PHC 259, Willow Cuts 179

There is something about cup matches that brings out the animal in PHC.

Football, cricket, it doesn't matter, give the club a trophy to fight for, and they will scrap every step of the way.

Not that they were forced to do much fighting on Saturday, as they retained their Western Counties trophy with an easy 80-run win over challengers Willow Cuts at Southampton Oval.

"We just like winning trophies, that's the thing about it," said PHC skipper Kyle Lightbourne. "Once we get there we seem to do well."

PHC's victory was built on the back of a brutal 38-ball 73 from Dean Stephens and a more circumspect 58 from the ageless Clevie Wade. Both were instrumental in guiding their side to 259 when at one stage they looked like they might struggle to reach 200.

Having lost the toss and been put in to bat, PHC then lost opener Jason Anderson (0) in only the second over as he became the first of Sherwin Hall's four victims. Hall and Kevon Fubler tied down the PHC batsmen for the first 10 overs, and when Ricardo Brangman fell to a great one-handed catch by Deunte Darrell in the covers, the holders were 33 for two.

Unfortunately for Cuts that brought Stephens to the crease, and with a Cuts bowling attack shorn of all its front line bowlers, Stephens made hay while the sun shone. He took 30 balls to get his 50, and his last 20 runs came from a single Cal Dill over.

Stephens departed with PHC 141 for five, and Wade and Lightbourne (29) then took over. The pair added 91 in 13 overs and alongside the sloppy bowling and poor fielding, also took plenty of singles.

Wade was the next man to go but at 232 for six with 11 of the reduced 46 overs remaining, PHC should have been looking at making close to 300. Instead they failed to bat out their overs and were all out for 259 runs in 40.5 overs.

In reply Cuts never even gave themselves a chance to win. A series of injudicious shots that would have made even the most cavalier of schoolboys cringe, meant their innings could best be described as crash, bang, but no wallop.

There is glory to be had in boundaries but it is a false glory if it is not backed up by doing the grunt work of taking quick singles, which are the solid foundation of any winning innings. And almost to a man, Cuts threw their wickets away playing stupid shots, at ridiculous times and appeared to view such plebeian tasks as running between the wickets with disdain.

Even top-scorer Darrell (47) threw his wicket away, charging Hasan Durham, swinging wildly, missing completely and handing Anderson what is likely to be the easiest stumping of his career. Durham benefited more than most from Cuts' batting, picking up four for 29 in his spell.

That left Cuts 99 for six and the game was lost. But it would be unfair to single out Darrell, especially when a veteran like Dexter Basden, who should know better, had done exactly the same thing.

At 54 for two, with 35 overs still to bat, Cuts were well in the game and Basden (14) and Darrell looked comfortable. But for some reason best known to himself, Basden took a wild swing at a straight one from the less than threatening Charles Symons, and was bowled.

Wickets fell regularly from then on and at 135 for eight, Cuts appeared to be on the verge of a serious hammering.

In the end that they got as close as they did was entirely down to some late order fireworks from Reid Jones (34), Bergon Spencer (17), and Antoine Bean (13 not out). Even then, the trio went for the big hit and got lucky, helped by a PHC side that had a slight crisis of confidence with the winning line in sight.

Lightbourne waited a little too long to bring Stephens back into the attack and from 135 for eight, Cuts managed to batter their way to 176 before Stephens came back and finished off Jones.

All that was left was for Durham to claim his fourth wicket of the innings, tempting last man Hall to drive the ball straight into the hands of Jevon Hunt, giving PHC their victory with more than eight overs to spare.

"We were on the back foot early on," said Lightbourne, "but we managed to dig deep, and Dean Stephens can do that to teams, he can just hit his way to a quick 50. In the end we ended up scoring too many runs for them.

"In the end it was a good game, they hung in there and we just needed to break that last partnership and I told the guys just to stick with it, which we did."

¦ In the rain-affected Central Counties clash between Social Club and Devonshire Rec at St John's Field, an unbeaten century from Charlie Marshall helped the First Division side dethrone the holders.

Social Club made 226 for six in their 43 overs and then bowled out Rec for 195. Ricky Brangman did his best to drag the Premier Division side to victory, taking two for 48 with the ball, and finishing unbeaten on 75, however it wasn't enough.

Marshall's side now face Western Stars in the final round of this year's competition, which is taking place without the inclusion of Police.