2 Sep 2015 | Cricket
Twenty four hours after staging the back-to-back internationals between the men and women of England against their counterparts from Australia, Glamorgan County Cricket Club played host to another highly successful day of Twenty20 cricket as the Nat West Club T20 Finals took place at The SSE SWALEC.
Using the same pitch as the England-Australia contests, Nat West Club T20 Finals Day began with the two semi-finals before a high-scoring final under the Stadium's floodlights, and with England having won both of the games on Monday, it was rather fitting that two teams beginning with the letter E - Ealing and Exmouth - should contest the final.
Exmouth won the day's first match, beating Pudsey Congs by five wickets. Batting first, the Yorkshire side were restricted to 152-7 in their 20 overs with Exmouth captain Gary Chappell taking 4/24. Opening batsman Adam Patel struck a combative 44, before Andrew Bairstow held the lower order together with an unbeaten 44. But his efforts were not quite enough to post a winning total as Exmouth won a thriller, striking the winning runs from the penultimate ball, with David Lye holding the innings together with 65.
The second contest was a much more one-sided affair, as defending champions Chester Boughton Hall were dismissed for 82 in 18 overs by Ealing. The Cheshire club never recovered from the loss of four wickets in the opening four overs as seamer Chris Glasper claimed three cheap wickets before spinner Derek Lane bagged a trio of victims. Ealing then cruised to their target with 48 balls to spare with Chris Peploe, formerly of Middlesex, leading the way with an unbeaten 40.
The floodlight final saw Exmouth post 174/7 from their 20 overs, with David Lye again in the runs with 48, whilst Dan Pyle made 41. Ollie Wilkin then gave the Ealing innings a turbo-charged start as he blasted 44 from just 20 balls, whilst Peploe again found the boundaries as he under-pinned the run chase what proved to be a match-winning innings, striking an unbeaten 70 from 52 balls. Wicket-keeper Robbie White, who had claimed five victims in the match with Chester Boughton Hall, then displayed his batting skills with an unbeaten 41 from 23 balls as Ealing reached their target in the 18th over and win the Final by eight wickets to become NatWest T20 Club champions of 2015.
It's a great feeling to win it again, said Ealing's Man-of-the-Match Peploe. It's a reward for all the boys turning up to training on all those winter nights. My days with Middlesex are in the past but I'm excited by the chance of Robbie White playing for them in the future. He showed today what an exciting talent he is, with the ability to go well beyond club cricket.
Simon Jones, the 2005 Ashes hero who presented the trophy to Ealing's captain Huw Jones, said: It's great to have an occasion like this at the SSE SWALEC and I've really enjoyed watching the games. There were some serious players on show, so well done to all four teams but especially Ealing.