White Coppice 1st XI kept their dreams of winning the Crabtree Cup for the first time alive with a thrilling 23-run win against Preston Strikers.

The Crabtree Cup dates back to 1997 and Coppice have never reached the final before – let alone won it.

The fact that Jake Smalley’s team are still in the cup at all is down to their remarkable team spirit and never-say-die attitude.

Bobby Wood’s winning catch to finally see off their stubborn opponents sparked scenes of pure joy among the Coppice team and a healthy crowd.

The match itself was played on the same track used for Saturday’s low-scoring game against Gregson Lane and Strikers had no hesitation in fielding first after winning the toss.

Chris Maguire hit the second ball of the match through the covers for a boundary but Coppice quickly slipped to 6-2 against some quality bowling.

Among those to be dismissed was Jordan Halliday – aka Mr Pink Ball – whose two previous scores in the Crabtree Cup this season had been undefeated knocks of 141 and 59. After getting bowled for a single, his cup average is now 201!

Anthony Dark was promoted up the order to number four to take advantage of the powerplay overs but walked without waiting for the umpire’s decision after hitting a quickfire 18.

When Ryan Adderley and Bobby Wood were dismissed in successive balls (the latter to an excellent delivery that nipped back and trimmed his off stump), Coppice had slipped to 55-5.

Thankfully Maguire picked a good day to find his form and shared a crucial 87-run partnership with Nathan Shepard to take the score to 142.

Maguire played some lovely cover drives and back-foot cuts while Shepard smashed six fours and four sixes on his way to 56 off 53 balls.

He brought up his 50 with a pull over square leg and completely changed the momentum of the game.

Shepard and Maguire (53) were dismissed in quick succession but Ibby Akram made sure their hard work wasn’t wasted with a crucial innings of 35 off 39 balls to take his team to 199 all out from their 40 overs.

Akram and No 11 Matt Tinsley shared a last-wicket partnership of 24, which ultimately proved crucial.

Akram was wearing his brother Ussy’s shirt and it was nice to see the older Akram back at the ground as he recovers from a long-term injury.

Preston Strikers were hampered by an injury of their own to their star batsman Berin Shaji, who has already scored 662 runs this season.

He went into the match with a heavily strapped leg and aggravated a back injury while bowling, which meant he couldn’t take his spot at the top of the order.

Jerin James took his place instead at No 1 and was palpably LBW to the first ball of the innings from a fired-up Tom Sandells.

For a while, that was as good as it got for Coppice as Nakulan Vm and Jishnu shared a 65-run partnership for the second wicket.

Vm tried to up the run rate but was stumped for 17 by Ant Dark off Adderley.

Jishnu was hampered by cramp in his hands and was run out for 49 by a brilliant piece of fielding from Ibby Akram.

Preston Strikers, who have only lost to White Coppice this season, bat deep and Dixit (50) and Sundharan (20) took the score to 129-3 – just 70 runs behind White Coppice’s total.

Sundharan took a particular liking to the bowling of Saturday’s hero, Matt Tinsley, clearing the ropes three times.

It was at this point that Smalley played his masterstroke by throwing the ball to Akram and James Speakman.

Akram has found his opportunities limited this season but turned the match on its head by taking two wickets from the first two balls of the 29th over.

First Sundharan was caught on the boundary by Adderley and then captain Sravan Nalonthayil edged a flat-footed drive to Dark to leave Preston Strikers at 129-5.

Akram took his third wicket to have Dixit LBW for an excellent 50 before Speakman took centre stage with his left-arm spin.

After bowling Mithun Mohan for 5 and having Shibu Mathew caught by Akram for 3, Berin Shaji shuffled out at No 10 and was clearly struggling.

Shaji scored 70 off 71 balls against Coppice in April’s league encounter but scooped his second ball to Maguire in the covers to spark wild scenes of celebration.

The honour of taking the final wicket went to Adderley when Prasanna Pandi holed out to Bobby Wood for 20 to give Coppice a 23-run victory and a semi-final date with Norcross.

Ultimately the game came down to fine margins. Wicketkeeper Ant Dark didn’t concede a single bye and every Coppice fielder put their body on the line with some last-ditch stops in the field.

Special mention must go to groundsman Phil Dewhurst and both umpires for contributing to an unforgettable game of cricket.