Captain Sukh Dhillon admitted he was surprised his side had won the Julian Cup on Tuesday, but he shouldn’t have been as that's exactly what he predicted would happen.
Having guessed correctly how Stoke Green would beat Burnham B in the semi, Dhillon said in last week’s Advertiser that his team would beat Burnham A in the final in the last over – and so it proved.
Needing 124 for victory, the wining runs came off the penultimate delivery to earn Stoke Green their inaugural Julian Cup success in their fourth year in the competition.
Understandably, Dhillon was upbeat afterwards.
“I can’t believe I predicted the semi-final right and now this. I said last week we would win in the last over and we have. How crazy is that?” he said. “We are ecstatic. All the guys in the changing room have gone nuts.“ We have only been in the competition for four years, so to have won it is a great achievement. “We have learned quite quickly how to play this format. Although we reached the final in our first year, I don’t think we really knew how to play in this 20-over format. “We have learned quickly and I think we are up there with the best 20/20 sides in the area.”
Turning his attention to the final, Dhillon said confidence was an important factor for his side's victory on Tuesday. He said: “I think it was a good toss to lose, as when we got out there it got overcast and we had a nice new shiny ball which was moving around.“ We won the first five overs of the game by getting three wickets which meant they were never going to get a big total. “In the end we restricted them to a total which we thought we could get. “But the rain never really stopped which made the pitch damp and suddenly chasing 120 was more like chasing 140-150.” He added: “We lost a few early wickets which made us nervous but a 50-run partnership in the middle brought us back into the match, but we did our best to lose it. “When I was out there we needed 17 off two overs and I thought we had lost it. “Azhar Ali came on to bowl and I thought I’d chance my arm as I was sure if we took it into the last over we could win.”
Although there was no one turning point, Dhillon believes there were two key stages to the game.
He said: “Saud (Ahmed) got two wickets in his second over which was crucial, and then when we batted we had an over which we scored about 15 which brought the run rate down from about nine to about six, which gave us a lot of confidence as were very nervous.
“It was our first chase of the competition which makes this win even better. I’m just delighted we did it.”
http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/Sport/Cricket/Stoke-Green-beat-Burnham-off-penultimate-ball-for-thrilling-Julian-Cup-final-win-16072015.htm