Into the last four ...
- nharrison
- Jul 20
- 6 min read
Updated: Jul 21
The dream is still alive! From the many hundreds of villages from all over the country who entered teams in the National Village Cup back in January, Blackheath (population 200) is now one of just four still remaining in the competition, and we are just one win away from the final at Lord’s.
29 years after the club last reached the quarter-final stage, our young team – including 3 teenagers and 8 who came through our junior section – set off bright and early yesterday for the long journey to Woolpit CC in Suffolk, encouraged by a message from our captain from all those years ago, James Reid, who still vividly remembers the 1997 Cup Run as the highlight of his cricketing career.
Then as now, one of the joys of the National Village Cup has always been in travelling to great clubs one would normally never visit, and that is certainly true of Woolpit CC, a hugely impressive place with a busy pavilion and two beautifully maintained grounds, who were simultaneously hosting a quarterfinal in a national women’s competition as well as our own game. With their 1st, 2nd and 3rd XIs all top of their respective divisions and their 1st XI undefeated all season, they clearly presented formidable opposition, led by alarmingly in-form Merlin Stamper, an opening batsman of serious quality who had already this season notched up well over 1,000 runs with 5 centuries at an average of close to 70.
After skipper Pete Melhuish won the toss and chose to bat on what looked like an excellent wicket, initial nervousness amongst the band of around 20 Blackheath supporters was not relieved when, as some of us were still unwrapping our sandwiches, there was a raucous appeal. We looked up in time to see – after a long and hope-inducing delay – the umpire raise his finger, sending our top run scorer Luca La Costa back to the pavilion LBW to the very first ball of the innings from left-armer Jake Lawrence.
However, there is plenty of quality throughout our batting line up these days. Matt Jackson and the skipper (coming in at 3) quickly steadied the ship with solid defence, sharp running between the wickets and some well-placed boundaries from anything loose. Whilst there was little to feed on from the very accurate Lawrence, his fellow opening bowler William Parker struggled to find his line and had to be replaced after a couple of overs by Alasdair English. The batsmen built steadily and reached a fifty partnership, including a huge straight 6 from Matt Jackson, before shortly afterwards he mistimed one and was well caught at mid-wicket for 18.
Will Melhuish then joined brother Pete and both looked in good touch. With Pete now scoring freely and looking well set for a big score it was a surprise when he dragged on a ball from English for 34. Over the next few overs, both Will and Adam Croutear looked comfortable against fourth seamer Marcus Packer and Stamper, who bowled some tidy off-spin. But just as the partnership was starting to build nicely, on 115 a fourth wicket went down with Adam Croutear caught in the ring off Stamper for 13. At this stage the match hung in the balance: the run-rate was still some way below what we would have wished (consensus was that a par score was around 220) and a further wicket or two would have left us in real trouble.
Fortunately for us, what then followed was a truly magnificent partnership between Will Melhuish and 19-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman James Fortescue. Having until recently not had the greatest of seasons, Will was now back to his very best, evidently seeing it like a football. He mixed elegant cover drives with beautifully timed pull-shots and impudent paddle-scoops, and even his occasional mis-hits somehow found the boundary. Meanwhile, James ran like a man possessed to give his partner the strike, between crashing the ball to the boundary himself whenever the opportunity presented itself.
The run rate steadily accelerated, the score passed 200 and the hundred partnership was in sight when the batsmen took one risk too many to get Will back on strike and he was run out for a brilliant 90. From the last couple of overs James and Tom Vickers add a further 20 or so. Though at the close James was also run out just shy of what would have been a well-deserved 50 (and Archie Freeth was bowled attempting to launch the ball somewhere into the outskirts of Bury St Edmunds) a leg bye scampered off the last ball took us to a very decent total of 233 for 7 from our 40 overs.
After a generous tea in the pavilion, the team took the field knowing that much depended on either dismissing or at least containing Stamper. “Whatever you do, give him nothing short and wide” was the injunction from Village Cup veteran Paul Nash after his pre-match analysis of YouTube footage. Fortunately, opening quick Benji Arengo-Jones ignored this advice, serving up a generous loosener in his first over, which Stamper dragged unerringly into his off stump. It was possibly the worst ball the normally very accurate Benji bowled all afternoon, but that’s cricket.
Meanwhile, after a slightly wayward start, at the other end 18-year-old Oscar Gilliam had found his rhythm and his pace was soon discomforting the Woolpit batsmen. Though there was less bounce in the wicket than at Blackheath, Oscar extracted every inch of what there was, dismissing the second Woolpit opener, Chris Thomas, with a vicious delivery which he could only glove to Pete Melhuish at gully. A couple of overs later Parker was clean bowled by one that was far too quick for him. Not long after that, Conor Berry, discombobulated by another lifting delivery which struck his body and rebounded towards the slips, left his ground for just a moment only to find his stumps smartly thrown down by Pete, and Woolpit were in serious trouble at 30 for 4.
Having done the initial damage, after 10 overs Benji and Oscar were replaced by Tom Vickers and Archie Freeth. Both were on the money immediately, forcing the batsmen to take risks to get the ball away, with Fortescue coming up to the stumps to prevent them advancing down the track. The reward came when Vickers bowled Jonty Le Compte, reducing Woolpit to 52 for 5.
There followed a modest recovery as Jake Lawrence and Alex Packer put together a decent stand, but any resurgent hope was then snuffed out when young left arm spinner Sam Behn – who turned 17 only last month – came into the attack. Deceived in the flight, Packer’s attempt to force the pace resulted only the simplest of catches to Tom Vickers with the score on 84. Vickers then himself accounted for Lawrence without any further addition, well caught by Will Melhuish. Thereafter it was only a matter of time, with Sam picking up the wickets of Adam Coombes and Marcus Packer, both bowled, to finish with 3 for 11 from 5. Oscar then returned to administer the coup de grace, inducing an edge from Kian Flannagan. He finished with 3 for 25 from 6.2 and Woolpit were all out for just 116.
And so we enter the unchartered waters of a National Village Cup semi-final for the first time in the club’s history. Our opponents will be Goatacre CC in Wiltshire and the date is Sunday 2 August. The journey is well under 2 hours and we very much hope to have a large contingent from the club – details of transport arrangements will follow.
Finally, it would be remiss not to conclude this report not only with thanks to team coach Chris Poil and to the umpires and scorers (especially our own scorer, Tim Chambers) but also with huge thanks to Woolpit CC. The whole match was played in just the right way – highly competitive but always respectful – and both their team and supporters were extremely gracious in defeat. The club is plainly a superbly well run one with magnificent facilities, and their welcome and hospitality could not have been bettered. Should we encounter them again in the latter stages of this competition in a future year, it will be another occasion to relish.
Photos: Simon Jones
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