Hertford CC - Herts 2021 t20 Champions!

For those of you unfamiliar with how the Hertfordshire T20 Cup finals day works – let me give you a quick rundown: Following qualifying stages held in May, four winners go through to a single finals day; there are 2 semi-finals take place earlier in the day and the winners of both semis play each other in a final for the Hertfordshire Cup and progress onto the regional competition.

Game 1 (Semi-Final vs. Welwyn Garden City):
Hertford would have to get through a strong Welwyn CC in order to play in the final and arrived at a misty Harpenden to watch Radlett book their place in the final.

Captain Cowell won the toss and decided to bowl first; he was immediately rewarded as a short, skiddy delivery from Regan first ball of the game clearly surprised opener Champion who miss-timed it straight to Jones at mid-on. Welwyn captain Blacktopp hit two 4s whilst opener Rizvi hit J Leather for an enormous 6 – that however was as good as it got for this pair as an ill-advised single found Blacktopp short of his ground following a brilliant, swooping direct hit from Riddle at cover.

Chalker entered the fray and started peppering the boundaries – really taking the attack to Hertford, just when it looked like Welwyn might start to lay a foundation for an impressive total, Rizvi was run out in fortunate (for Hertford) circumstances when Chalker hit one back to bowler-Regan who got a finger-tip to the ball as it cannoned into the non-strikers stumps.

If the run-out was fortunate, the bowling from Cavener and Carlson was not. Both bowled incredibly tight lines and made use of any variations from the pitch to good effect. Carlson removed the dangerous Chalker who was replaced by the even more dangerous Shah (Owais) however there was little he could do to prevent the carnage at the other end as Carlson and Cavener took combined figures of 8-2-20-6 to completely gut the Welwyn batting effort. Bails flew everywhere during the middle part of the innings and aside from a brief onslaught from Shah when he looked to be running out of partners, the Welwyn batting effort never really got going and ended on 94 as Regan had Shah caught on the boundary.

94 always felt a bit light, but after both Hertford openers fell after hitting a boundary apiece, it felt for a moment like it could be a tense finale – however, a belligerent partnership between Jones (44*) and Leather (17) broke the back of the chase and ensured that Hertford needed only 3 an-over to win the match. Despite both Leathers and Cowell falling quickly with the score on 57, the perfect man for the job walked to the crease in Will Ray (20*) and he and Jones finished the job as Hertford cantered to victory with plenty of overs to spare. Hertford were into the final and had only a short break before taking to the field again…

Game 2 (The Final vs. Radlett):
By now the weather had turned into gloomy-warmth and supporters of both sides had turned-up to see a tense final, the stage was therefore set for both teams to produce a memorable performance.

Radlett won the toss and opted to bat, Hertford were immediately on the back-foot as Radlett opener Chatfield punished some loose early bowling alongside partner Crawford, they took the game to Hertford and looked to be putting it beyond them. Radlett raced to 66 from 5 overs and were looking for a massive total. Hertford had to find some control, or produce something from nothing before the game slipped away… therein came the turning point of the game: Chatfield, who was on 47 from 23 balls, launched a Cavener delivery wide of mid-off that was always destined for the boundary – Richard Leather sprinted after the ball searching for it over his shoulder – as the ball hurtled towards the ground and the boundary, Leather flung himself forwards only to cling-on to the ball just above the turf and in that moment transform the game.

After that, Hertford were able to exert some pressure and control; again with the bowling of Carlson and Cavener, and afterwards Underdown and Lawrance. Whilst Radlett were able to generate a few partnerships it was never with the same intensity as the first and as such a big total looked less and less likely. As the slow bowlers worked through the Radlett batting line-up restricting the run-rate at the same time, seamer Leather returned for the death overs and bowled well, meaning that Radlett finished on 148-8 from their 20 overs.

A simple equation for Hertford then; 149 runs in 20 overs to win the Herts Cup. A circumspect start suddenly came to life when Regan launched a number of boundaries down the ground, a good partnership beckoned until Regan went for one big shot too many and was out for 23. This pattern continued with most of the Hertford batsman, Leather and Riddle both departed for 14 – Jones, when on 29 and looking set also went for another big shot.

This left Hertford 89-4 and their supporters nerves in tatters, luckily Cowell and R Leather put together a decent partnership, again at a decent rate to take Hertford to 120 before Cowell decided yet again to go for a big shot and was bowled just as Hertford were cruising. Hertford looked to Ray to repeat his first-game performance and take Hertford home – however he received a good ball from Sanghera first up and was caught behind.

At 120-6 Hertford now had to manage nerves as well as a pumped up Radlett bowling attack, R Leather and Cavener did that well by taking the singles on offer and then after a short-interlude hit a few pressure-relieving boundaries. Leather did his best to finish the game quickly but in the end, with 1 needed to win, a leg-side ball from Sanghera was dispatched to the fine-leg boundary and Hertford had won with 8 balls to spare!

Hertford managed to win their first trophy in a long time and it was down to two brilliant all-round team performances with each individual doing their bit – they handled the pressure well and in both fixtures produced moments to turn the game around. Hertford have the further excitement of entering the regional stages now as – the indicative date for that is the 1st August.

Well done to everyone involved!

Author: George Pavey