Senior Cup triumph has salvaged year for Ross County Cricket Club
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Ross County Cricket Club’s Senior Cup triumph last weekend has prevented a season of disappointment, according to Chris Blake.
The Castle Leod side defeated league leaders Northern Counties by six wickets to claim the trophy for a second year in-a-row.
It was a rare beacon of light in a year that has seen County struggle with player availability, derailing their Senior League title bid.
They will have some success to look back on in 2022 though after last Saturday’s final, and Blake believes things went as well as they could have.
“It was a season-defining fixture,” he stressed.
“We have got a very slim mathematical chance of winning the league, so it was really good to get the cup.
“If we hadn’t won, the season would have been a bit of a disappointment, but to win it for the second year running was really sweet.
“Everything just went to plan. It just goes to show what we can achieve when we’ve got our best 11 guys on the pitch. We knew that if we played to our abilities we could win.”
Despite the early setbacks of losing Duncan Scott and Graeme Carney in their run chase, scores of 73 from Toby Hardwick, 55 not out from Rhys Morgan and 27 not out – including a big six to seal victory – from Umar Farid made sure the Senior Cup would stay in Strathpeffer.
“We knew that we had real strength in depth with the batting, so we didn’t panic at all,” Blake said.
“Rhys, our Kiwi, really stepped up. He was man of the match because he had a really good game.
“Umar only really deals in dots and sixes. Graeme specifically wanted him in the team because Umar can take a game away from people.
“When he came in and started hitting sixes, we knew it was in the bag.
“Johnny Sugden and myself were the next batters in, and we were pacing back and forth because we didn’t really want to have to go in.
“Umar took all the pressure off. In the end, after they had upped the run rate, it was actually quite comfortable in the last overs.”
