Clive Rosevear Insurance Hawkey Cup final at St Austell — Wednesday, July 4

Werrington 175-5 (20)

St Austell 133-8 (20)

WERRINGTON skipper Paul Smith put in a man-of-the-match performance as they beat St Austell by 42 runs at Wheal Eliza to retain the Clive Rosevear Insurance Hawkey Cup.

Played in dry but dull conditions, the North Cornwall side racked up an imposing 175-5 off their 20 overs with Smith’s brilliant 63 off 35 balls, which included six towering sixes, being the highlight, although he was supported by opener Adam Hodgson’s 51 from 46 balls.

In reply, St Austell were restricted to 37-2 off the batting powerplay (six overs), and although Michael Bone played well for his unbeaten 57, spinners Ben Smeeth (2-22 off four overs) and Hodgson (2-24 off 3) kept the pressure on to keep Gary Bone’s men down to 133-8 as Werrington advanced into next Wednesday night’s WT Edwards Cup final at the same venue against either Penzance or St Just, who contest the Vinter Cup final tonight (Thursday) at Camborne (6pm).

After the winning the toss on a used pitch, Werrington’s opening pair of Matthew Robins and Hodgson started quickly, putting on 42 in the powerplay as they combined purposeful running and tucking away the bad ball, although Hodgson’s ramp off seamer Liam Watson was one of the shots of the day.

Robins (19 off 25) was the first to go when he was brilliantly caught and bowled diving to his right by skipper Gary Bone (2-36 off 4 overs) moments after Conway Gilbert had shelled a tough chance at deep mid-wicket off county spinner Andy Libby (0-26 off 4).

This brought Smith to the crease and it wasn’t long before he was into his stride as anything over-pitched was often dealt with a maximum, three of which came in as many balls off Michael Bone’s first over.

They brought up the 100 off 13 overs and their century partnership soon after before Smith eventually fell.

After smashing ten off two Matthew Lello (2-39 off 4) deliveries, he finally holed out to Matthew Lloyd on the mid-wicket boundary for a chanceless knock that changed the complex of the match.

Hodgson continued to tick along but was out the very next ball as he tried to target the short straight boundary but was well caught off a skier by Matt Ellison.

At 155-3 Werrington with just a handful of overs remaining, the batsmen were given a licence to play their shots and although Nick Lawson (5) and Australian Jono Baldock (4) fell cheaply, they combined with Mark Gribble (8no) to add another 20 runs and give St Austell a difficult task.

Tensions had been building throughout the innings and it came to a head early in the home side’s reply as Alex Bone and opening bowler Tom Dinnis clashed, leading to umpires Simon Hartley and Roy Strout to step in and cool the situation down.

Despite that, Smith’s men bowled excellently with the pacey Dinnis (1-16 off 4) and Smeeth combining to great effect.

Bone was first to go as Smith made sure there was no doubting who was winning the man-of-the-match award.

Standing at extra cover, he flung himself high to his right to claim a remarkable catch off Smeeth, which drew applause from the large crowd at Wheal Eliza.

Needing nearly nine an over from the word go, St Austell had to attack and they kept losing wickets.

Hugh Parkinson (12) was caught by Robins at long-on and although the hard-hitting Gary Bone (13) joined his brother Michael to add 19, Gary Bone was brilliantly held on the extra-cover boundary by Robins diving forward off the bowling of Baldock (1-17 off 3) to effectively end any hopes they had.

The rest of the innings passed off without much incident as the required run-rate continued to soar as the batsmen hit out and got out.

Bone brought up a well-made 50 with a huge six off Dinnis towards the end, but Smith (1-6 off 1) finished off the game by bringing himself on for the last over and it was fitting he ended the game by claiming the wicket of Liam Watson with his last ball, as he ran nearly 20 yards to take a skier and add the shine to a performance, which saw them win their first piece of silverware under his tenure in his debut season in the role.

Reflecting on the final, Smith believed his side were worthy winners.

He said: “It’s a trophy we target every year because we feel we always have a great chance.

“The boys got into the final without me and it was nice to come in and contribute and help get the boys over the line.

“We said after winning the toss that anything over a run a ball (120) would have been good on a used wicket, but when Mini (Matthew Robins) was out he said it was flat.

“Hodgy (Adam Hodgson) and I chose to target one end and then pick off what we could and it worked well.

“We got to about 70 (77) off ten overs and then we thought 140 or 150 was par but we were really happy to get up to 175.

“Then when we went out to field we thought if we could get through the first six overs and get a couple of wickets we’d be in control, and needing ten an over for 14 overs is a massive ask at any standard, especially on a used wicket!

“We bowled and fielded really well which was good and we were the better side in all three departments.

“It was nice to bounce back after a poor result at Truro with some silverware and get that winning feeling back.

“We must now use the winning feeling and momentum and take it into the rest of the season.”

Werrington hosted the three-day Minor Counties Championship clash between Cornwall and Devon from Sunday (July 8) to Tuesday (July 10).

See next week’s Post for a full report on the proceedings at Ladycross.