Hornchurch win National T20 Cup on historic day

A stunning innings from George Hankins provided the platform for their 161-8, with Adeel Malik's late cameo proving vital.

And they kept their nerve in the field to restrict their rivals to 151-5 in reply, before celebrating with typical gusto.

Hornchurch face the camera at Wormsley (Image: Lee Power)

After both sides and the crowd had observed a minutes silence in memory of The Queen, then sang the national anthem, the Only Fools & Horses theme tune welcomed Paul Murray and Hankins to the middle at the start of the match.

Slow left-armer Jacques Banton opened the bowling for Barnt Green, and Murray got off the mark with a push into the leg side off the fourth ball of the innings.

Hankins hit his first ball through cover for two and ended the over with a lovely four through the same region.

Then after Murray took a single off Andy Sutton, Hankins clipped to fine leg for another boundary, then edged another four.

But Murray sliced to a diving Sutton at gully towards the end of Banton's next over to depart for just two and leave Hornchurch 18-1.

And Sutton bowled three dot balls in the next, before having a shout for lbw against Ronnie Saunders turned down.

Hankins ended the over with a lovely square drive for his fourth boundary to make it 24-1.

And Saunders got off the mark in style with a big six off Banton over wide mid-on, before scampering a leg bye following another lbw shout as the fifth over ended with the score 32-1.

Sutton held Hornchurch to just three runs in the sixth over, a leg bye and two to deep point from Saunders, as the powerplay ended with the score on 35-1.

With Green fielders now back on the boundary, Saunders holed out to Rheedyi Amin at long on in Banton's final over.

And Jalpesh Vijay was trapped lbw first ball, leaving captain Billy Gordon to defend the hat-trick ball.

Only two runs came from the first Cam Jones over, as Green began to turn the screw. But Hankins and Gordon managed to take six from Robbie Shurmer's first over to make it 44-3.

Hankins took two to third man off the last ball of the 10th over to leave Hornchurch 49-3 and in need of a big second half.

Gordon brought up the fifty with a single to long off but, after Hankins repeated the trick, saw a well-struck cut shot stopped at point to deny him a likely boundary.

Hankins found the rope with a well-timed pick up off his legs at the start of the 12th over, then survived an appeal for a catch down the leg side next ball.

And Gordon was dropped by a diving Sutton at cover as Hornchurch edged up to 61-3.

Hankins clubbed Shurmer over long on for six off the first ball of the 13th over, then pushed a single to mid-on to move to 46 next ball.

And after Gordon's cut was stopped by a short third man, Hankins turned the ball off his legs, through the hands of a fielder behind square to reach his half-century.

Gordon ended the over in style with a six over mid-wicket meaning Hornchurch had taken 19 runs from it to move to 80-3.

And Hankins hit Henry Marshall for four over extra cover, before a couple of singles brought up the 50-run partnership.

Adam Hines replaced Shurmer after his costly over but was hit back over his head for six by Hankins to the delight of the Hornchurch supporters at that end of the ground.

The over yielded a dozen runs in total as Hornchurch moved to within a couple of three figures at the 15-over mark.

And Hankins cut Marshall for four off the first ball of the 16th over to bring up the century, before Gordon repeated the trick two balls later as another dozen runs were added to the total in the over.

Gordon cut Hines past point but was run out coming back for a second to leave his side 111-4, bring Adeel Malik to the middle.

Malik hit down the ground for a pair of twos and a single then, after a wide and single to Hankins, ended the over with a four over mid-wicket to lift the score to 122-4.

And after Hankins took a single off the returning Jones, Malik dabbed a cut shot through gully for another four, which was followed by a wide, a pair of singles and a crunching cut shot for four.

A massive six down the ground off Hines was followed by four in front of square next ball, then a top edge for two over the wicketkeeper's head.

But after a dot ball, Malik top-edged another to deep backward square where Jones took a good catch to end his entertaining cameo of 31 off 13.

Hankins reverse swept Sutton for four at the start of the last over, then hit a full toss off his legs behind square for another boundary next ball.

But Chris Sains was run out coming back for a second, after Hankins hit a bouncer to wide mid-on, off the third ball to make it 157-6.

And Hankins hit Sutton's slower ball to deep square leg to depart for a superb 84 off 63 balls, before Luke Edwards scampered four off the last two balls with Marc Whitlock to end the innings on 161-8.

From 36-3 in the seventh over and 49-3 at the midway mark, that represented a decent fightback by Hornchurch.

And it might have got a whole lot better at the start of Green's reply had Gordon not dropped dangerman Rheedyi Amin at point off Saunders' first ball, then seen the batter cut the third ball past him for four.

Gordon bowled a good first over, but conceded five after a misfield in the covers gifted Amin two runs.
Amin then hit Saunders for four past mid-off and Banton swept the final ball of the over to the boundary to leave Green 19-0.

Sains limped off feeling his hamstring, to be replaced by substitute fielder Joe Defreitas, before the first ball of Gordon's second over was cut by Amin for four.

But the captain made the breakthrough as he trapped Banton lbw for just five with the total on 24.

Amin hit Saunders past Ted Coney at extra cover and Malik at long-on for successive boundaries in the fifth over to make it 34-1.

And Ben Chapman-Lilley steered Gordon to the rope as Saunders forlornly gave chase for another four at the start of the next over as the powerplay ended with the Birmingham League side on 40-1.

Green added another five to their total as Saunders bowled his four overs straight through, before Malik came into the attack in place of Gordon and kept dangerman Amin to just a single from his first four deliveries, followed by two more dot balls.

Hankins kept Green to just singles after replacing Saunders, until the final ball of his over brought two runs.

Malik kept things tight in the next, but Amin cut the last ball to the boundary to leave Green 59-1 at the halfway stage of their chase.

And Amin hit Hankins for six in the next over, after an appeal for the wicket of Chapman-Lilley had been turned down two balls earlier.

Amin reached his 50 with a single as Whitlock's first over went for eight, after Chapman-Lilley hit a full toss for four.

Chapman-Lilley hit Hankins down the ground for another boundary at the start of the 13th over, but only three more runs came after that as the target was reduced to 78 off seven overs.

And the scoreboard kept ticking over with ones and twos in Whitlock's next over, before Chapman-Lilley lifted the last ball over Vijay at cover for a boundary.

That made it 96-1 off 14, but Amin then hit Hankins to Vijay on the boundary to depart for 53 to give Hornchurch renewed hope.

Chapman-Lilley cut a short ball for four late in the over, with two off the last delivery reducing the target to 58 off 30 balls.

Whitlock kept things tight in the first half of the 16th over, but Chapman-Lilley hit successive fours behind square to reach his half-century as 12 came off the over.

Malik returned to the attack with Hankins having finished his spell, but Romi Brar hit his second ball behind square for four, then produced a ramp shot for another boudnary to make it 126-2.

But Chapman-Lilley was then tempted out of his crease by the fifth ball of the over and Murray completed the stumping - but later confirmed it was a catch - to remove him for 56.

Whitlock conceded just four balls from his last over, with two big lbw shouts turned down, as Hornchurch began to believe.

Malik saw Harding hit the third ball of the 19th over for six over square leg, but Coney chased well to prevent a boundary from the next, keeping it to two, and Harding's attempt at a repeat picked out Saunders to leave Green 140-4, needing 22 off seven balls.

And another great chase by Coney, scooping the ball back from inside the rope, kept Green down to just two more runs off Malik's last ball, leaving Gordon to defend 20 in the final over of the match.

The skipper then held his nerve to clinch a 10-run win and launch wild celebrations between the team and their supporters who flooded onto the ground.