P & S suffer double SPL cup final agony
Davies blasts maiden T20 century ... but Fair Oak lift Plate trophy
Jack Davies struck his maiden T20 century as Portsmouth & Southsea suffered a second cup final loss in as many days.
The opener hammered an unbeaten 103 off 68 balls as P & S rattled up 172-2 against higher division Fair Oak in the final of the Southern Premier League’s T20 Plate at St James’.
But Oak, after losing early wickets, claimed a fourwicket victory when Rufus Bullough struck a six off teenager Umar Malik with just three balls remaining.
It was a cruel ending to the truncated 2020 season for Ben Saunders and his P & S side, who had lost the SPL Division 2/Division 3 grand final to another higher division club, Bashley Rydal 2nds, the previous day.
P & S have now lost three finals in two years - in 2019 they also reached the Plate final but lost to the Hampshire Academy by 11 runs at The Ageas Bowl.
Davies top scored with 54 on that occasion, and entered the final having struck an unbeaten 90 in the previous week’s semi-final win against two divisions higher Rowledge.
He hit 10 fours and three sixes in that game, and followed up with 10 fours and five sixes in his 68-ball innings against Oak after Saunders had elected to bat first.
Davies finished the season with 447 SPL runs from nine innings in 40-over and 20-over cricket at an average of 49.67.
The only two batsman who scored more than him were the Academy’s Tom Prest (462 runs from nine innings) and Portsmouth & Southsea colleague Matt Benfield (455 runs from 11 innings).
Benfield (5) fell cheaply against Oak but Davies and Ollie Kanavan (28) added 125 for the second wicket.
Dean Lee whacked four fours in his unbeaten 18 off eight balls as P & S set a challenging target in the late summer sunshine.
In reply, Jake Peach struck in his first over. Having been hit for a six and a single by Gregor McKenzie, he had Michael McKenzie caught by Saunders for a golden duck.
It was 12-2 when Jono
Willey had Gregor McKenzie caught by Malik. Oak were in some trouble on 65-4 when Tom Benfield ran out Greig Stewart for a single.
But captain Charlie Gwynn (47 off 35 balls) and Rhys Oxley began the fightback by adding 56 for the fifth wicket.
not out off 68 balls for Jack Davies in Portsmouth & Southsea’s T20 Plate Cup final loss
Oxley blitzed four sixes and five fours in a 27-ball 58 before he was caught by Davies off Peach to make it 146-6 with 27 still required.
Bullough, though, hit three fours and two sixes in his 19-ball unbeaten 33 - his second maximum sealing the silverware.
Willey (2-18) and Peach (2-30) recorded good figures, but Keiron Dunstan suffered, conceding 47 runs off his four overs. Malik went for 33 runs off his 2.3 overs.
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