Teenager Harrison Carlyon and Ben Kynman helped turn the game around, with Beeches three wickets down for 48 runs in the sixth over, by steering their team to a fourth Knockout Cup victory in six years, courtesy of a seven-wicket success against St Helier RFC.
However, it was a close-run affair and one of the highest-scoring matches in recent years, with Beeches gaining their success with six balls to spare.
Earlier, Jack Maton had smashed his way to 71 runs, including two 6s and eight 4s, as St Helier posted a challenging 20-over total of 176 for five.
Kynman and Carlyon, named player-of-the-match by umpires John Treleven and Jane Carpenter, both finished undefeated on 64 runs.
Carlyon struck one 6 and two 4s while Kynman, who won the match in the penultimate over by finishing 4, 4, 6, 4, ended with two 6s and seven boundaries.
Tom Shenton was the most productive bowler in the match, taking three St Helier wickets for 32 runs in his four overs.
Beeches’ captain James Perchard said: ‘It was a bit of a daunting total to chase, but the outfield at Grainville is always very quick and the pitch played pretty smoothly.
‘We were confident that if we batted sensibly we’d be able to get close and our main aim in the chase was to get off to a good start in the powerplay and keep enough wickets in the hutch for the last five or six overs.
‘We were never going to win the match in 15 or 16 overs, we had to stick at it and we were really lucky that Harrison Carlyon and Ben Kynman kept their heads to get us home.’
Teenager Carlyon said: ‘I enjoyed that, it was good and nice to get some runs chasing a high score.
‘Kyners [Ben Kynman] and I batted well, we kept calm and kept the scoreboard ticking over.
‘It’s a big boundary here and we looked to hit the ball out to the far corners.
‘We dove-tailed really well and Kyners was hitting boundaries when I wasn’t and that worked well.
‘We targeted the clubhouse end bowler towards the end and it came off for us with Kyners hitting the boundary four times in the penultimate over to win the game.’
St Helier captain Dean Morrison said: ‘It was a close game, I won the toss and elected to bat and we got off to a decent start.
‘Jack Maton batted really well and in the end I thought we were probably ten to 20 runs short.
‘We got off to another good start with the ball by taking three wickets and I thought we were in with a good chance of winning only for Harrison and Kyners to bat really well.
‘There were a couple of chances in there but nothing really got going for us. In the end we were not good enough to win on the night.’
Island captain Chuggy Perchard dropped Maton off his own bowling ,from the second ball of the game and it was punished as Maton went on to record his big total.
In the third over, Zak Tribe was fortunate not to chop the ball onto his own stumps before being caught on the square-leg boundary by Chris Thompson, ending an opening partnership of 48 runs.
Maton, who punished many short-pitched deliveries, touched the ball over the wicketkeeper to bring up his half century with a boundary and then a six to the leg side later on moved St Helier into three figures.
Chuggy Perchard made up a lot of ground to end Alex Whitby’s innings with a catch and after Maton was out clipping the ball to wicketkeeper James Perchard, Harvey Biljon and Dom Blampied put on a partnership of 59 runs to help take St Helier’s total up to 176.
Beeches opener Duncan Ellis offered a couple of early chances before he fell to a good catch by Alex Whitby in the covers, Whitby holding on to a hard-hit rising drive.
Chuggy Perchard was unhappy with his leg before wicket dismissal and Beeches lost a third wicket in the sixth over, Sam Malpas caught by Morrison at cover.
Kynman was put down by Alex Williamson at long-on in the 11th over and it proved a costly drop as Kynman was on 19 runs at the time.
Beeches required 60 runs to win off the final six overs and Carlyon eased the pressure with three boundaries off Jonny Best.
Kynman reached his half century in the 17th over leaving Beeches requiring 17 to win off 12 deliveries and he wasted no time knocking them off with six balls to spare.
Both teams observed a minute’s silence pre-match in memory of former Beeches player and De La Salle College schoolteacher Peter Travers, who passed away on Wednesday of last week.
