Yesterday, Middlesex Cricket’s Under 18 EPG squad secured their passage into the ECB National County Cup Final yesterday with a nail-biting victory over Somerset’s youngsters at Taunton Vale Sports Club.
Winning the toss and electing to field first, Somerset Captain, Thomas Rew, invited Middlesex to bat, and very quickly his bowling attack got the upper hand, as each of Middlesex’s top five of Dylan Rawal (6), James Isbell (7), Aaryan Sawant (1), Sebastian Morgan (5) and Caleb Falconer (3) were dismissed for single figure scores, with us collapsing to 38 for 5 after just 6.2 overs.
We urgently needed a big partnership, however with just a further 32 runs added Somerset struck again, when Pansilu Wijesinghe went for 21 to Joe Heywood, who picked up his fourth wicket of the innings.
Ben Salter and Eddie Campion then put on 51 for the seventh wicket before Salter was trapped in front by Lachlan Rice for 25, bringing number nine Naavya Sharma to the crease with Middlesex still in trouble on 117 for 7 after 17 overs.
Sharma and Campion then added 48 for the eighth wicket before Sharma fell for 22, again to Rice, which saw Samarjeet Singh enter the fray at number ten with the score on 165 for 8 and runs urgently needed.
By now, Campion was going well, and the partnership that Middlesex so desperately needed, with wickets running out, eventually came, as he and Singh added a crucial 113 runs for the ninth wicket, before Campion fell in the final over of the innings, agonisingly just three runs short of what would have been a miraculous century.
He had done his work though, and alongside Singh, had rescued the Middlesex innings, with the youngsters posting a total of 278 for 9 in their allotted 50 overs.
It gave the Middlesex bowlers something to defend, although when Somerset’s top four all got in, hitting scores of 41, 42, 38 and 53, the hosts looked to be in control of the chase.
To the credit of the Middlesex bowlers, they kept plugging away, and despite the top four all getting set, we were able to breakthrough at crucial times, with Campion, Singh, Nilesh Bhandari and Sam Graham picking up the wickets, seeing Somerset reach 171 for 4 after 37 overs of their reply with the game in the balance.
Middlesex’s bowlers had to be patient, and we bowled with great discipline to see the required run rate for Somerset climb steadily, and it was another eight overs before we struck again, with Campion picking up his second wicket of the innings, as the hosts took the score to 217 for 5 after 45 overs, needing another 62 runs from the final five overs with five wickets left standing.
11 runs off the 46th and 47th overs, and 12 off both the 48th and 49th left Somerset needing 16 off the final over, still with five wickets remaining, and it was left to Singh to deliver the final over of the game.
Seven runs from the opening three balls made sure the nail-biting for those watching would continue until the very end, but then a dot ball, a wicket, and another dot ball from Singh got the job done for Middlesex, who ran out winners by the tight margin of 8 runs.
Both Campion and Singh finished with two wickets apiece, capping fine all-round games for the pair of them, finishing with figures of 2 for 39 and 2 for 64 respectively.
It was a thrilling contest, and enormous credit has to go to the Middlesex lower order, who really dragged us back into the fight in Taunton and to the bowling unit, who stuck to their task well, even when wickets weren’t coming their way.
Our Under 18’s progress through to the National Under 18s Final now, where we will face Yorkshire’s Academy youngsters, who overcame Leicestershire in the other semi-final by 141 runs.
The final will be played on 1st September at Kibworth Park Cricket Club and all members and spectators are welcome to attend.
Good luck to the lads in the final. Bring it home!
