Sudbury (172-4) retained the top tier of the Suffolk ‘Thank You NHS’ Club T20 Cup with a nail-biting one run win against Sawston & Babraham (171-6) at Woolpit CC on Sunday.

Winning the toss and batting first, Sudbury started well with Adam Mansfield blasting 22 off 12 balls while opening partner James Poulson made 39.

Darren Batch (52) continued his good form from Saturday in combination with first Poulson and then Ryan Vickery, who finished 46 not out from 28 balls, guiding his side to a very competitive 172-4 from 20 overs.

Sawston started positively with the bat and while Kane Munday fell to Paddy Sadler, James Van De Peer (50) and Scott Stanford (31) put on a brisk 48 for the second wicket, moving the score on to 76.

While wickets did fall, Sawston struck 11 sixes compared to Sudbury’s three in their 20 overs, and their hard hitting approach kept them firmly in the hunt.

Sadler finished with excellent figures of 3-8 in four overs, and when opening bowlers Poulson and Batch returned with four overs remaining 43 runs were needed.

Gallery1

1 / 8

Sudbury captain Kenny Moulton-Day gets sprayed with celebratory bubbly after his side won the Suffolk 'Thank You NHS' Club T20 Cup at Woolpit CC Picture: Mark Westley

George Darlow showed the threat he poses with the bat during the recent league fixture and he made a brilliant 37 from 17 to leave 12 to win from the last.

Despite an early boundary in the over there was to be a final twist in the tale as Darlow was bowled by Batch with four balls and six runs remaining. And the Sudbury seamer held his nerve to concede two 2s and a dot from the final three deliveries, with Mansfield coming up to the stumps to complete the all-important take off the final ball of the game.

Woolpit win on home patch

With the competition re-named and re-structured for 2020, eight teams had made it through to the Finals Day. The new format saw four tiers created for the first time which encouraged more teams (38) to enter in the group stages.

After a busy few weeks getting fixtures organised and played in a much shortened season, it was Sudbury and Sawston & Babraham (Tier 1), Woolpit and Easton (Tier 2), Battisford and Easton (Tier 3), and Woodbridge and Bury St Edmunds who qualified for the Finals Day.

A glorious day at Woolpit welcomed the morning fixtures of Easton II v Battisford and Woolpit II v Easton I.

The tier 3 final saw Battisford bat first and score consistently through their innings to set an imposing 184. Chris Bull and Roland Armstong starred with the bat both retiring after reaching a 50.

In reply, Easton lost early wickets through Jordan Peacock and Adam Fairfull which curtailed any hopes of a strong powerplay. Despite some valiant resistance wickets continued to fall, (Marcus Alderton 3-30), with Easton 30 short of their target.

Playing on their home ground, Woolpit II took to the field first against Easton.

Alex Sayer was the main stay of the Easton effort making 50 and although most batters got starts, wickets fell consistently resulting in a total of 144. Chris Gourlay took 3-15 from two overs checked Easton’s attempts to post a more challenging total.

Woolpit’s innings got off to a fine start with Alex Packer (49) and Jonty Lecompte (21) putting on 50 for the first wicket. A mid-innings wobble did threaten to bring Easton back into the game, but Woolpit saw the game home winning by four wickets with nine balls to spare.

In the tier 4 final a young Bury St Edmunds side fought bravely against Woodbridge.

Batting first, Bury set a target of 142 with Simon Aldous top scoring with 27.

Some strong hitting from Marcus Smith who retired on reaching 50 led the way for Woodbridge who chased down the runs with overs to spare.

More than £350 was raised by teams donating their competition entry fees to local NHS charities.

The umpires on the day were Stephen Lilley, Peter Allen, Tom Smith and Ron Raisey.