NATHAN Green was the unexpected man of the match for Cullompton 2nd XI in the nine-run win over Plymouth Civil Service & Roborough in the final Tidball Insurance Services Cup.
Green’s barnstorming knock of 85 not out helped Cullompton reach 189 for seven batting first in the final at Teignmouth & Shaldon.
And when the pressure was on near the end of the chase, Green bowled two overs for just 15 runs given away to clinch a cup double for Cullompton.
Green was an easy choice for cup sponsor Richard Tidball to name as man of the match. The unexpected part was he was not supposed to be playing at all!
“Nathan has not played at all for a couple of weeks due to injury and it was touch and go if he would play in the final,” said Karl Walton, the cup-winning Cully captain.
“Eventually, he agreed to turn-up on the basis he would swing the bat and hope to get a few runs. He certainly did that!
“He was not going to bowl at all, but we lost James McDermott from our attack when he was called twice for high no-balls and had to find some overs from somewhere.
“Nathan said he would ‘turn his arm over’, and it is just as well that he did.
“For long periods of the game I was thinking ‘we could lose this’ and with four overs left it looked like we might.
“It came down to 15 to win from the final over bowled by Nathan and they just could not get hold of him.”
Brendon Parr’s first team already had the Ivor Dewdney-sponsored Corinthian Cup in safe keeping after routing Stoke Gabriel by eight wickets in a one-sided final seven days earlier.
And, after amassing 189 for seven it seemed Walton & Co were in a strong position to do the double.
Walton himself made 41 off 24 balls, but it was Green who had Civil chasing leather all around the Hazeldown Oval. He only faced 38 balls and hit nine of them for six and three more for four.
Chip-ins – Daulat Singh (18) and McDermott (14) came in useful in the final totting-up.
Civil’s run chase was led by Alan Smith, who made 45 not out in his last appearance for the team before emigrating to France a few days later, and Matt Trevorrow, whose 63 off 30 balls had the look of a match-winning innings.
While Green got to break open the bubbly after the game, Trevorrow’s departure to Ethan Mills early in the 18th over also impacted on the outcome of the game.
Cullompton’s path to the final was via a five-wicket win over Ivybridge 3rd XI in the morning semi-final.
McDermott’s three-wicket haul (3-14), and some miserly bowling by Graham Bowles (1-22) helped limit the Bridge to 144 for seven. Paul Johnson top scored with 35.
Karl Walton (47) and Rob Jarrett (39) were Cullompton’s leading scores in a chase that ended early in the 19th over.
Civil Service & Roborough worked their way to the final with a 40-run win over Plymouth 3rd XI in the lunch-time semi-final.
Nuruz Zamak (31), Trevorrow (29) and Nathan Lister (26) all contributed to a total of 177 all out. Thirty-seven extras helped.
Although George Atkinson made 46 and Charlie Watson 39 for Plymouth, they needed 103 to win from the last 10 overs and could not keep up with the clock. They ran out of time on 137 for four.
