Ranston Cup Drama ends in another Tie and Superover
- mm
- May 29
- 3 min read

Skipper Ewen Moore Reports:
The Ranston cup 1st round returned to the Park on Wednesday 28 May as we took on a strong Shroton side, who are unbeaten and flying high in their league. You could feel the nervous energy and excitement as we won the toss, elected to bat and Finn Edwards and Henry Comyn strode out to the middle. Boom boom time! Fast forward 5 minutes and both openers had gone for first ball ducks. Ach! Fast forward another 5 minutes and big-hitting Ed Hobbs was also back in the pavilion. Errrh! Fast forward another 5 minutes and the classy Harry Walker also gone for a duck. 4.4 overs, 10 for 4! Oh no! A rather shell-shocked skipper shuffled out to join Henry Smith at the crease and the re-building job began. Much to the everyone’s relief, things started to improve from here. Smith’s classy strokeplay and Moore’s more agricultural approach came to the fore and when Moore was run out on 49 in the 17th over, the partnership had put on 101. This left just enough time for Will Griffin (9 off 6) and Bertie Aspinall (10 off 3) to chip in with delightful cameos and we closed the innings on 145 for 6. The unflappable Smith finished on 66 not out, the glue that we so desperately needed.
It could have been a lot worse.
We took to the field, confident in our ability, and tight opening spells from Bertie Aspinall (2-0-11-0) and Freddie Power (4-0-29-1), who was bowling lovely darty off-spin and very much deserved his wicket, clean bowling the Shroton opener. Fist pumps all round. There was a feeling that we were in this game, which only grew stronger when Jonny Belk (4-0-32-2) arrived in the attack and promptly picked up two wickets in his first over. However, with Calum Marshall (2-0-29-0) struggling with the 10-yard run-up rule, and Moore (4-0-18-0) toiling away from the pavilion end without luck, it seemed the game was slipping away. Ed Hobbs (3-1-14-4) came into the attack and, despite taking two wickets in two balls, few would have betted against Shroton easily achieving the 6 that they required off the final two overs. Moore went for 5 off the 19th. The scores were tied. Hmmm. Hobbs comes back to bowl the final over, everybody in on the one. Dot; dot; surely we still don’t have a chance; a catch flies to Smith at mid-off – a wicket and jubilation; another dot; what are we witnessing here?; dot; the scores remain tied with one ball to go! Surely not? The final delivery – bails flying again! Hobbs standing arms stretched, Flintoff-esque, in the middle of the wicket is mauled by his teammates. It’s a tie! Oh my goodness.
Hold-on though, what happens now? Does it go on wickets taken (we would have won that as they were 145-7 compared to our 145-6), do we toss a coin or, as the light fades, is it going to a super-over to decide who sneaks through to the Ranston cup semi-final? Our umpire, John Grinstead, had come characteristically prepared with the rule sheet printed out in his pocket.
Cup rule 14 – A super over it is! 3 batsmen to be chosen and 1 bowler from each side. Shroton to bat first. An easy decision for the skipper: Hobbs to bowl from the Beckford end. Can he continue his unplayable streak? 1 run – that’s ok, Wicket! More bails flying, Hobbs is on fire!, 1 run, 2 runs, 4 runs – yikes!, Wicket! Caught behind by Comyn, another beauty. 8 scored, so 9 to win. Now a hard decision for the skipper, with a team of Fonthill Galacticos to choose from, who to bat? After consultation, Hobbs, Aspinall and Moore were the 3 named. The field was up and a nervous hush gripped the spectators. 1 run, 1 run, dot, Aghhh! Need a boundary; Aspinall run out; Moore back in the middle – 1 run, 6 needed off the last ball with Hobbs on strike. This is his night, it’s written in the stars, surely? Dot ball. The dream was over for another year. But what a game! What an effort! We can be enormously proud of the way we all played. Hobbs may have bowled his way into Fonthill folklore (6 for 22 with the super over) but every Fonthill player on the field gave it their absolute all.
Huge thanks to John for umpiring, Hector and Molly for scoring, Ben for his baguette work, Mark for another excellent track and to all the spectators who came down to support. It was lovely to have you there. A memorable evening indeed.
Let’s keep this fantastic season going! 🏏❤️
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