Dorset v Cornwall T20 (2)

© Dave Eggins Warms Ups at Milton Abbey School

 

NCCA T20 Group 2  Table

Milton Abbey School – Dorset 127-6 (SJ Young 43; MM Tryfonos 2-23, JD Libby 2-28),

Cornwall 86 (PS Smith 34; TJ Prest 5-15). Dorset (2) beat Cornwall (0) by 41 runs.  Scorecard

 

Milton Abbey School – Cornwall 132-4 (JD Libby 77),

Dorset 123 (RA Whiteley 41, WA MacVicar 5-19, MM Tryfonos 2-12, TG Sturgess 2-34). Cornwall (2) beat Dorset (0) by nine runs.  Scorecard

 

It was honours even as Dorset hosted an NCCA fixture for the first time in the 97 acres of Milton Abbey School near Blandford Forum. Morning rain meant a delayed start of an hour but no overs were lost. Dorset convincingly won the first game by 41 runs. However, Cornwall fought back to clinch the second encounter by nine runs. It means both teams have lost a group game but Dorset’s cancelled game with Devon means Cornwall will top the group and make it to T20 Finals Day for the first time if they were to win the remaining four games against Herefordshire on May Bank Holiday Monday and Devon at Cornwood on Sunday 7 May. Dorset just has Wiltshire to play on Holiday Monday.

Former Cornwall player Sam Young made 43 to see Dorset to 127-6 in the first game. Max Trythonos and Jake Libby took two wickets. After losing Christian Purchase to the second ball, Libby, playing his first Cornwall game for five years, made 17. Skipper Paul Smith batted well for 34 but the innings subsided from 59-2 to 86 all out at the beginning of the 17th over. Hampshire’s Tom Prest did the damage taking 5-15.

In the second game Purchase again departed in the opening over but Libby anchored the innings making 77 that included 4 sixes. He was dismissed with three balls remaining, one of which new batter Joe Phillips hit for a straight six. Crucially 42 runs had come off the last three overs of the innings. Dorset’s reply centred around Hampshire and Southern Brave’s Ross Whiteley, who famously hit 6 sixes for Worcestershire against Yorkshire in the T20 Blast in 2017. With over 350 First Class and one-day appearances,  the left-hander hit three maximums before new Cornwall professional Will MacVicar had him caught by Libby for 41. The home side required a further 23 off 16 balls, with four wickets remaining, but MacVicar wrapped up the tail with three balls to spare to end with 5-19.