came from the last two balls with edges, and it was a match-winning performance to be honest.
“I really wanted to get a good start which we didn’t really get as we lost a wicket in the first over and another one in the fourth or fifth. We then managed to drag ourselves back into it with some sensible batting from Sam Hayes, Imran Butt and Sajid and Prashant. All of them scored 20something.
“We needed six going into the final, and I had to go on in the
18th over and Prashant had to retire under Julian Cup rules at the end of the 19th over so that left me and Ben Wilson, a young lad, to negotiate the last over.
“Going into the last over with two new batsmen makes it a slightly different story, but it was nice to get it done. I ended up captaining the side with Ziya being unavailable, so it was nice to be the captain and be able to finish it off and win the Julian Cup. I’ve been playing in this competition since the late 90s.”
W Boyne Hill look set to finish fourth in the Thames Valley League Division 1 this season, following Saturday’s 65-run defeat to Eversley.
Ziya Mohamed’s side have slipped out of promotion contention in recent weeks, with Gerrards Cross now in pole position to take the title. They have a 15point lead over Stoke Green going into the final round of matches this weekend. Chasers Stoke Green host Henley 2nds while Cross will look to pick up the points they need from a tricky tie at Cookham Dean.
On Saturday, Hill were bowled out for 184 in the 38th over chasing Eversley’s 249-8 from 50 overs. Jack Ford (64), Tom Howorth (51) and Samuel Kennett (52) all batted well for Eversley while only really Nabeel Janed
(39) managed to get a start in
Hill’s reply.
Elsewhere in Division 1, Cookham Dean were beaten by
143 runs by Ickenham to leave them eighth in the division but safe from relegation.