Flintoff erases 34 years of hurt

Sessay from Yorkshire cruised to a seven-wicket victory over previous champions Shipton-under-Wychwood from Oxfordshire to win the npower Village Cup in front of an enthusiastic crowd at a sun-drenched Lord's. No side had successfully chased a target as big as 228 in the previous 38 finals, but Sessay did so at a canter with 17 balls to spare.

After a few weeks where cricket has made the headlines for all the wrong reasons, this contest allowed traditionalists to argue the game still has its moments. The pre-match build-up had centred on 55-year-old John Flintoff who had been playing for Sessay for four decades. Back in 1976 he had to miss Sessay's only previous appearance in a Village Cup final because of injury, but 34 years later he finally got another chance. It was fitting that he was in the middle when the winning runs were hit.

Shipton, who came into the game as favourites, won here in 2002 and 2003 and seven of that side from the second victory played again today. While that experience held them in good stead, in the field they at times looked to be carrying a few passengers, and while that was not the difference between the sides, it made it very hard for them to sustain pressure on the Sessay batsmen at key points.

But with the exception of Chris Panter, Shipton's front-line bowlers never settled, and Paul Hemming found himself having to replace Craig Lambert and Charlie Brain after two overs each as both sprayed the new ball around. Thereafter, Hemming relied almost entirely on his spinners but while better, they too lacked consistency.

After a circumspect start, Sessay's openers Mark Wilkie and Matthew Till capitalised on the wayward bowling, aided by a liberal sprinkling of wides and misfields. Wilkie, who had spent a spell as an MCC Young Cricketer at Lord's, accumulated steadily with some neat strokeplay off his pads. Had Paul Jennings stumped him early on off a routine chance the game could have taken a very different path. Till, meanwhile, used his reach well and hit anything short or wide with increasing power through the off side.

The opening stand of 127 ended when Till fell to a juggling catch by Tim Senior on the deep square-leg boundary for a 54-ball 56, but Man of the Match Wilkie continued to press on, and by the time he top-edged a sweep for 78 the game was all but won.

Nick Thorne quashed any lingering Yorkshire hopes with 42 from 38 deliveries, and his departure, stumped down the leg side, brought in Flintoff. Hemming crowded the bat to try to put added pressure on the veteran, but he responded with two cracking off-side boundaries to take his side to the brink of victory. It fell to Nick Harrison to hit the winning runs, but Flintoff understandably led the celebrations like a man half his age.

Earlier on, Shipton, who had been stuck in on a green pitch, made a solid start but Andy Hemming and Charlie Brain took their time to build any momentum ahead against some tight bowling and enthusiastic fielding. It took them ten overs to pass 30 and another eight to reach 60, but thereafter the scoring rate steadily increased.

The breakthrough which ended the 88-run first-wicket stand was unfortunate, Hemming's defensive shot trickling back into his stumps and barely dislodging a bail, and then Brain was well caught by a sprawling Harrison, one of the wicketkeeper's three dismissals.

Steve Bates upped the tempo with Tim Senior, but it was the arrival of Jason Hunt that really silenced the outnumbered Sessay support. On the extreme end of burly, he slammed five sixes off the first eight balls he faced, four over the short leg-side boundary on the Tavern side and a slashed cover drive into the Mound Stand. Had he stayed he could have put the game out of reach in a matter of overs; as it was, he scored 38 off 13 balls before unwisely trying to use his feet and being stumped.

Bates kept attacking as the last ten overs produced 99 runs and enabled Shipton to post the fourth-highest score in a final. It appeared to be more than enough, but Flintoff had not waited all those years to be denied.