FINALS Day has been set after a thrilling last round of the Brooks Macdonald T20 Premier League on Wednesday night.
League leaders Farmers Cricket Club welcomed ATF St Ouen Springfield, while second-placed Rathbones Old Victorians hosted RGA Walkovers at Grainville.
SOS were third in the table, knowing a win of their own could completely flip the league upside down in their favour.
Batting first, Harrison Carlyon’s SOS line-up set about making the most of the excellent Farmers batting track and the short boundary towards the nets side of the ground.
An early boundary from Carlyon looked to set the wheels in motion, however he saw his stumps disturbed at the end of the first over by the magnificent Farmers paceman Scott Van Breda.
Things went from bad to worse for the visitors when the returning Patrick Gouge was also clean-bowled in the second over for just nine, this time by the left-arm spin of Toby Britton.
A partnership was desperately required if SOS were to have any chance of earning a bye to the final, and it was the experienced Jon Best alongside Dominic Blampied who provided.
The pair notched 69 runs together in eight overs to steady the ship, before Best was removed by Adam Bradbury for 41, caught by Nick Greenwood.
Blampied continued to control the innings, this time building a 60-run partnership with Robbie Forrest before the former was removed, also for 41, excellently run out by the impressive Britton at the end of the 18th over.
Forrest ended on 31, another victim to Van Breda’s excellent spell, and he added a run-out to his efforts as well to remove Kush Pathak for five in the last over.
The visitors ended on 147-6 from their 20 overs, setting up what would be a whirlwind of a chase.
The Farmers dugout were left shell-shocked when, on just the third ball of the innings, star batter Nick Greenwood was rapped on the pads and dismissed LBW first ball by young seamer Barney Aston.
Aston was in action again shortly after, forcing fellow opener Joel Dudley to chip a catch to Charlie Best and depart for just six.
It got from bad to worse for the home side when Aston picked up his third of an astonishing spell, removing James Smith again for just six, the chase in trouble at 23-3 midway through the fourth over.
Wicketkeeper Jack Kemp looked to be the man to steady the ship as he moved along to 21, but he too was removed, this time by the wily left-arm spin of Kush Pathak.
At the halfway stage of the chase, Pathak had claimed two more wickets in three balls, removing Armand Fourie for zero and Rhys Palmer for two, leaving the score at 55-6.
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. It was Jersey captain Charles Perchard who provided the calm head to rescue the innings from certain defeat.
His 47 off 39 balls worked his side back into the game, but he was eventually dismissed at the end of the 18th over, caught by Forrest off the leg-spin of Blampied, leaving the tail still requiring 37 to win from 14 balls.
Scott Van Breda, more commonly known for his performances on the rugby pitch than the cricket field, strode out to bat with ice in his veins.
Alongside skipper James Perchard, Farmers required a mammoth 20 runs to win off the final over, bowled by Blampied.
Van Breda was dazzling, smashing the required 20 runs with a ball to spare to send the home supporters delirious and secure a famous victory.
Farmers finish the T20 League in top spot and qualify automatically into the final on 29 June on their home ground.
In game two of the evening, RGA Walkovers met Rathbones Old Victorians at Grainville with, again, everything to play for.
The OVs started their campaign in red hot form with three wins, but more recent back-to-back defeats meant this was very much a must-win.
Walkovers, after sealing an excellent win over SOS last week, knew they had created an outside chance themselves of reaching finals day.
OVs skipper James Duckett won the toss and, with no hesitation, decided to bat first. With regular opener Elliot Corbel out injured due to an inability to catch the ball properly… again… Charlie Brennan opened up with Jamie Watling.
The partnership did not get off to a good start, however, as Watling gave Brennan the old classic “YES…wait…no..sorry mate”, with Brennan left stranded and Michael Ahier throwing the stumps down.
Captain Duckett has been in great form with the bat so far and he showed it again, scoring 33 including two massive sixes into the tennis courts before he was controversially dismissed lbw by spinner Harry Brooks, the ball appearing to take a good chunk of glove on its way through… hard luck Daff.
Ali Webster came and went for 14, Watling found the man at short fine leg to depart for 21 and George Moore, despite earning a call-up from the second team, contributed only nine.
The spin combination of Harry Brooks and Jersey’s Ben Ward was working very well on a pitch that was offering assistance, both of them finishing with superb figures.
Scott Simpson was removed caught behind by a fantastic catch up to the stumps by Sam Gott off the bowling of Kadeem Caddle, but this brought Ed Giles to the crease.
What followed was utter carnage. Giles proceeded to hit four boundaries and five of the biggest sixes ever seen at Grainville, one even reaching the houses over the tennis courts, as he annihilated 54 not out off just 17 balls at a strike rate of over 300.
OVs, after at one stage being in trouble at 100-6, ended the innings on a solid 156-7.
If Walkovers were rattled by the end-of-innings onslaught from Giles, they did well to hide it. Opener Nick Ferraby took a liking to the pace of Scott Simpson in particular, as he raced through the powerplay.
However, the game turned on an outstanding piece of fielding from Ali Webster on the massive deep square leg boundary. Ferraby turned to come back for what looked to be a straightforward two runs, but the cannon of a throw from Webster was absolutely pinpoint, leaving Ferraby short of his ground for 47.
The chase never picked up momentum after that moment. Fellow opener Robin Carnegie struggled to find his best form in the middle, eventually also being run out for 20 from 36, this time a direct hit by captain Duckett at mid-off.
Rob Duckett dried the runs up with an economical three-over spell, before Theo Pullman and Matt Webb combined to finish the innings in style, Webb claiming a well-deserved two wickets.
Walkovers finished 125-5, falling 31 runs short in an excellent game that could easily have gone the other way if not for a couple of moments of magic from the OVs side.
So, Finals Day is officially secured. Farmers receive a bye and are automatically into the afternoon final. Whereas, second-placed OVs and third-placed SOS will battle it out in the morning’s elimination game.
Finals Day is scheduled for Saturday 29 June at the Farmers Cricket Club, the eliminator kicking off at 10.30am and the big final starting at 3pm.
