Obviously it was a very disappointing result after 7 consecutive wins including last years Final we were also confident going into the days leading up to last Sunday. At that point we probably had our strongest team available with the exception of Tom Kohler Cadmore and Jack Haynes. Over the final days before Sunday we lost Tommy Boorman to injury, Ollie Cox called into the Worcestershire squad for their Sunday T 20 and Zen Malek for a Cup match for his club. All 3 are contracted County players as primarily batsmen. It was a big blow both psychologically and as quality players who are difficult to replace.
Captain Josh Haynes spent hours chasing up replacements and we thank those that answered the call at short notice.
Having said the above we got off to a great start having chosen to bat first. After 18 overs Freddie Wynn and Josh Haynes were 92-0! A big score looked likely but the next 3 overs saw us lose 3 key wickets which without question changed the game for us. Josh got 40 off 45 balls , Freddie Win 36 off 48 and finally Rehaan hit a full toss to mid on for 2. Score now 96-3!
Alex Milton and Dan Holland came together and batted well against good off spin bowling putting on 60 but in nearly 20 overs . Alex made an excellent 51 off 72 and Dan 24 off 52.
Joel Cox came in when Dan was out and played very well but had little support but at the end of our 50 overs he was 41 not out off 40 balls.
We finished on 234-7 including 22 extras. We were probably 50 short of a par score.
We had to bowl well and hopefully take a couple of early wickets but other than an early run out we didn’t get the break through we need. Liam Smith was the best of our bowlers but Bradfield were never really under pressure and Harry Came of Derbyshire batted through to the end scoring 90 not out off 110 balls.
On the day Bradfield thoroughly deserved to win and now play Charterhouse in the Semi Final.
I’d like to thank Josh for his Captaincy and commitment to the OMCC and all the players who have played for us this year. I’m convinced we have the best group of players in the C C so we will be back as Winners in ‘25.
Finally a big thank you to all our supporters particularly the Patrons and to the team at Malvern College.
by
Bryan Richardson
President of the OMCC & Founder of the Patrons Club.