V for victory - and Valambhia

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A solid all-round performance from Maidenhead & Bray on Tuesday ensured they went one better than last year and finally lifted the Julian Cup for the first time in 22 years.

They overcame hosts Boyne Hill by 24 runs with an over to spare.

The Hill, who had done an excellent job in the field, failed to fire with the bat and their run chase of a target of 133 was effectively scuppered in the ninth over.

After opener Manish Chaudhary had struck a useful 24, he was run out following a confusing yes/no call.

Then Ronayne Churchill Brown was also found short when going for two, Tim Smith was given out caught behind and 15-year-old Richie O’Reilly was caught first ball on the boundary.

A decent 42-2 had become a woeful 46-6.

Don Pike’s fighting 42 from No.6, which included some huge pulls for six, gave the hosts a glimmer of hope, but with the run rate climbing, and precious few wickets in hand, the chase became hopeless.

The Hill, were finally dismissed for 108 with an over remaining, but they will know it should have been much closer.

Bray were solid in the field without needing to be spectacular, and they, like their hosts, caught well.

Najeeb Bashir’s mixture of off-spinners and arm balls was effective, while Vish Valambhia was the main wicket-taker on the day with 4-32.

Earlier in the evening, Bray had won the toss and batted first in this Twenty20 clash, hitting a useful, but not ungettable, 132-8.

Zaheer Iqbal got Bray off to a decent start, hitting the ball well and including a couple of sixes in his assault.

Indeed all the Bray batsmen put bat to ball as they tried to blast their way to a good score. There were as many misses as hits, but it proved effective in the end.

Shabaz Ramzan did well to score 28 and Faisal Choudhary smashed 26 as the runs came more freely at the end.

However, the Hill stuck to their task well. Their ground fielding was top notch, as was their catching – Richard Hobson hanging on to two particularly good efforts.

However, this all proved fruitless as the Hill’s lack of experience - only Hobson having played in the Julian Cup final before - proving a key factor in their demise.

The Maidenhead Advertiser sponsored man of the match award went to Valambhia whose wickets ripped the heart out of the Hill batting line-up.

- The award for the highest score throughout the competition went to Hill’s Manish Chaudhary who hit 69 in the semi-final.

The bowling award was won by Bray’s Valambhia with 4-13 earlier in the competition.

- The colts final, which was due to take place at North Maidenhead CC on Monday was rained off.

The match, between Cookham Dean and Binfield, will take place this Monday at 6pm.