TOTTY TRIUMPH IN T20 FINALS DAY

Roving reporter and Austrian tourism promoter Doc P rounds up the action

Our fantastic Totty Saints rounded off a rollercoaster campaign with victory in the GMCL Plate T20 finals, hosted at Crompton Meadows. Before we look back on the action, it's only right to give a huge shoutout to everyone involved in organising the day. From the sterling work by KC as always on the ground, Sharon and team on the bar, Nick on the food, the lads on socials, Clive for coordinating, Katie for running the music, and everyone else who pitched in to help out and make this a really slick event. Oh and a shout out to the spectators - not only lots of Tottington players and locals, but a contingent from Woodbank and those who travelled in support of each of the other semi-finalists. It was a great atmosphere.

So to the action. Totts kicked off bright and early at 10am against opposition Woodley Wildcats with plenty to prove - pre-game there had already been a rather silly moment where one of the visitors asked where to store their kit "when we beat your lads". Oh dear. With Burns and Kaleb making an effective opening bowling pair, Woodley didn't seem to have any impetus at all early on, making just 25 from the first 5 overs. The Totts fielding was especially sharp, with Lachie almost pulling off a worldie of a catch at gully from a flying edge. Leading wicket taker in the competition Jack Schoey then struck in his first over, Will Driver tamely hitting the ball to Cal at deep cover. Ry Marsh entered the action and showed plenty of energy in the tank; his classic bromance partnership with "Big" Nathan Hall paid dividends, the big lad pulling off a superb diving catch that pumped up the players and crowd alike.

Quick shoutout to Katie here - if you're going to play "You Had a Bad Day" as a player is walking off, make sure you get to that part and not the preceding four lines of song then cutting it off right before the punchline!

With the innings still very much in check, Woodley clearly realised they were running out of overs, and began to target Cal and Ste Brooks, before the latter dismissed the dangerous Cranwell with a really smart caught and bowled. Talk on the boundary was that the somewhat timid early approach might backfire, a final total of 138 looked very underpar.

T20 cricket, and our performance this year in particular, can often turn in moments. There was little chance that our opening duo of Kaleb and Burnsy were going to try and calmly knock the ball around, and so it proved. However the usual boom boom approach looked to have failed when Kaleb followed a glorious straight 6 with a tame dismissal. The match then really pivoted next ball as Lachie almost got himself run out first ball, stranded halfway down the pitch before the bowler fumbled a really simple run out chance. Thoughts of nerves were then dispelled as Lachie put his second ball about 150 yards into the lodge over square leg. Totty openers of the past were turning in their metaphorical graves at this brazen lack of playing yourself in! To be fair, it was asking for it.

Lachie and Burns were motoring along at 10 an over, and the initial chirping from the field (and two wandering supporters) was notably quieting down. Burns was particularly severe on anything outside off stump, playing some tremedous square cuts, while Lachie was unveiling a very pleasing array of shots all round the wicket. The 100 came up in rapid time, Burns completed his half century from just 36 balls before falling to one shot too many. Nathan came and went but Lachie moved serenely on, fittingly hitting the winning runs to end on a really well-made 67 from 33 balls. Again, the relucatance of the Woodley side to crack on in the power play may well have been their undoing, Totts moving to victory in just 14.1 overs. To respond to the pre-game moment, the best place to store your kit, son? In the car boot, on the way home.

The second semi saw a very similar result to the first game, with Wythenshawe despatching Ashton with 5 overs in hand to set up an intriguing-looking final, and probably the one we wanted, given our struggles with Ashton in the league match the day before.

With the final provisionally scheduled for 5pm, I asked Clive if it was still starting on time and he firmly responded, "No, it's starting at 4.30". Predictably the game commenced at 4.45.

So to the final itself and a chance for Totty to bring home some much-needed silverware. Our performance in the morning semi perhaps made us slight favourites, and with a huge crowd on hand, this was an excellent chance to reward those who had turned up to cheer them on. Bowling first was also probably a good advantage, though it remained to be seen if the fielding performance could match the semi final.

With Burns and Kaleb once again opening the bowling, the start from Wythenshawe was, if anything, even slower than that from Woodley - Kaleb was generating a good deal of bounce from the wicket (take note, Kieran!) and when Burns struck twice in his second over, the Lions were really starting to struggle. His third wicket soon followed to leave Wythenshawe at a calamitous 15-3 from 5 overs. Things didn't really improve and Ste Brooks picked up a pair of wickets very quickly to leave the visitors in disarray at 32-5 and the home side absolutely rampant.

At this point, perhaps the one poor spell of the day from Totty arrived, with three fairly straightforward chances put down, plus another tough one on the boundary past Harvey. Were nerves starting to take hold? It certainly seemed like it, and when number 6 Konduru proceeded to smash four 6s in an over from Brooky, the nerves on the boundary edge in the Totty contingent were also fraying quite a bit!

Enter Callum. Cal has been a bit under the radar again this year, but he's reliable with bat, ball and in the field, and this was his moment to come to the fore. With Konduru going berserk and the lower order all following suit, it would have been easy to throw away the great start. However Cal took three quick wickets to leave the visitors at 92-8.

Another of those "you had to be there to see it" moments. With 8 down, Burns was champing at the bit to come back on and the combined 100 years' experience of Hayesy and Doc P sat behind him were all agreeing this was the right approach. Brave captaincy from Mooro here - our keeper/skipper had an excellent day behind the stumps and perhaps his best decision was to keep Cal on. Two wickets duly followed, leaving us all wondering what the hell we knew, and Wythenshawe a somewhat unbelievable 98 all out with Callum picking up a five-fer. Targets in T20 are impossible to predict but I think we'd have snatched 150 at the start, so to keep them under 100 was absolutely astonishing, especially with the handful of chances put down.

That said, could the wicket have played a part, or was it simply poor batting and excellent bowling up front? One thing was for sure, our top order weren't going to block! Indeed Kaleb and Burns set off even faster this time round, racing to 44 in about 5 minutes before disaster struck. Burns was just getting going before he was bowled and then very next ball semi final hero Lachie managed to back edge his first delivery straight up in the air for a golden duck. Yikes. Surely some consolidation would happen? Nope, Kaleb decided to give it the charge and got caught out a few balls later and all of a sudden that was our top three gone and the score only halfway to the target. When Harvey then fell with the target still 45 away, things were getting decidedly nervy all round.

Enter Nathan and that man Callum again! Cal smacked two delightful boundaries straight away and Nathan deposited several balls well into the trees to get the crowd roaring again. All of a sudden the target was under 20 and our lads duly knocked off the runs with few alarms to bring home the cup. Man of the match Cal fittingly struck the winning runs! Absolute scenes ensued, a great night was had by all and memories made. Congratulations to all 11 of our side for playing their part - Mooro, Burnsy, Kaleb, Lachie, Harv, Big Nathan, Little Ryan, Jack, Oscar, Brooky and Callum. Top work lads.

Don't forget to check out our photo gallery of over 150 images from the day courtesy of Martin Henfield and Danny Crompton. Superb stuff.