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National Club Championship Champions 2022
ECB National Club Championship
Nantwich vs Bexley - ECB National Club Championship Final
After the amazing day at Manor Way in late August where the 1st XI saw off Potterne, a dream date at Lords would bring the curtain down on another memorable summer. However it wasn’t a straight forward set of preparations for the final, firstly train strikes meant there were no practical rail routes for the Bexley faithful to get to Lord’s and secondly, the sad death of HM the Queen just 9 days prior put the entire game at risk as the country entered a period of mourning. Lord’s decided to remain operational and a series of coaches had been sourced to transport some 200 members to the game. Though no official figure will ever exist, many believe that by the afternoon there were somewhere near 400/500 people in the ground supporting Bexley in what was an incredible representation of what a huge community Bexley CC is.
On the pitch, preparations were also somewhat frenetic when Matt Stiddard & George Haley found themselves stuck in Spain on Friday morning with all returning flights cancelled or fully booked. They learnt the lesson of booking with EasyJet the hard way(!), but when they stumbled through the doors of the Premier Inn Edgeware at 10:30pm Friday evening looking slightly disheveled, we finally had our XI and thoughts turned towards the following morning.
We were greeted with a flat looking Lord’s pitch, if not slightly damp given the wet weather in the build up to the week, but also an inviting 40 yard boundary to the Tavern Stand side. This made the decision at the toss particularly tricky and one that captain Adam Riley wasn’t too disappointed to lose at 10:30 with our Cheshire League opponents Nantwich opted to bowl first. Understandably, there were a few nerves flying around in the morning and everyone knew that only a good start from our now established opening pair of Aiden Griggs & Shaun Evans could project some calmness upon the changing room and the stands! Their opening stand threatened to do just that with a partnership of 38 before Aiden fell. Thankfully George Haley combined with Shaun to push the scoreboard along, at quite a rate as well. Shaun played some sparkling strokes in his 47 ball, 56, bringing up his fifty with an extraordinary six over mid-wicket. Our innings ground to a halt however in the 90s and when Stidds fell in the 27th over at 136-5, our season's work essentially hung in the balance.
It was impeccable timing from Ben Aldred to make his highest score of the summer for the 1st XI, leading a counter attack full of his trademark stroke play. He and Calum Basey, who once again featured in a critical 5th wicket partnership of 73 in 10 overs, teamed up to take us past 200 with Ben eventually falling for 68 off 63 deliveries. The closing overs were an entertaining affair with the Bexley lower order trying to squeeze out every run and the Bexley fans enjoying every wide! Adam Riley launched 'huge' 37 meter six over square leg in the penultimate over and Bexley would eventually finish on 241-8 off 40 overs which was a familiar total given how the semi-final played out!
After a tremendous Lord’s tea, second only to our very own produced at Manor Way, the 2nd innings could not have started better. The Nantwich skipper, now pantomime villain for many in the crowd, fell in the first over for a golden duck off Adam Ball and a tight opening passage saw Nantwich progress slowly to 33-1 off 10. Unfortunately that was about as comfortable as things would get as credit to Nantwich, they would proceed to exploit the short boundary and increase the run rate at a merciless rate. We would collect 3 wickets at fairly regular intervals in the middle passage of the innings before the Nantwich pair of Robinson and Byatt threatened to take the game away from us. Just as they got the required rate below a run a ball for the first time, Bally returned to dismiss the dangerous Robinson thanks to another classic Anish Patel catch under the upmost pressure. There wouldn’t have been many people brave enough to call their name and get under that catch, which hung in the air for eternity. This wicket seemed to re-energise both the players and supporters alike as another flurry of wickets fell, firstly via a run out where Ben & Shaun combined and then Shaun once again in the action to take a tremendous tumbling catch at long on off Jas Singh.
As the game reached its final chapter, it became apparent that we would have to bowl Jas and Bally from the end with the short boundary to the leg side and therefore finish the game with Shaun Evans at the opposite end. The game swung back and forth in both teams favour but a crucial breakthrough by Bally when the equation was 8 off 8 left us with a fighting chance going into the final over. Not many in the ground would have known but with both teams tied on 8 wickets, should the scores finish level, Nantwich would win on a 30 over countback. Effectively whilst Nantwich were 8 wickets down, they only needed 7 to win.
The Nantwich number 6 batter, Spencer Byatt would turn down a single off the first ball, before launching a ball to long on for two off the second. 6 off 4 quickly reduced to 2 off 3 when Byatt switched his feet and hit a magnificent reverse sweep to the boundary. Many of the Bexley following had their head in their hands; who could blame them! After a brief discussion between Shaun and Adam resulting a slight tweak to the field, Byatt clipped the next ball to mid-wicket for a dot, before the batter inexplicably swung and missed the 5th ball looking for glory. Suddenly the equation was 2 off the final ball but the players on the pitch knew that 1 run without a wicket would still see Nantwich win. What happens next will forever be etched in Bexley's history. Shaun, at his wizardry best, delivered a flat, full delivery which jammed under the bat of Byatt who was forced to hit the ball straight back at him and spark those celebratory scenes that no one in the ground will ever forget.
Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat and as the commentators gasped excitedly on the stream “Bexley Win…By the barest of all margins”.
In the aftermath of the celebrations, skipper Adam Riley reflected: "This is a historic moment for Bexley CC and this is easily my proudest moment playing cricket for this club. I would class 12 of the 14 players in the squad today to be homegrown or to have at least played in our colts section growing up which is a fantastic reflection of what Bexley CC is about. Over the last few years this team has developed into a real force on a local, regional & national level and that is thanks to the work they put in but also thanks to the help we receive on and off the pitch by so many other people at Bexley. Every year you enter the cup competitions in hope that you get to play in games like this, but to able to say that Bexley are the champion club side in England is an amazing feeling."
Video & Photo Links
Nantwich vs Bexley Match Highlights
Nantwich vs Bexley Full Match Replay
Nantwich vs Bexley Match Photos - Andy Clay
Nantwich vs Bexley Match Photos 1 - Steve Griggs
Nantwich vs Bexley Match Photos 2 - Steve Griggs
Nantwich vs Bexley Match Photos 3 - Steve Griggs
Nantwich vs Bexley Celebration Photos - Steve Griggs
Nantwich vs Bexley Supplementary Photos
Match Reports
