Morgan tops the list as Havant lift T20 Cup
Skipper ends as leading SPL wicket-taker after comfortable final success
Havant romped to an eightwicket victory in the Southern Premier League T20 Cup final against Hampshire Academy.
They bowled the county youngsters out for just 103 at Totton & Eling CC before knocking off the runs with almost six overs in hand.
The Academy were without their two leading runscorers, skipper Fletcha Middleton and opener Tom Prest.
Both had been called up for an England Under-19 trial game, with Scott Currie - who has made his Hampshire debut in both first class and T20 cricket this summer handed the captaincy.
George Metzger (45) was the only Academy batsman to offer much resistance, with No 8 Ben Huntley (12) the next highest scorer.
After electing to bat first and reaching 29-1, the Academy crashed to 45-6 with Havant skipper Chris Morgan dismissing Currie (9), James Barker (4) and Wilf La Fontaine Jackson (0).
Morgan (4-26) later reduced the Academy to 76-7 when he had Huntley caught by Harry Gadd.
Metzger and Max Simpson (3 not out) shared a 23-run stand for the last wicket, the highest of the innings.
Havant lost an early wicket when Harry Gadd (2) was bowled by Harry Broderick.
But victory was a formality once Pete Hopson (25) and Chris Stone added 51 for the second wicket.
Stone followed up his 49 in the semi-final win against New Milton with an unbeaten 43, adding an unbroken 37 for the third wicket with Morgan.
The latter celebrated silverware in his first season as captain by hitting three fours and a six in an 11-ball cameo of 20 not out.
After starting their SPL East group campaign with a loss to Alton, Havant won their next nine completed fixtures in all competitions.
Freddie Gadd’s
1-23 in the final saw him end as the T20 Cup’s joint leading wickettaker with Mo Abbas of Burridge, both players taking nine wickets. Morgan ended 2020 season as the leading wicket-taker in SPL cricket across both 40-over and 20-over
SPL wickets across all formats for Chris Morgan in 2020 formats. He finished with 24 wickets at just 10.04 with a strike rate of 14.25.
New Milton’s George Watts was second with 23 wickets and Gadd - like his captain, a left arm spinner - was third with 22 at 11.59 with a strike rate of 16.09
Portsmouth & Southsea’s Jono Willey was fourth in the list with 20 wickets at 11.59 and Max Goddard of Waterlooville was fifth with 18 at 10.22.