Redbourn hosted Stoke Green on Sunday 3rd July with a place at stake in the last eight of the Voneus Village Cup. Stoke Green have an impressive pedigree in the National Village Cup and last year were beaten in the semi-finals by eventual winners Calmore.

Skipper Ed Hales had no hesitation in choosing to bat first on an excellent Redbourn deck in perfect batting conditions. Ed got off to a typically quick start but was LBW in the sixth over for 33. Connor Yorath and Will Hales took the score on to 68 before Will (23) was caught behind off pace bowler Jamie Odell.

Charlie Mack, batting at four, quickly got into his stride and brought up his 50 off just 39 deliveries. Mack and Yorath put on 101 in 17 overs which was typified by excellent running between the wickets, before Yorath was unluckily run out to a direct hit for 49. With the score on 169-3 in the 28th over the platform was set.

With 7 overs to go Mack was looking to go through the gears, but he was the second of three quick wickets to fall, mistiming a pull to deep back square leg for a fluent 79 off 65 balls caught by Saqlain Basharat off Z Butt. 192-4 had become 215-7. Toby Patrick added a valuable 19 off 14 balls with Josh Arnold also adding an unbeaten 19, which took Redbourn to 253 off their allotted 40 overs. The pick of the Stoke bowlers was left armer Z Butt who returned figures of 2 for 36 off his 8 overs.

Redbourn opened the bowling with slow left armer Dan Darvell who started well with a maiden from the pavilion end. Stoke openers Hashim Hussain and Jamie Odell weren’t going to be subdued and started punishing anything off line. With the score on 40 in the sixth over Callum Moyle induced Odell into a false shot, skewing the ball to a grateful Stuart Barker at point. This however didn’t slow the run rate and the muscular Hussain continued to pepper the shorter leg side boundary.

By the 12th over the score was already on 73 when Darvell made a crucial breakthrough, bowling Hussain for 44 off 36 deliveries. Darvell also accounted for the Stoke number three Jasraj Ghrial (22) in his final over, when with 96 on the board, he launched the ball high into the sky only to be brilliantly caught by the nerveless George Cutler at mid-wicket.

Off spinner Josh Arnold having replaced Moyle at the Cumberland House end bowled left-hander Saqlain Basharat in his third over which left Stoke Green on 110-4. Only three runs were added before Charlie Mack ran out Rizwan Nadeem following a mix up with Parvinder Bhachu.

At the 20 over mark Stoke were 128 for 5 with skipper Gagan Singh at the crease. Stu Barker chipped in with two wickets with his leg spin, but at the other end Singh remained steadfast. He started quietly with just one run from his first seven deliveries, but soon dominated taking only a further 24 balls to reach his fifty with 3 fours and 6 sixes. Stoke had added 60 in six overs and needed 65 off 13 overs with three wickets in hand.

The reintroduction of Josh Arnold in the 28th over and three tidy overs from medium pacer Toby Patrick stemmed the flow, with only nine runs possible in the next four overs. Patrick had Amir Asghar caught behind off the final ball of his spell leaving Stoke on the brink at 202 for 8. At the other end Arnold calmly bowled a maiden. Moyle taking over from Patrick at the pavilion end had the excellent Gagan Singh caught behind with his first ball to make it nine down and his third ball clean bowled Z Butt to wrap up a 49 run win for the Unicorns. Stoke Green all out for 204 in 32.4 overs. Josh Arnold's superb control in the heat of the battle was demonstrated in his figures of 7 overs, 3 maidens, 1 wicket for 19 runs - an economy rate of just 2.7 runs an over.

Stoke Green made for tough and impressive opponents who played the game hard but in the right spirit. Although hugely disappointed at falling short, they are a force to be reckoned with in the Village Cup. It was a pleasure to host the players and their friendly supporters and hopefully the clubs’ paths will cross in the future.

The win sees Ed Hales’s Redbourn through to the quarter finals on Sunday 17th July away to Foxton Granta CC (between Royston and Cambridge).

As always, a massive thank you to everyone who volunteered on the day to make sure members and visitors were well fed and watered and not forgetting the umpires, scorers and road marshals.

Village Cup website

Alastair Cowe Photography