Hudson stars as Waterlooville win first Southern League limited overs cup since the mid-1980s with T20 Plate success at Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl

Waterlooville CC line-up before their SPL T20 Plate final win. Back (from left): Ashan Silva, Daniel Birch, Sonny Reynolds, Alex Shepherd, Jon Hudson, Sam Robinson. Front: Sam Hillman, Tim Jackson, Archie Reynolds, Charlie Jackson, Haydn Knight.

Ville lifted the Southern Premier League’s T20 Plate with a five-wicket win against higher division Basingstoke & North Hants at Hampshire’s Ageas Bowl.

Basingstoke were on the back foot when Matt Deadman fell to Sam Hillman’s fourth ball after choosing to bat first.

They quickly slumped to 16-3 with Greg Donaldson and Joe Oates both bowled by man of the match Jon Hudson, who finished with 4-17.

Brad Neal (35), Dean Nurse (21) and Dan Belcher (22) did their best to revive Basingstoke’s fortunes but, with Ville producing a fine performance in the field, they had only 109-8 to defend.

In addition to Hudson’s wickets, Hillman only conceded seven fours off his four overs. He was no stranger to tight spells, having taken 3-9 off four overs in an earlier round against Liphook & Ripsley.

In reply, Ville opener Alex Shepherd (10) fell early.

Ashan Silva (7) and Archie Reynolds (0) were run out off consecutive balls to leave the score 31-3. And when Dan Birch nicked one behind at 41-4, Basingstoke sniffed an outside chance.

But Sonny Reynolds (33) and Hudson (28) eased any frayed nerves, adding a match-winning 68 for the fifth wicket as Ville cruised home with 20 balls to spare.

Basingstoke were left to rue the absence of ex-Havant wicket-keeper batsman George Metzger and the SPL Division 1’s leading wicket-taker, Tyler Bradley, who were both serving suspensions for on-field indiscipline against Rowledge last month.

Metzger has blasted an unbeaten 115 off 58 balls when Basingstoke rattled up 243-1 in their Plate quarter-final victory over Paultons.

But Ville, who play in Division 2, the third tier of the SPL, were celebrating their first limited-overs silverware since 1984.

Chairman Andy Reynolds, who had seen his club squeeze past Portsmouth & Southsea in the Plate semi-final via a ‘Super Over’, said: ‘People might say it’s only the Plate, but it will do for us!

‘As soon as we lost in the first round of the T20 Cup to South Wilts, the Plate was a bit of focus for us. Our short-form game is good.

‘In terms of the league, we had a new captain and some new players and the aim was just to produce some solid performances, which is what we got.’

Archie Reynolds had replaced Hillman as captain for the 2021 season, with Sam Robinson arriving from Bedhampton Mariners and Charlie Jackson coming in from village cricket to play alongside his brother Tim.

Haydn Knight was another new 1st XI regular, having stepped up from the 2nds, while Sonny Reynolds was back at Ville aiming to get fully fit after an injury-plagued stint at the Hampshire Academy.

By Simon Carter and Mike Vimpany