Brentwood Buccaneers win their third Dukes Essex T20 Title in Succession
Posted by on 29 July 2013
Brentwood Buccaneers: 2013 Dukes Essex T20 Champions
Brentwood made it three wins in three years in the Dukes Essex T20 Finals Day at Billericay with convincing wins against Ardleigh Green and Chelmsford.
In the semi-final, Brentwood racked up a huge 210 from their 20 overs with David Hammond producing a man-of-the-match performance with 83 from just 44 deliveries. However, that was after an impressive start to the innings from James Redwood and Aaron West getting Brentwood to 52-2 from the powerplay overs. After a few overs of scoring at 7 an over, Brentwood then had a launchpad for the final few overs, scoring 79 in the final 6 overs, with Max Osborne getting a blistering 46 from only 22 balls.
Ardleigh Green were never in the hunt, and were unable to ever really get sufficient bat on ball against Brentwood’s opening bowling attack of Tom Moore and Osborne. Wickets were picked up at regular intervals and only a late salvo from Alex Cason got Ardleigh Green into triple figures.
The final against Chelmsford, who themselves convincingly beat Upminster, followed a similar pattern to the semi final, with Brentwood’s total of 174 built around Aaron West’s innings. There were cameos from James Redwood, who scored 44 in just 23 balls and Jon Walford’s 24 in just 13 balls, but it was West's innings that allowed the other batsmen the platform and the freedom to play their shots.
Chelmsford started off well above the rate with Jack Sterland blasting an impressive 38 from only 21 balls. However, Chelmsford’s hopes were hindered when Nick Prowting pulled a hamstring and was forced to call for a runner, limiting his movement and strokeplay.
In the end, some impressive middle over bowling from Ian Belchamber, who condeded just 13 runs from his 4 overs, ensured Chelmsford’s asking rate kept on rising and in the end were well short of the target.
On another day Belchamber might have been awarded the Man of the Match award but the honour went to West for the second consecutive year for his 70 from just 49 balls.
Brentwood now move onto the National stages of the T20 competition, where they will face Horsford from Norfolk in two weeks time. The game will be played at Billericay, with the winners of that game taking on the winners of the Middlesex League and Home Counties Division game being played also at Billericay.
