Canterbury 1st’s romped to victory in the Pharon Indoor League knockout competition on Sunday 6th April, completing a local league and cup double to go with their County title.
The action started with the one remaining 6-over first round game which saw Margate 1st’s upset the odds against St.Lawrence 2nd’s, a side two divisions above them. In the quarter finals, Margate couldn’t repeat their heroics against Street End 1st’s while St. Lawrence 1st’s, Canterbury 1st’s and UKC qualified, with Whitstable, Street End 2nds and Wingham going out.
The Semi-final returned to their traditional 12-over format, favourites Canterbury and league runners-up St. Lawrence were first up with Saints looking to gain revenge after missing out on the league title earler in the year due to an inferior run-rate.
Canterbury, led by Justin MacVicar (29), piled on 121-5 and was assisted by 38 extras, maybe a sign that the Division 1 sides hadn’t played for nearly 2 months. Dominic Chambers’ 44 was not enough to see his side home as St. Lawrence fell 29 runs short.
UKC awaited them in the final after they defeated Street End in a heated affair at the Ames Levett Centre. Led by skipper Rafi La Foret (25no) and Middlesex 2nds player, Shaun Levy (26), the University ran out convincing winners.
Canterbury batting first set another big total in the final, MacVicar once again shinning with an undefeated 32, closely supported by Ryan Minter (25) and opener Paul Steer (27), who was dismissed with a sharp catch by keeper La Foret. La Foret went on to claim another catch, a stumping and a run-out but despite his efforts, Canterbury still looked favourites to lift the trophy.
Managing only 71 in reply, 40 of which came from La Foret’s bat, UKC were unable to pull off an upset, largely down to some very tight seam bowling and an excellent run-out from Damien Minter to get rid of danger man Levy.
Skipper Simon Smith was present with the Don Ansted trophy by Kent star, Joe Denly, Ken Amos, the head of the Umpires Association and Margaret Ansted, the wife of the late Don Ansted , whom the cup is named after.
This marks the end of another successful season for Canterbury and we will have to wait until next winter to see if they can continue their overwhelming dominance of the indoor game.