Smallridge and Harlow miss out on Cup final for Blagdon
All-rounder Tim Smallridge dislocated his shoulder snowboarding during the winter but, after recovering from the injury, suffered a recurrence of the problem in the semi-final.
He retired hurt during that match but came back at the death and held the bat with only one hand to help Blagdon post 95 from their 20-overs.
But Smallridge will not be fit enough to face Senior Division leaders Twyford House, while wicketkeeper Guy Harlow is also expected to miss out.
Harlow, who has been averaging 89 this summer, was knocked off his bike by an ambulance before, in a separate incident, being stung inside his mouth by a wasp.
Stand-in skipper Jeremy Board said: "Guy's had a bit of rotten luck lately. I will have to bring in a couple of youngsters in Adam Burrows (wicket-keeper) and Tom Coles."
Opening batsman Board was looking forward to coming up against strike bowler Andy Nairn.
But the former Blagdon player is not available and, despite the gap of two divisions, Board believes his side has a chance against the Senior Division leaders.
"Cup cricket is different. It is 20-over cricket and this is all about crash, bang, wallop in the batting," added Board.
"The bowling is different also. You tend to bowl yorkers and try to stop the batsmen from scoring.
"It's a shame Andy is not playing. I was looking forward to facing him.
"Andy was arguably one of the best bowlers to play for Blagdon. It would have been nice to test myself against one of the best bowlers.
"Hopefully (former Blagdon captain) Simon Byas will be playing. He is a very dangerous player at 20-over cricket. We will be looking to get him out quickly."
Blagdon are third in Division Two but have not completed a match since July 4 when they beat Woodpeckers by 62 runs.
The matches against Bitton and Bristol Asians were abandoned, while the matches against Carsons & Mangotsfield and Roman Glass/St George were cancelled.
The Somerset village side have beaten the weather in their quarter-final and semi-final Bristol & District Cup clashes against Lodway and Bristol Asians.
But Blagdon's hopes of making a step in the right direction after successive relegations has been hit by these abandoned and cancelled matches.
"Let's hope it stays nice for the final because our last four matches have been wiped out," added Board. "It's been frustrating. From a league point of view, we were starting to win matches.
"We had gone up to third but our matches that were called off were against sides from the bottom three.
"I'm not saying we would have won those matches but we would have a very good chance against those sides. We should be pushing for promotion and closer to the top two."
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