Essex stand in the way of Hertfordshire Over-50s and a place in the ECB 2XI National County Championship final after they beat Kent to reach the last four.
The Herts side, which includes players from Abbots Langley, Old Merchant Taylors’ and Frogmore, beat Kent by 24 runs to set up the semi-final clash on August 28.
Herts captain David Whiteley won the toss and chose to bat first on a good looking wicket at Watford Town CC last Wednesday.
The skipper opened with Barney Francis and made progress against an accurate attack until a calf injury to Francis stalled the scoring.
Francis was dismissed for 18 with OMTs Adam Brand soon following to leave the score 62-2 in the 16th over.
Whiteley was joined by Mike Howard and the pair advanced the score to 90 when the captain was bowled for a well-made 32.
A pivotal partnership between Howard and Jemile Al-Dharraji followed as they took the attack to the visitors, punishing anything loose. Howard was particularly dismissive as the two pushed the game away from the frustrated Kent side.
The impressive partnership made 149 from just 19 overs when Howard was bowled 13 short of what would’ve been a fully deserved century.
Abbots Langley’s Matt Dunstone kept the momentum going with three huge sixes in a quick-fire 23 and at the end of 45 overs, Al-Darraji was 78 not out leaving Kent the challenging target of 277 to win.
Kent have a reputation for their impressive batting and started aggressively against the Herts openers with some good strokeplay and in the 19th over the score was 93.
Left-arm spinner Dunstone was introduced to the attack and provided the immediate breakthrough when dismissing Simon Taylor for a solid 33 before deceiving danger man Wayne Smith first delivery with a beautiful arm ball.
A period of consolidation followed but the good wicket and fast outfield meant that the Kent men were never out of it despite the excellent bowling of Dunstone and Brad Williams.
Howard came on and removed opener Mark Birkett for 65 thanks to a catch in the deep by Al-Darraji to leave the score 115-3 in the 23rd over.
Skipper Whiteley juggled his bowling options with intelligence as Kent settled in. Dunstone (3-30) struck again which brought Duncan Brown to the crease. The hard-hitting batter set about the Herts attack and cracked 22 off one over including two huge sixes, changing the game once again.
Experienced ‘finisher’ Brand was brought into the attack and much to Herts’ delight he struck in his second over when the dangerous Brown smashed a ball to John Murphy at extra cover.
Brand struck again, bowling Robert Drummer and when Al-Darraji took a contender for ‘catch of the season’ on the boundary from Howard, Kent were in trouble.
However, with No. 4 David Walker at the crease, playing an assured innings, the game was still anyone’s.
With pressure mounting the Herts’ fielding tightened up and the key moment came when a superb throw from Simon Durban and a fantastic take by keeper Graeme Sprowson saw Walker run out for a very well-made 56.
At this point 42 were needed from the last four overs but the last three Kent batsmen were no match for Brand (4-44) and he took the final two wickets to spark celebrations among his team-mates.
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