Clumber Park reach T20 semi-finals after thrilling win over league rivals​​​​​​​

Farnsfield won the toss and elected to bat first on a beautiful track.

After the early loss of opening batsman Alex Ainger (6), they built a strong second wicket partnership of 117 runs through Freddie Skelton (62) and Ben Kilford (59).

It wasn’t that Clumber were bowling badly, the bowling attack and fielding was superb throughout – Farnsfield just produced some seriously good, quality batting.

Clumber’s Mark Dean picked up rewards in the latter stages of the innings, finishing with figures of 4-25.

Zak Berridge (0-23), Josh Womble (0-35) and Darren Spooner (1-36) all bowled well too, especially Zak conceding only two boundaries in his spell.

After the 20 overs, Clumber had restricted Farnsfield to 163-5 – not a bad effort given the rate they were going at.

In reply, James Davies and Josh Womble opened the batting for Clumber Park with an action-packed start.

James (31 runs off 14 balls) blasted six boundaries in the first two overs!

Farnsfield struck back with some first-class spin from Michael Archer (1-18), as the run rate slowed.

Josh Womble rebuilt with Chris Mather, as 31 runs were scored from a couple of overs mid-way through the innings – two much needed high scoring overs for Clumber.

From the final 10 overs, Clumber needed 79 runs to win and it was all to play for.

Clumber were the favourites, until Womble fell for 56 runs from 38 balls.

The pressure was now on Chris Mather’s shoulders, as Ben Perkins joined him at the crease.

The pair kept chipping away, leaving Clumber requiring 20 runs to win from the last three overs and both sides still in with a shout,

A huge six from Mather in the 18th over put the game in Clumber’s favour, and some sensible running between the wickets brought Clumber within touching distance with five runs required to win.

A four each - one for Mather and one for Perkins – finally saw Clumber over the line in a thrilling team performance against high quality opponents.

Man-of-the-Match, Chris Mather, led the celebrations with a marvellous match-winning 59 not out from 52 balls.

Clumber will now play their semi-final away at Whitwell CC on Sunday, 23rd June at noon.