Belmont & Edgware Cricket Club

No-one could have predicted the events of the Stuart Neils Final 2004 held at Radlett CC last Sunday. Firstly the weather held out great as all involved expected a washed-out weekend but it turned out to be a lovely day for cricket. Vale who have led the way in Jewish cricket over the last few years were expecting a tough match and this was what they got.

After Richard Wienburg loss the toss yet again showing consistency, Andy Daniels put BECC into bat on a good all-round pitch with the knowledge that their batsman should be able to handle any total set.

LMV kept things extremely tight from the start with Jon Galloway (2/25) and Daniels (1/32) not giving the batsman any space. Two quick wickets fell in the 8th over with just 8 runs on the board. The first was Jonny Wynbourne being sent back and run-out and the other an LBW decision against Andrew Bloom. Jonny Feigenbaum came to the crease and started playing his shots from the start but couldn't keep it up and soon fell to a straight one from Howard Gold (1/29).

Oli Simons joined Eddie Davis at the crease and together started to build a 74 runs partnership so set up a defendable total. Davis was eventually caught off Saul Weitzman (1/39) for a solid 53. Soon after Simons followed suite and was caught off Andy Okin (2/26) for a superb 52. BECC knocked up a few more runs towards the end of the innings to close on a score of 163/7 in their 40 overs.

A great tea was put on at Radlett and set up a great atmosphere for the players and many others who came along to support the finalists.

BECC took to the field and knew that the total was about 20/30 runs short of what they believed to be a good batting total on the wicket and after defending 116 the week before felt that they could pull it off again. Daniel Becker and Black opened the innings for LMV. Richard Reggel (2/35) immediately put on pressure as Becker edged one through the slips almost immediately and soon after Black fell in just the third over to bring Adam Brand to the crease. The runs flowed as Both Reggel and David Davis (1/41) only found their line and length after 8 overs but a little light shone when Brand smashed one straight back to the bowler Davis limiting him to just 14 when fear of 140 were on the minds of all fielders.

Jerome Colemans was shortly out bowled by Reggel and the game was on. This brought Howard Gold to the crease who together with Becker settled things down again and kept building their innings reply. E Davis and Wienburg (2/23) took over the bowling and slowed things down. Becker got out just 7 runs short of an excellent half century caught off Wienburg after top-edging it into the deep square. Canfor-Dumas was also dismissed after Trevor Woolf held an excellent edge off Wienburg. With the umpire being unsure of the edge, C-D took it like a cricketer and walked, a fantastic display of sportsmanship in a cup final and showed the spirit of the day.

Richard Ableson (2/11) took over and dismissed Galloway LBW before he could get going but at this point there were just a few runs to be knocked off with the allotted 40 overs almost completed. Neil Myeroff took over the other end and tried to contain the batsman who were throwing their bats all around. Gold was eventually dismissed caught off Ableson for a match winning 57 and left just single figures for the rest of his side to knock up and this was accomplished with just 5 balls remaining in the match.

At the end the better side on the day won as Vale proved with top fielding and an all-round tight performance. BECC were by no means out-played and made for an exciting final.

Congratulations to Vale for winning the 2004 Stuart Neils Trophy and Howard Gold who was awarded man of the match by Maccabi Cricket Convener Nigel Rothband who was certain to be looking on for selections to his 2005 Maccabi side.