The Matchplay Cup Final between Gidea Park and Newham was played at Hutton CC on Sunday 10th September 2017.
Newham were short of their best player, Usman Azhar, due to family reasons, and 2 other regulars through injury.
The weather had been poor leading up to the match, and the pitch was green and slow. Hutton won the toss and put Newham into bat. We started badly and lost one of our openers to the first ball.
Gidea Park were bowling very tightly, and scoring was difficult, with the ball not coming onto the bat.
A lengthy rain delay further hindered the innings, and Newham struggled to 117 all out in 32 overs. The game looked to be in Gidea Park’s hands, with them having some County batsmen to call on, and the weather suddenly taking a turn for the better.
However, Newham’s pace bowlers tore into the Gidea Park top order, reducing them to 20-3. Gidea’s Essex players then weathered the storm, and batted doggedly to take their team to 88-4, needing 30 off the remaining 10 overs with 6 wickets to spare.
At this point, Newham captain Luke Tudor made a crucial decision, bringing on Jawaad Hussain to pose a different challenge to the set batsmen. In his next 3.5 overs, aided by some superb fielding and catches, Jawaad took six wickets for eight runs to snatch the cup away from Gidea Park and seal a remarkable victory for Newham’s Under 16 team.
Well done to our u16s for this great achievement!
Newham CC 