Suffolk claim Knock-Out crown

Suffolk lifted the Minor Counties Knock-Out Trophy after beating Cheshire by 35 runs in the final at Lord’s.

The Western Division champions fell short of a victory target of 220 in 50 overs as Suffolk celebrated their first Knock-Out Trophy crown while inflicting a first defeat of the season on Cheshire.

Paul Grayson, the former England batsman and current Essex coach, hit 87 and Chris Swallow 38 as Suffolk recovered from 74 for four to post 219.

Though wicket-keeper Matthew Dawson top-scored for Cheshire with a gutsy 51 off 63 balls and former Derbyshire batsman Ben Spendlove hit a battling 49, the loss of three early wickets proved crucial as the three-time winners were bowled out for 184.

Needing 45 from the last four overs eventually proved too much for Cheshire as Suffolk, with whom they shared the Minor Counties Championship title in 2005, held on to claim a deserved victory.

Another former Derbyshire player, Ben France, was the pick of Suffolk's bowlers with an impressive 4-36 return from just 5.4 overs, while paceman Martin Smith and Justin Bishop took two wickets apiece.

“I thought we bowled very well, but we probably let Suffolk get a few more runs than we would have liked,” reflected Cheshire skipper Andy Hall.

Ex-England batsman Paul Grayson hit a decisive 87

“219 was probably par for the course, but it was our batting which let us down. We needed someone to bat 35 overs and get 80-90 runs. If someone had done that I think we'd have won the match."

Hall saluted Chris Finegan for an excellent performance in the field, as well as offering special praise to Dawson and Jason Whittaker for their battling seventh-wicket stand of 61 which gave Cheshire a glimmer of hope.

“Chris bowled superbly and had a great game in the field – and Nathan Dumelow was very economical.

“To get anywhere near their total was a great effort - and that was down to Daws and Wish (Whittaker).

“I thought all our bowlers did well but Paul Grayson batted excellently for them and held their innings together.”

Seamer Finegan took 3-38, held two catches and completed a run-out, but Grayson took the man-of-the-match award for his patient 102-ball innings and 1-20 return from seven overs of left-arm spin.

“We’ve had a great season and we’ve got to look forward to the four-day championship final against Northumberland, but it was just a shame we couldn’t win at Lords,” added Hall.

“We’re disappointed that we’ve lost, but we’ve still got the chance to win the Minor Counties Championship – and we’ll be trying our best to do that.

"Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes here and be stronger for our next final. Losing is never easy, but our middle order did brilliantly to get us close, because at 95 for six we looked out of the match."