Herts Trophy Cup semi-final Redbourn 231-6 beat St Albans West Indians 130 by 101 runs REDBOURN moved into their second Herts Trophy Cup final in two years by defeating St Albans West Indians side in the semi-final. Any thoughts of an easy win were soon

Herts Trophy Cup semi-final

Redbourn 231-6 beat St Albans West Indians 130 by 101 runs

REDBOURN moved into their second Herts Trophy Cup final in two years by defeating St Albans West Indians side in the semi-final.

Any thoughts of an easy win were soon distinguished with Redbourn finding themselves at 32-2 from 10 overs.

Steve Root then joined skipper Dan Roe at the crease, and both batted sensibly and curbed their natural attacking instincts to dig the team out of trouble.

They were particularly good at working the singles to keep the scoreboard ticking and were quick to punish any wayward bowling.

Together they put on 130 and took the score onto 162 with 11 overs remaining and Redbourn were looking at a score of over 250 with eight wickets in hand.

However, both Root and Roe were dismissed for 67 and Tookey and Dobson soon followed to leave Redbourn at 175-6 and in danger of wasting the good position that they were in.

This brought together Chris Godfrey and Darren Bassill who both batted excellently in the last few overs to push the score on.

A combination of attacking stroke play and strong running between the wickets allowed the pair to put on 56 and push the score to 231 before Godfrey was caught on the boundary on the last ball of the innings for 31, with Bassill unbeaten on 16.

As expected the St Albans batsman attacked from the off and found the boundary in both the opening overs, but they also lost an early wicket to Fleming.

A typical lively spell from Ahmed Jamal saw him pick up two wickets and a wicket first ball for Darren Bassill saw the West Indians struggling at 60-4.

The batsman didn't give up and continued to attack but the introduction of Chris Godfrey was sealed the game.

He bowled eight overs of leg spin that bamboozled the St Albans batsman to collect 5-29 and the Man of the Match award.

Redbourn now go into the final at Shenley on September 6, where they will play Division Three rivals Chipperfield Clarendon in what is sure to be a closely contested game.