Ross County Cricket Club lift Nosca Senior Cup for the first time in 21 years after beating Forres
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Ross County's cricketers were on cloud nine after beating Forres by 105 runs to win the Nosca Senior Cup – the first time in 21 years they have won the trophy.
Batting depth proved to be the difference maker between the two clubs, with County's middle order contributing extremely valuable runs while Forres struggled to string partnerships together.
County were confident going into the match having already beaten Forres twice this season – including in the T20 Cup final on their opposition's home pitch – and early on it looked as though the weather might be their biggest enemy.
Some heavy rain showers forced the start to be delayed, but after skipper Graeme Carney lost the toss County's opening batsmen Duncan Scott and Toby Hardwick strode to the crease looking to get off to a fast start.
After using a couple of deliveries to get his eye in, Scott (8) began to ramp up the aggressiveness with eight runs in the space of five balls – but the next time he was facing he was caught by Nigel Gerrard at point off Magnus McGhee's bowling.
It was almost an exact replica four overs later. Carney had replaced Scott in the middle and was typically attacking before falling victim to the exact same combination, departing for 19.
At 28–2 with arguably their two biggest hitters back in the pavilion, it could have been an uphill battle for the hosts.
Hardwick began to rebuild the innings with Rhys Morgan, in at four, though, and the run count had more than doubled when Steve Barron dismissing Hardwick for 16, with Tony Farr taking the catch.
County's fourth wicket partnership really set the scene for the celebrations to come, as Morgan and Daryn Lucas took them into triple digits before Morgan (39) was trapped leg before wicket by Tony Farr.
Harry Singh was the next man in, and with six overs left had the freedom to go after Forres' bowlers.
Between them, Lucas (43 not out) and Singh (35 not out) got County close to a run-a-ball, adding 46 to set Forres a target of 173 to win the Senior Cup.
Forres opener Pal Dhami was always going to have a big influence with the bat, and he will have put a few doubts into County minds when he launched an early assault on bowlers Morgan (0–15) and Paul Moxon.
Dhami went after one too many though, as not satisfied with the three consecutive boundaries he had already hit off Moxon (2–22) he did not connect as well with one and was caught by Lucas, ending his innings on 24.
The same combination sent Gus Farr back to the pavilion without scoring, and really from there the Castle Leod outfit never looked back.
Harry Singh (1–6), Umar Farid (1–3) and Harry Tolliday (1–19) all picked up a wicket apiece to ensure that County were strong favourites to win the trophy, but then the scene turned over to club veteran Renato Belli to finish things off.
In a remarkable display of bowling, he ripped through the Forres tail. With the first ball of his second over, having only been hit for two runs in his first, Belli claimed his first victim before safely seeing out the rest of the over.
The next time he came on to bowl, with four wickets still needed for victory, nobody expected it to be the last over of the match, but that was exactly how it would play out.
First Darren Lamb was bowled, and then Tony Farr was trapped LBW to leave Belli on a hat trick. Carney brought all of County's fielders in close to give Belli the best possible chance of a catch, but he did not need them as he clean bowled Forres skipper and Nosca president Gerrard.
A hat trick in a cup final is some achievement at the best of times, but Belli (5–2) was not done yet. The very next ball, he found a way through to the stumps again, meaning he had taken four wickets in four balls to win the Senior Cup.
Deservedly, he was named man of the match, but the circumstances around the occasion make it all the more special.
Belli made his debut for Ross County in 1971, and though the club had won the Senior Cup three times since then he was never in the team.
This year, though, Belli has played as County lifted the T20 Cup and been named man of the match in the Senior Cup final – an achievement that was still sinking in after the trophy presentation.
"After 50 years at Ross County, to win my first cup feels very good," Belli said.
"It feels surreal in fact, hard to believe. Man of the match was certainly a nice bonus, I've never had that before! That will be me retired now, that's me done. At 64, I've got to go.
"At half time I would have said it was 50/50, but big Moxy took a couple of really good wickets. The boys bowled really tight, and the fielding was first class – Daryn took a couple of great catches, and that was it. After that, we were in with a shout, and I managed to sort them out.
"Two cup wins for Ross County – that's unheard of. It's 50 years ago that I played my first game, 1971, so it's been a long time coming."
