Southern Electric Cup 2003

HAVANT FIGHTBACK TO PULL OFF REMARKABLE CUP TRIUMPH

Never-say-die Havant came back from the dead to pull off an astonishing nine-run win over Bournemouth at the Hampshire Rose Bowl on August 5 2003 to lift the Southern Electric Cup for a record fourth time. But such an outcome hardly looked likely as Bournemouth, chasing 122 to win off 20 overs, cruised to 75 without loss - only to lose a remarkable game having needed to score only 50 off the last nine overs. Western Australia's Adam Voges and Richard Scott, the former Hampshire left-hand opener, appeared to have done irrepairable the damage, but Paul Gover's side, who never know when they are beaten, rallied to produce a gutsy effort and pull off a quite stunning victory. Bournemouth lose seven wickets in those fateful last nine overs as Havant's depleted bowling attack, spuured on by superb fielding, turned the cup final on its head to leave the Chapel Gate men stranded nine runs adrift. "It has got to rate in the top five performances since I've been involved here," said a joyous Havant captain Paul Gover. "We were getting stuffed out of sight by Scott and Voges, but somehow we pulled it round during a quite incredible comeback. What was more remarkable that we did it with a relatively inexperienced and under-strength side." The tide began to turn in Havant's favour when Voges holed out to Gover himself at backward gully.
As Havant upped the tempo, so Bournemouth completely lost their way and could only manage a disappointing 112-7 off their 20 overs.

Ticked along...
The result was a huge disappointment for Bournemouth and their enthusiastic followers, especially after Havant, who had been invited to bat by Scott, had been contained to a modest total. But the slow Rose Bowl surface was never a batting haven, with boundaries hard to come by throughout. Havant ticked along at five runs an over for the bulk of their innings and were well placed at 89-2, particularly after Andy Perry (32) and Luke Sears (33) took 29 runs off four overs from Voges and Jo Wilson. But a double 16th over breakthrough by left-arm spinner Voges (3-26) prompted a mini-collapse by Havant, who dipped to 99-5 before a late flurry by Simon Barnard swelled their total to 121-7. Southern Electric Man of the Match award winner Voges, playing several quality shots off his legs, looked in awesome form, scampering quick singles with Scott as Bournemouth eased to 35-0 off just six overs. The pair doubled the total by the 12th over, leaving Bournemouth to score 47 runs off 48 balls. Yet Havant always sensed that, once they broke the partnership, they could create inroads into Bournemouth's uncertain batting line up. Instead of playing cricket and pushing one's and two's about, Bournemouth lost their cool - and ultimately the match. Charlie Holcomb, Martin Miller and Richard Scott, who made a boundary-less 44, all perished to run outs, while Nick Reeves holed out in the deep. Bournemouth still needed 20 runs off the last two overs and got no where near it ...
"To fight back from our position and somehow manage to win by nine runs was an unbelievable performance," Gover added. "We showed a lot of heart, guts and determination and every player out there gave it his all. In the end we pulled it round and got our rewards."

Scoreboard
Havant
* P Gover run out (Mixer) 13
A Perry run out (Mixer) 32
L Sears c Lockey b Voges 33
B Moynan st Miller b Voges 9
D Carson c Reeves b Voges 2
S Fergusson c Park b Reeves 5
S Barnard not out 13
G Benton c Voges b Mixer 5
+ S Greenfield not out 0
Extras 9
Total (7 wickets) 121
Did not bat : O Jones, M Copping.
Fall: 41, 62, 89, 91, 99, 104, 113
Bowling: N Reeves 5-0-23-1, M Mixer 5-0-36-1,
J Wilson 5-0-32-0, A Voges 5-0-26-3.
Bournemouth
* R Scott run out (Barnard) 44
A Voges c Gover b Copping 37
C Holcomb run out (Barnard) 6
+ M Miller run out (Moynan) 2
N Reeves c Barnard b Moynan 8
W Lockey c Greenfield b Benton 1
D Jackson not out 1
N Park b Moynan 0
J Denning not out 0
Extras 13
Total (7 wickets) 112
Did not bat: M Mixer, J Wilson.
Fall: 75, 89, 96, 101, 103, 111, 111.
Bowling: G Benton 5-0-21-1, B Moynan 5-0-33-2,
M Copping 5-0-25-1, S Barnard 2-0-13-0, D Carson 3-0-16-0.
Umpires : R Harrison and B Pardey
Result : Havant won by 9 runs.

Semi-finals...
BAT's Southern Gardens headquarters hosted both semi-finals - Bournemouth over-powering eventual Premier Division 3 champions, Alton by ten wickets and Havant ousting old rivals BAT Sports by a 13-run margin. Alton, who suffered their only competitive defeat of the summer, never really clicked into gear against Bournemouth, slipping to 65-4 before New Zealander Ben Jansen (40) and Huw Ross (32) added 66 to lift their final score to 137-8. Bournemouth breezed it with three overs to spare, Voges (69) and Scott (60) both unbeaten. Gover's patient 43, which steered Havant to 124-7, proved invaluable in the eventual win over BAT Sports, who reached 77-2 (Richard Kenway 39) before losing six wickets for 23 runs - five of them to Mark Copping (5-32) - and finishing adrift at 111-7 (David Banks 33).

