Blagdon ready for Plate final
The club, who have dropped to Division Two of the Bristol & District League after consecutive relegations, lost three players to Shirehampton-based Twyford House.
Blagdon go into the final against the Senior Division leaders as underdogs after House defeated University of Bristol Staff by eight wickets on Wednesday night.
Staff were restricted to 76, with Ross Sutton and Mark Fowler taking 6-15 and 3-19 respectively.
Sutton then hit an unbeaten 33, while Dominic Blake was 21 not out as House booked their final place.
Blagdon opener, Jeremy Board, captain for the rest of the season with Mark Bendalli out with a knee injury, said: "I am looking forward to the match.
"We will give it our best shot and we will come up against some of our ex-players.
"There will be quite a bit of banter. Paul Hudd moved there because he wanted to play at a higher standard.
"Andy Nairn, who is Twyford's main bowler, and Simon Byas were prominent names here, but they quit the club.
"It was no great surprise they left us as they live quite near to Twyford House's ground."
Board top-scored with 23 as Blagdon secured a nail-biting four-run victory over holders Bristol Asians in their semi-final on Monday night.
The hosts made 95 before the Asians were cruising at 50-0, with openers Irfan and Khalid on 22 and 36 respectively.
But the Senior Division outfit collapsed, with no other batsman reaching double figures, while young bowler Rory Tulloch took 3-16.
"We were surprised with the Asians," added Board. "We had home advantage and we knew about the slight slope but it was also damp.
"We lost the toss and they put us into bat. We made only 95 – that shouldn't have been enough to win.
"They were cruising at 50-0 and fell apart. They still needed only five runs off the last over but their last batsman was out lbw.
"We went crazy. Blagdon Cricket Club is more than 100-years-old and had never reached a semi-final before – so to get to this final is quite an achievement."
Board has himself clocked up some notable individual records this year.
He has passed 15,000 club runs, 8,000 league runs and also 300 sixes in 2009 although he is yet to claim a half-century this term.
The opening bastman added: "I'm 42 now but I'm doing quite well.
"I have scored 300 sixes in league cricket – and that's 200 more than anyone else at the club.
"It's great to be scoring plenty of runs. I'm now a more careful batsman. In my 20s and 30s I would be more gung-ho.
"I describe myself as a selective hitter rather than one who tries to smack every ball out of the ground. That's partly the reason why I'm scoring more runs."
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