Sunday saw the North/West U13 County Final between Cropredy CC and Minster Lovell CC kindly hosted by Minster. Start time was 10am – it was a bright morning though a bit damp underfoot. Minster won the toss and their captain B Mathota decided it was a morning to field first.

Two well bowled maidens set the tone for the first half of Cropredy’s innings where the batting side were restricted to 41 for 3 at the halfway point by a well drilled Minster side. However, good contributions from D Ainley 27, J Sparkes 29 and 30 retired by F Lynch saw Cropredy’s run rate improve to reach a Total of 111 for 4 in their 18 overs, including a 68 run partnership for the 4th wicket. The 4 wickets were shared between T Gorman (1-19), F Driver (2-31) and B Mathota (1-17). Minster were very tidy in the field with a particularly impressive boundary catch by E Lane.

In reply, Minster’s response was severely impacted by the loss of 3 wickets on the score of 14, including 2 unplayable deliveries from J Dixon. Minster continued their chase, but were always behind the required rate eventually falling 15 runs short on 96 for 8. Good contributions from N Robertson 22, B Mathota 15no and F Spearman 13. The wickets were shared between G Jackson (1-9), T Dunning (1-0), D Ainley (1-9) and J Dixon (2-14).

Cropredy’s captain D Ainley collected the trophy to crown Cropredy CC as 2020 U13 North/West County Champions. Congratulations to both teams displaying great team spirit in a very competitive contest and both coaches for preparing 2 such well drilled sides.

Thank you to Kas Mathota and Richard Lynch for coaching and umpiring, P Spearman and A Ainley for scoring, Martyn Cross and the Minster team for hosting, preparing the ground and controlling the parking.

Thanks also to all the teams who have participated in this competition and umpires, scorers and groundsmen that have made it possible in the truncated season.