National Village Cup Final 2018 preview: Liphook & Ripsley

On Sunday 16 September, The Cricketer National Village Cup Final 2018 takes place at Lord’s between Folkton & Flixton Cricket Club and Liphook & Ripsley Cricket Club. The Cricketer takes a closer look at Hampshire-based Liphook & Ripsley

^{Liphook & Ripsley's club logo, left, and one to watch Ryan Covey}

On Sunday 16 September, The Cricketer National Village Cup Final 2018 takes place at Lord’s between Folkton & Flixton Cricket Club and Liphook & Ripsley Cricket Club.

Here, The Cricketer takes a closer look at Hampshire-based Liphook & Ripsley.

Liphook have been a team united and performing well providing contributions across the board with a scan down the top-10 run-scorer and wicket-taker lists finding several Liphook players among them. Four batsmen average over 40 for Liphook with a stellar cast providing plenty of runs.

On the bowling front Sean Burton has 12 wickets, including a late burst in the semi-final victory over Mayfield while Dave Elliott has picked up 11 wickets at 15.64. These performances have been supplemented by the all-round contribution of Suman Ganguly who has scored 179 runs at 44.75 and taken 10 wickets at an average of 10.50 in four matches.

The road to Lord’s

Liphook & Ripsley have followed up their strong opening year in the competition where they were knocked out in round five to Rockhampton.

In 2018, Liphook had a stiff task in the opening round of the Hampshire region. Playing Sparsholt, who they beat in the 2017 regional final, Liphook contested a tight match, prevailing by a mere seven runs after bowling out the chasing Sparsholt for 179 in 38 overs.

The second round proved much easier for Liphook while victory in round three sent the club through to the regional finals. Liphook chased 167 in just the 26th over, anchored by a century from Ryan Covey, who was quickly establishing himself as a force with both bat and ball, to advance.

The national rounds started off in similarly peaceful fashion. Liphook were too strong for Berkshire’s Cookham Dean as 110 was chased down inside 20 overs. Liphook then faced a big run chase of 244 in the quarter-finals in Somerset against North Perrott. Solid contributions from the top order meant this was achieved after 38 overs despite a rare failure for Covey. George Neave’s 70 not out proved the difference between the sides.

Semi-finals time and Liphook faced a stern test at Mayfield of Sussex who had in their side James Allen, the competition’s leading wicket-taker. Liphook batted first and scored a competitive 218. This proved to be too much for a Mayfield side who kept losing wickets, eventually falling for 125. In just their second Village Cup, Liphook & Ripsley were off to Lord’s.

Line-up

Ryan Covey

Top-order batsman, accurate seam bowler

RC Nicklin

Top-order batsman, off-spin bowler

Harry Munt

Batsman, off-spin bowler

Suman Ganguly

Opening bowler, batsman

George Neave

Fast bowler, batsman

Grant Rouse (wk)

Wicketkeeper batsman

Richard Williams

Experienced batsman

Jonny Pryce

Batsman, brilliant fielder

Sean Burton

Accurate swing bowler, lower-order batsman

Charles Janczur(c)

Controlled bowler

Dave Elliot

Left-arm spinner

Ones to watch

Ryan Covey

Ryan Covey, who was on Hampshire’s books in his early days, has been his side’s outstanding player in the National Village Cup with a stack of runs and host of wickets to his name.

The top-order batsman has excelled with 422 runs at an average of 60, including scoring a superb 104 not out against Easton & Martyr Worthy CC. Covey has also scored four fifties in the competition this season, serving as Liphook’s most consistent performer and the man that Folkton need to look out for most.

It leaves him in a situation coming into the match where a strong all-round performance could see him as the competition’s leading run-scorer and wicket-taker. For strong all-round performance, read a 79 and six-wicket haul. Now there’s a carrot…

Covey has also taken 12 wickets at a remarkable average of 13.67 highlighting that he will be a threat in both innings and the man that Liphook look to to make the difference.

Harry Munt

Number three batsman Harry Munt has scored 266 runs at an average of 53.20 as well as picking up a useful five wickets.

Munt, a former 1^st XI captain, is a very tactically astute cricketer and he has been a dangerous batsman for Liphook in a sensational season on a personal level. Munt’s runs will be pivotal for Liphook if they are to win their first National Village Cup at only the second attempt.

What the camp is saying

Captain Charles Janczur has said ahead of the game: “We’re incredibly excited. I don’t think at the start of the season that any of us thought that we’d be playing at Lord’s at the end of the season. Everyone is counting down the days.

“It’s been a topsy turvy season, but we’ve been saving our best performances for the Village Cup which is frustrating and exciting.”

Janczur added: “We have great batting depth, we keep coming. Everyone has stepped up at an individual time in the top seven. This means come the final we know that even if our top three fail we can rebuild.

Speaking about the final Janczur said: “Hopefully it’ll be a close game. I think we’ve got a really good chance. I think teams have underestimated, they have all expected to beat us. We’ve steamrollered all of the opposition. Ironically, our first match was the closest we’ve had.”