Alton spring surprise...
Liverpudlian Joe Wilson (6-14) produced the season's best SECup bowling spell of 6-14 as Bournemouth celebrated a seven-wicket win at Lymington (96-9). Charlie Holcomb's unbeaten 51settled affairs. Alton sprang a surprise beating Old Tauntonians & Romsey by eight wickets - Mike Trodd's unbeaten half-century for the visitors proving in vain. They lost two early wickets, but Ben Jansen (43*) and Richie Morgan (29*) carried the SPL3 winners past OTR's 98-6 with three overs to spare. Chris Yates (4-34) was involved in a unique SE Cup team hat-trick for Rowledge, but was unable to prevent BAT Sports from a 40-run win at Southern Gardens. The former Cardiff University skipper, who initially removed David Banks (41), whipped out Chris Thomason and James Schofield in cosecutive deliveries before Richard Kenway (47) was run out off his third ball. But BAT's 144-6 proved too many as only David Lloyd (55) survived three-wicket spells by Dan Goldstraw (3-25) and Terry Rawlins (3-15) which restricted Rowledge to 104-8. Paul Gover (42) and Richard Hindley (33), aided by some brisk later scoring from Bev Moynan (29 not out) paved the way to Havant's 14-run win over Portsmouth. The visitors appeared as though they might threaten Havant's 136-4 (Lee Savident 3-28) while Andrew Locke (39) and Matt Scott (32) were at the crease. But with Matt Cox (3-31) and Phil Loat (3-24) creating inroads, Portsmouth closed at 122-7.

Holders crash out...
South Wilts' reign as cup holders ended with a nine-run second round defeat by Old Tauntonians & Romsey. Raj Naik was the inspiration behind OTR's success, hitting 41 of their 122-3 and later taking 3-36 as South Wilts were restricted to 113-9. Max Smith (29) and later Ian Tulk, with a quick-fire 33 not out, left South Wilts chasing six runs an over from the start. Jason Laney (25) and Paul Draper (21) began well for South Wilts, but the required run rate gradually increased, causing the cup holders to sacrifice wickets for quick runs. Three stumpings by Keith Trodd complimented tight bowling by Jeremy Ord (4-26) and Naik as South Wilts reached 113-9 (Webb 23). "We needed one big over and didn't get it," sighed losing South Wilts skipper Rob Wade. Terry Rawlins (4-10) and Chris Thomason (4-17) did the damage as BAT Sports skittled Trojans for 73 (Nigel le Bas 24) to set up an easy nine-wicket win. David Banks hit 37 not out to carry BAT into the quarter-finals. Paul Marks hit a gallant 72 but was unable to save Winchester KS from a 23-run defeat at Rowledge, who posted 156-2 through David Lloyd (62) and Dave Bootton (56 not out). Weakened Hursley Park (97-9) were no match for Lymington, with Glyn Treagus's unbeaten 72 carrying the New Forest club to a nine-wicket win at 99-1. Undefeated SPL3 champions Alton raised a few eyebrows by knocking out Andover, who were beaten Rose Bowl finalists two seasons ago. Jansen (4-21) helped peg Andover to 104-6 - a total the Kiwi (44*) and Gareth Billington (33) chissled away. Havant emerged comfortable seven-wicket winners over Waterlooville (85-6), with Matt Cox taking 3-23 and Bev Moynan hitting 30 not out.

First round results:
Easton & Martyr Worthy 62 (Tapp 3-6), Alton 63-2. Alton won by 8 wickets. Hursley Park 174-2 (Aymes 85*, Prendergast 60) Paultons 134-7 (Collins 28, Robinson 28). Hursley Park won by 40 runs. Liphook & Ripsley 96-7 (Wright 3-13, Loat 3-24) Havant 99-6 (Perry 44). Havant won by 4 wickets. Lymington 151-4 (Treagus 86) New Milton 147-7 (D Miller 32). Lymington won by 4 runs.
Southsea 60-9 (Locke 3-10, Cunnington 3-19) Portsmouth 61-3. Portsmouth won by 7 wickets.
Sparsholt 50 (Greetham 3-8, S Marks 3-16) Winchester KS 51-3. Winchester KS won by 7 wickets.
Trojans 133-2 (Hendrikse 60, Williams 38) Burridge 95-4 (Friedrich 33). Trojans won by 38 runs.
Waterlooville 184-1 (Baumann 100*, Russell 56) Purbrook 167-6 (Prozesky 35, Holder 30*, Berg 3-51). Waterlooville won by 17 runs.

Picture Courtesy Of 'The News'