Wilson hauls Bashley out of a perilous state
George Wilson hit an undefeated half-century as Bashley (Rydal) II hauled themselves out of trouble for a second time to beat Portsmouth & Southsea by three wickets and win the Southern Premier League Cup Division 2/3 grand final.
The New Forest club, who lifted the SPL Division 3 title in 2019, were in a perilous state at 62-6 chasing down the hosts’ 149-7 when seam all-rounder Wilson joined 16-year old Will Tripcony at the St James’s Park crease.
Together the seventh-wicket pair retrieved the situation – caused in the main by the P & S seam attack - almost doubling the Bashley total to 120-7 before Tripcony was bowled by left-arm spinner Kieron Dunstan (2-27) for 23.
Earlier, Jake Peach (2-33), Jono Willey (2-38) and the departing Chris Turrell (1-27) had ripped through the Bashley top order.
The visitors - who were due to play in a higher division than P & S this year prior to the pandemic rearranging the fixture list - had slipped to 32-4 before Tom Jacques (23) hit a six and three fours.
Dunstan knocked over both Jacques and Tripcony, and skipper Ben Saunders were causing the batsmen plenty of problems on a spinfriendly surface.
But once their spells had finished, Wilson took charge, hitting a six and seven fours in an undefeated 58 - scoring all but two of the next 30 runs Bashley needed.
P & S’s 149-7 had largely been built around openers Matt Benfield (52) and Jack Davies (33), who put on 77 before Bashley’s own spinners got into the act.
The openers fell to Simon Watkins (2-30) and the emerging Jacob Gordon (2-11 off eight).
After Ollie Kanavan (0) and Alex Davidson (1) had departed, P & S dropped to 94-4 when Benfield, who had hit eight fours and a six, became the first of two smart stumpings by Patrick Lewis.
Dean Lee (22) and Tom Benfield (19) added 42 for the fifth wicket before both fell victim to Simon Ridley (2-26) as P & S saw their last three wickets go for 12 runs.
It was P & S’ first defeat in the competition, as they had won all five of their completedgroupgames.