Havant romp to victory over Hampshire Academy in Southern Premier League T20 Cup final

Havant celebrate with the T20 Cup. Back (from left): Pete Hayward, Freddie Gadd, Alfie Taw, Richard Jerry, Craig Stainton (matchday manager), Darryn Stares, Richard Hindley. Front: Ollie Jones, Jez Bulled, Peter Hopson, Chris Morgan, Harry Gadd, Chris Stone.

They bowled the county youngsters out for just 103 at Totton & Eling CC before knocking off the runs with almost six overs in hand.

The Academy were without their two leading runscorers, skipper Fletcha Middleton and opener Tom Prest.

Both had been called up for an England Under-19 trial game, with Scott Currie - who has made his Hampshire debut in both first class and T20 cricket this summer - handed the captaincy.

Havant skipper Chris Morgan with the team's matchday manager Craig Stainton.

George Metzger (45) was the only Academy batsman to offer much resistance, with No 8 Ben Huntley (12) the next highest scorer.

After electing to bat first and reaching 29-1, the Academy crashed to 45-6 with Havant skipper Chris Morgan dismissing Currie (9), James Barker (4) and Wilf La Fontaine Jackson (0).

Morgan (4-26) later reduced the Academy to 76-7 when he had Huntley caught by Harry Gadd.

Metzger and Max Simpson (3 not out) shared a 23-run stand for the last wicket, the highest of the innings.

Lovely bubbly! Havant toast their SPL T20 Cup success with champagne.

Havant lost an early wicket when Harry Gadd (2) was bowled by Harry Broderick.

But victory was a formality once Pete Hopson (25) and Chris Stone added 51 for the second wicket.

Stone followed up his 49 in the semi-final win against New Milton with an unbeaten 43, adding an unbroken 37 for the third wicket with Morgan.

The latter celebrated silverware in his first season as captain by hitting three fours and a six in an 11-ball cameo innings of 20 not out.

After starting their SPL East group campaign with a loss to Alton, Havant ended up winning the next nine completed fixtures in all competitions.

Freddie Gadd’s 1-23 in the final saw him end as the T20 Cup’s joint leading wicket-taker with Mo Abbas of Burridge, both players taking nine wickets.

Morgan ended the 2020 season as the leading wicket-taker in Southern Premier League cricket across both 40-over and 20-over formats.

He finished with 24 wickets at just 10.04 with a strike rate of 14.25.

New Milton’s George Watts was second with 23 wickets and Gadd - like his captain, a left arm spinner - was third with 22 at 11.59 with a strike rate of 16.09

Portsmouth & Southsea’s Jono Willey was fourth in the list with 20 wickets at 11.59 and Max Goddard of Waterlooville was fifth with 18 at 10.22.