Lands CC lift Eggleston Cup for the first time in club's history

THE Eggleston Cup has been around for almost 80 years – but a new name was added to the list of honours when Lands picked up the trophy for the first time on Sunday.

In a surprisingly low scoring finals day at Darlington CC's Feethams ground, Lands defeated Barningham by five wickets in the final, having earlier despatched Burnhope by nine wickets in their semi.

Barningham, meanwhile, had won a tense affair against Barton in the first of the day's action, defending a modest 107, to set up an all-dale final.

The final was dominated by a spectacular Barningham collapse, which saw eight wickets fall for just 26.

There was little sign of the troubles ahead when Rob Stanwix and Stuart Laundy rattled up a half century partnership at about seven an over.

It was the introduction of Ryan Matthews which changed the game.

His gentle away swing had Laundy trapped LBW and he ended with 4-16 from his five overs.

Matthews found good support from Andrew Cummings who snapped up three wickets, including that of Stanwix for 45.

After promising to set a challenging target, Barningham could muster just 98 and made the basic mistake of not batting out their overs.

Lands’ reply got off to the worst possible start when Lewis Leng played on to the first ball of the innings.

Michael Crane's boundary-laden 20 and steady support from skipper Mark Little got the innings back on track, but when Peter Stanwix grabbed three quick wickets, the game was in the balance as Lands subsided to 61-5.

Enter the calm heads of Jonathan Milroy and Matthew McConnell who guided their side home with few alarms.

McConnell impressed with an unbeaten 21, while Milroy struck the winning boundary with more than three overs to spare.

Lands had secured their place in the final with a nine-wicket romp against Burnhope, who were bowled out for just 74.

Once again, Matthews, who is enjoying an excellent season, was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3-19 in his five overs.

Little also produced a tight spell, with 2-11 from his five overs.

Leng and Crane then smashed 51 before the openers were parted, Crane going on to make an unbeaten 47 as Lands cruised home with half their overs to spare.

Barningham’s semi against Barton was an altogether closer affair.

Batting first, Barningham struggled early on in the face of an excellent spell of medium-paced bowling from Peter Frankland, who defied a bad back to bowl five overs for just 14 runs.

Scores in the 20s from Dan Swires, Shane Rowley and Tom Stanwix helped Barningham to 107-8, a scored which on paper looked well below par.

That certainly seemed the case as Barton raced to 30 in just four overs, but then a clatter of wickets halted their progress at 42-5.

That became 53-6 and 62-7 as Peter Stanwix claimed 4-19 in his spell and the brakes were firmly applied.

Barton needed 11 an over off the last three, which despite Danny Porritt’s best efforts was beyond their reach as the innings closed on 98-9.