Berkshire men took on Cheshire at Falkland this Sunday in the Quarter-Final of the 50 over Trophy competition. Cheshire, who lost to Norfolk in the final of this competition last year, brought down a very experienced white ball team.
Captain Dan Lincoln won the toss, which was a surprise to everyone, and Berkshire decided to bat first. The Cheshire opening bowlers started brilliantly and Berkshire found themselves 2 down inside the 9th over with only 37 runs on the board. Charlie Dunnett and Dan Lincoln then set about resurrecting the innings and had to soak up a lot of pressure from the Cheshire attack. Both of them played brilliantly, running hard and turning the strike over while taking little to no risks. By the halfway mark Berkshire had reached 105 for 2. The boys had battled hard to lay this platform and now the experienced Dan Lincoln increased the tempo of his innings with some incredible hitting. He reached his 50 off 81 balls and then proceeded to score another 45 runs off 29 balls and was eventually out for a brilliant 95 with 7 fours and 3 sixes. With the fall of Dan’s wicket Charlie then took up ownership of steering Berkshire to a defendable total. Charlie reached his 50 in 86 balls and then bludgeoned his way to his first ever Berkshire trophy century with his next 50 coming off just 27 balls. It was an incredibly mature innings for someone so young who had taken up the key role of batting 3 in our 50 over team. Dunnett was ably assisted by our middle order and especially Andy Rishton and Berkshire were able to post an excellent 308 inside their 50 overs. Charlie finished 101 not out off 114 balls.
It was now the turn of our bowling unit to get stuck into the excellent Cheshire batting line up. The Cheshire openers started brightly and cruised to 49 in the 8th over before Andy Rishton struck to remove both openers with some brilliant catches by Connell and Dunnett. Then Rishton clean bowled Sam Perry, the Chesire captain, with a beautiful delivery to leave Cheshire teetering at 60 for 3 inside 10 0vers. Captain Dan Lincoln then turned to our spinners and all three delivered. Adam Searle produced brilliant figures of 3 for 27 in 10 overs and was backed up by Sully Akthar who took 3 for 28. Berkshire eventually bowled out Cheshire for 169 inside 39 overs for a comprehensive victory where the Berkshire men dominated all 3 phases of the game.
The large crowd at Falkland had been entertained by two of the best innings you will ever see in the 50 over format by Lincoln and Dunnett who shared a match winning 157 run partnership and then witnessed an incredible bowling and fielding display. Berkshire now move onto the semi-final where they meet Dorset at Finchampstead on the 22nd June. Before then we play Wales at Wargrave on the 15th June in two T20 games.
Falkland once again hosted the team brilliantly so thank you to Richard and his staff.You can view the full match score card by CLICKING HERE