Lighthouse CDCA T20 Final
Fairford 149-5
Bibury 146-6

FAIRFORD CC finally hosted the Lighthouse CDCA T20 Final against CDCA Div One champions Bibury in front of a good crowd after four previous attempts had been thwarted by the weather.

T20 captain William Bowers won the toss on an overcast afternoon and elected to bowl first on a slightly soft pitch.

Fairford’s opening bowlers Derek Townsend and Charlie Bailey struggled to find the right areas to bowl to an extremely attacking opening partnership and the change bowlers, Bowers and Harvey New, had no better luck as W Scott and D Brewer continued with big shots to reach 90-0 off 10 overs.

A more defensive field and the introduction of Ben Cohoon led to the breakthrough, a sprinting Chris Clayton catching Scott (51) in front of the sight screen.

The experienced Kevin Smart then accounted to for T Smith (0) thanks to a fantastic diving catch at mid-on by Bailey.

Fairford continued to tighten the grip, and Cohoon finished with fine figures of 3-16, as Bibury sat at 136-4 off 17 overs.

Bailey returned to the attack forcing Brewer (85) to sky one to Smart at point.

Two balls later Bailey followed it up with another wicket and more tight death bowling from Bowers led to Bibury finishing their 20 overs on 146-6.

Townsend and Fairford's leading run scorer Chris Clayton made a steady start to the innings.

But Clayton missed a straight ball off Hayes in the third over, leaving the home side on 11-1.

Chris Hart joined the fray and hit three sixes off his first eight balls, looking in fine touch, as Townsend and Hart looked untroubled in taking the score to 95 off 12 overs. Townsend then fell for a patient 36.

Cohoon was quickly returned to a silent pavilion a few balls later as Bibury suddenly started to look and sound interested. At 97-3 captain Bowers was reminded by Bibury on arriving at the wicket that he had 'the weight of the club on his shoulders'.

Bowers nonchalantly silenced the opposition with a shot which cleared the longest mid-wicket boundary.

Hart departed for 45 and an over confident Muir came running down the wicket to be stumped for 6, leaving the score on 119-5 off 16 overs, as Brewer finished with 3-22.

Lee Clark strolled to the crease, unflappable as ever, with 28 required off four overs.

Despite Bibury’s efforts to wipe the smile from Clark's face and cut off his singles which were giving the strike to booming Bowers, they struggled.

This allowed Bowers to hit freely, cleanly and regularly as the pair took Fairford past Bibury's total with seven balls to spare.

Bowers (32*) finished in some style with a straight drive for four back over the bowler's head.

So Fairford triumphed in a final played in the sort of spirit that would have been appreciated by the sponsors, John Light and his wife Penny, who were absent holidaying in the cricketing outpost of Moscow.