NCCA T20 Group 2  Table

Cornwood– Devon 123  (B Beaumont 46; LP Goldsworthy 4-35, TG Sturgess 2-18, WA MacVicar 2-30),

Cornwall 127-7 (19.4) (CBF Purchase 34 WA MacVicar 20;  M Shepherd 3-14, C Haggett 2-22).  Cornwall (2) beat Devon (0) by three wickets.  Scorecard

Cornwood –  Devon 120  (C Haggett 40; LP Goldsworthy 3-14, MM Tryfonos 3-32, TG Sturgess 2-17),

Cornwall 121-2 (12.1) (CBF Purchase 66, CF Gibson 49no; W Christophers 2-15). Cornwall (2) beat Devon (0) by eight wickets.  Scorecard

Cornwall’s cricketers have won through to the NCCA T20 Finals Day for the first time following two wins over Devon at Cornwood.

In the first game, seven runs were needed off 4 balls but Tommy Surgess hit a four and a six to claim a three-wicket victory.

The second game was far more comfortable with an eight-wicket success gained with almost eight overs to spare.

Cornwall joins Berkshire, Hertfordshire and Staffordshire in Finals Day at Tring on Sunday 21 May.

Semi-Final Draw to be made.

Match Reports courtesy of  Conrad Sutcliffe

CORNWALL are on their way to finals day in the NCCA Twenty20 Cup after condemning Devon to back-to-back defeats at Cornwood in the final round of qualifying matches.

Paul Smith’s side had to beat Devon in both fixtures to be certain of edging ahead of Dorset at the top of the table. A three-wicket win and a seven-wicket win ensured it was mission accomplished.

Finals day is at Tring CC in Hertfordshire later this month. Cornwall don’t yet know who out of Staffordshire, Hertfordshire of Berkshire they will play in the last four. The draw is expected later this week.

Lewis Goldsworthy, released by Somerset to play for Cornwall, was the man of the moment in the win over Devon in game one. He wrapped-up Devon’s innings by performing the hat-trick in the final over. In the light of future events, it was a match-changer.

Devon’s Ben Beaumont flogged the Cornish bowling all around the ground totting up 46 from just 20 balls. He was stumped running past a ball from Cornwall pro Will McVicar.

With Beaumont out of the way Devon struggled to keep going at Twenty20 pace for long and were all out for 123 in the final over.

Goldsworthy spun his way to a hat-trick in Devon’s final over when he accounted for Matt Skeemer (caught), Kazi Szymanksi (stumped) and Matt Shepherd (lbw) one after the other.

Cornwall won game one after a struggle. They slowed up after losing Christian Purchase for 34.

Tight bowling from Max Shepherd, Calum Haggett and Joe Gore meant Cornwall got down to the final over from Szymanski needing eight to win. Tom Sturgess settled it with a four then a six.

Godfrey Furse, the Cornwall team manager, said Goldsworthy’s hat-trick might have been the difference between winning and losing.

“His hat-trick was three dot balls, which could easily have been seven or eight more runs to chase, which would have made our last over that much tougher,” said Furse.

“We won the first game without playing at our best and the players were reminded during the lunch interval that they had to move up a notch.

“I think the scores show we played to our potential in the second game, which we need to do more often.”

Devon made 120 all out in game two built around a brisk 40 from Haggett with support either side from Sam Elstone (17) and Will Christophers (18no).

Haggett looked like getting a few more before he was run-out by a direct hit throw from Chris Gibson.

“Looking back that run-out probably saved us at least 30 runs, which could have made it a different game,” said Furse.

Losing Haggett, Jack Moore and Matt Skeemer in successive balls – not a hat-trick as one was a run-out – slowed Devon in the final five overs.

Cornwall went off in hot pursuit with opener Purchase leading the way with a rumbustious 66 off just 31 balls. A stand of 95 for the first wicket with Gibson ended the game as a contest.

Purchase perished trying to hit Will Christophers down the ground. He collected six sixes – four in a row off Moore – and six fours.

Gibson was still there undefeated on 49 when the winning runs were scored in the 13^th over.

ends