Havant to keep faith with teenage bowlers for Southern Premier League T20 Cup final against Hampshire Academy

Teenagers Alfie Taw, Freddie Gadd and Daryn Stares all played in last weekend’s semi-final success against New Milton - the first two opening the bowling.

And even though Richard Jerry is available, skipper Chris Morgan is happy to stick with the club’s rising stars.

‘Richard had a stint with Hampshire 2nds once, he can be unplayable in club cricket when he gets it right,’ said Morgan.

‘But it’s only fair the young lads who have helped us get to the final stay in the side.’

Gadd, a left-arm spinner, has opened the bowling in both SPL 40-over and 20-over games this summer.

‘I don’t think I’ve seen a single team this year open with a spinner,’ said Morgan.

‘You can go a few years in T20 cricket before you see it, but it’s reflective of the bowling attack that we have.

‘Freddie bowls at a good pace, he bowls in the right areas and we can set fields that allow the batsmen a single.

‘But if the batsmen want to score boundaries, they will have to take risks - and that’s what we want up top.’

Gadd has bagged four wickets in two T20 games this season, against Sparsholt and against Milton.

The only change Morgan makes this weekend is to bring Jeremy Bulled back as wicket-keeper in place of Simon Loat.

Bulled is one of the senior players - alongside Richard Hindley, Chris Stone and Pete Hopson - that Morgan, in his first year as captain - relies on for support.

‘It was a hard decision to make,’ said Morgan. ‘But there was more to it than just wicket-keeping as Loats kept really well last weekend.

‘Jez is one of the lieutenants I have spoken about and his experience is important to me.’

The Academy possess the two highest-scoring batsmen in the SPL Premier/Division 1 East group this season - Tom Prest and skipper Fletcha Middleton.

Morgan has heard neither might be playing on Sunday, but is not reading too much into that.

‘The Academy will always be strong,’ he remarked. ‘They have the whole of the county to pick from, as well as Dorset and Wiltshire.

‘They could well bring in a couple of contracted players, but that won’t scare us.

‘The ball does something a bit different on club cricket wickets compared to the ones contracted players are used to.’

Havant have won the SPL T20 Cup before, but lost on their last appearance in the final to Alton.

That was two years ago when the 2017 final was held over until the start of the following season.

To Havant’s frustration, Alton’s 2018 overseas player - batsman Marco Marais - top scored with 56 in his side’s four-wicket victory.

‘We felt a bit hard done by there,’ Morgan reflected.

Havant (v Academy): H Gadd, Hopson, Stone, Hindley, Morgan, Jones, Hayward, Bulled, Stares, F Gadd, Taw.