New Farnley picked up their fourth trophy of their record-breaking season with victory over Wanstead & Snaresbrook CC in the Vitality Club T20 cup final at the picturesque Wormsley Estate.
They were guided to their latest triumph by a chanceless unbroken third wicket stand of 143 between Ryan McKendry and skipper Aidan Langley as an eight-wicket victory was achieved with five balls to spare.
Faced with an early start due to the rain forecast later in the day, New Farnley Langley chose to bowl first as New Farnley hoped to restrict their opponents to a manageable score.
Alex Lilley and Abhay Negi kept things tight early on, with Lilley bowling his four over allocation straight through for excellent figures of 4-0-14-1. New Farnley kept their opponents to 63-1 from the first ten overs, but Wanstead & Snaresbrook had two set batters at the crease who were looking to accellerate.
New Farnley’s fielding was strangley ragged with Adam Ahmed, McKendry and Jonny Phillips all spilling straight forward chances and there were fears among their supporters that they would prove costly.
Gurman Randhawa checked the momentum by picking up three wickets in the middle overs, including both set batters, Haaris Usman (38) and Muhammad Hameed (32) but some powerful hitting from Yuvraj Odedra (45*) from 24 balls with five fours and two sixes) helped his side reach 150-6 by the close. It looked to be a slightly below par score and so it proved.
New Farnley tried to get ahead of the rate from the off with Steve Bullen and Fletcher Coutts opening the batting. Coutts struck two fours while taking nine runs from the first over, only for Zain Shahzad to dismiss both of them in the following over while conceding just a single run.
At 10-2 it was up to captain Langley and Ryan McKendry to rebuild the innings and keep up with the required run rate. Twelve runs came from the third over before McKendry struck back against Shahzad’s second over – hitting him for a four and a six.
At the halfway point, New Farnley were 67-2 – just four runs ahead of the first innings and with similarly set batters. However, Wanstead & Snaresbrook were unable to replicate Randhawa’s magic and dislodge either batter as they kept ahead of the rate with key boundaries and excellent running between the wickets.
McKendry reached his half-century off 46 balls at the end of the 14th over, while Langley brought up his fifty from 36 balls with a single off Odedra at the end of the 17th over.
Twelve runs were required from the final two overs and Wanstead & Snaresbrook brought Shahzad back for a final roll of the dice to try and dislodge either batter. Two runs came from the first two balls to Langley, before McKendry struck him over the boundary for six to deflate the hopes of their opponents.
Two more singles and a two brought the scores level for the start of the final over, where Langley crashed the first ball away for four to secure victory for his side.
McKendry was awarded Man of the Match for his innings – capping off a career defining year for the all-rounder to go with his 1,000 league runs and four winners medals.
Wandstead & Snaresbrook Innings
New Farnley Innings
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New starters: please bring a small jar for water if you can.
