Berkshire completed a National Counties double when winning the T20 title by beating Bedfordshire by one run in a gripping final at the Wormsley Estate ground. They had lifted the one-day Trophy in July at the expense of Cheshire.
Last Sunday’s victory extended their remarkable unbeaten run in finals to 17 – they shared the Championship with Staffordshire in 2024 – across the three formats since losing to Devon in the 2008 Trophy final at Lord’s.
Berkshire were indebted to Charlie Dunnett (31) and Andrew MacEwen (27), who came to their rescue by improving the total from 57-5 to 108-6, while Andy Rishton (23no) and Sulaiman Akhtar (10no) added 24 quick runs, taking the total to 149-7.
Beds lost four wickets for 65, but Kashif Ali and Pat Harrington lifted the total to 115-4 with three overs remaining. They scored 12 runs off the 18th over bowled by Euan Woods and 15 off the next from Rishton, with Ali hitting two successive sixes.
This left Beds needing eight runs with six wickets in hand going into the final over. Woods conceded three runs off his first three deliveries before having Ali caught by Akhtar at long-off for 67. The next ball saw Archie Houghton trapped leg before wicket and that was followed by a leg bye, meaning
Harrington needed to find the boundary off the last ball to snatch a dramatic victory for Beds.
He and Zaid Faleel ran two off, but when attempting a third to bring the scores level, Harrington was run out by wicketkeeper MacEwen.
Off-spinner Woods finished with three for 25 and was named man of the match.
Berkshire, winning the competition for the second time, had reached the final by defeating Devon by six wickets in the semi-final, which, following two lots of rain, was reduced to 18 overs a side.
Put into bat, Devon made 152-7, largely due to Dan Pyle (56) and Seb Linnitt (44) adding 95 for the second wicket after Rishton had
dismissed Ben Privett for a second-ball duck. Rishton took 2-22 and Akhtar 2-21.
Berks lost three wickets for 48 inside six overs, but skipper Johnny Connell smashed 86 not out off 47 balls, Woods hit 30 and MacEwen 21 not out, with the target being reached with an over to spare.
In the day’s first semi-final, Bedfordshire defeated Staffordshire by six wickets after dismissing them for 131, with former Berks skipper Dan Lincoln bowled for a third-ball duck by Jamie Anson, who returned outstanding figures of 3.3-1-13-5.
Berkshire coach Bjorn Mordt praised the resilience of his side, saying: “They never understand when they are beaten. They do it time and time again and I think there is an aura about Berkshire because of that.
“Tom Lambert instilled that when he was coach and I have taken it on with these guys. They were incredible today. It was hard to watch, to be honest. I was looking through my hands at the end, but we were brilliant”.
Berkshire: Johnny Connell (Henley), Rhys Lewis (Wargrave), James Isbell (Finchampstead), Matt Dalrymple (Henley), Euan Woods (Wargrave), Charlie Dunnett (Henley), Andrew MacEwen (Wargrave), Andy Rishton (Henley), Sulaiman Akhtar (Datchet), Samm Daniel (Henley), Nilesh Bhandari (Wargrave).
By Dave Wright
