Falmouth 117, St Just 118-7

Falmouth suffered a three wicket defeat at the Hine Downing Oval against the champions in a game that might have gone either way.

At one stage a very quick finish looked on the cards but Falmouth dug in to get a modest total on the board. It looked enough at one point as St Just still required 47 runs with only four wickets left. The experience of Neil Curnow saved them however, in an innings out of character.

Normally he deals mainly in boundaries but on this occasion the opener grafted through 41 overs to end on 46 not out.

Having been 71-6 he found a willing partner in Callum Donnelly who made 20 before being stumped by Callum Whittaker off the bowling of Eric Osner. The pair had added a crucial 34 for the seventh wicket.

Thirteen were still required but the experienced skipper Gareth May was a more than useful number nine and victory came with almost nine overs to spare.

The innings began with Curnow and Justin Stephens adding 39 before George Popperwell got the breakthrough to trap Stephens in front for 22. He followed up removing Ben Brooks for a duck.

Jamie Stephens had Harry Medhurst lbw for a single before Popperwell (4-24) struck twice to send back Gavin Edwards and Kelbert Walters at 57-5. Stephens had figures of 10-5-7-1.

After being put in Falmouth lost Richard Kellow, bowled by Donnelly without scoring.

He then had Whittaker and Harry Roberts both lbw.

With Justin Stephens getting in on the act to get Scott Kellow leg before for 12 the home side were struggling at 26-4. Sean Hooper made 11 but another clutch of wickets made it 54-8.

However Rohit Venkateshan (33) and Mark Johnson with 22 not out added 56 for the ninth wicket to at least give some hope. Donnelly took four for 24 and Gareth May and Josh Semmens two each.

Nick George came out of retirement to make his seasonal debut.

Earlier in the week Falmouth made it through to a fourth Vinter Cup Final in five years after beating Truro at Redruth by nine runs. Falmouth made 130 for 6 with openers Stefan Churcher making 40 and Richard Kellow 37. They put on 64 for the first wicket in nine overs. Truro were restricted to 121 for 7 in reply.

They had required 41 off the last five overs and 16 off the last. They had been 67 for 3 after ten overs.

Eric Osner only conceded 14 runs in his four overs. Penzance beat Camborne by 74 runs in the other semi final at Helston with Greg Smith making 73.

The final is at Camborne on Wednesday 12 July at 6pm.

FALMOUTH

R Kellow b Donnelly 0

S Kellow lbw Stephens 12

C Whittaker lbw Donnelly 5

H Roberts lbw Donnelly 7

S Hooper b Semmens 11

Jamie Stephens c Brooks b Semmens 4

G Popperwell b May 5

E Osner c Brooks b May 0

M Johnson not out 22

R Venkateshan c Medhurst b Stephens 33

S O’Nyons b Donnelly 0

Extras 18

Total (43.5 overs) 117

Fall: 1-1; 2-17; 3-17; 4-26; 5-48; 6-53; 7-54; 8-54; 9-110.

Bowling: J Stephens 10-3-16-2, C Donnelly 7.5-0-24-4, H Medhurst 10-4-18-0, G May 10-1-34-2, J Semmens 6-1-19-2.

ST JUST

N Curnow not out 46

J Stephens lbw Popperwell 22

B Brooks c Stephens b Popperwell 0

H Medhurst lbw Stephens 1

G Edwards c Johnson b Popperwell 1

K Walters c S Kellow b Popperwell 10

M George c Whittaker b Osner 5

C Donnelly st Whittaker b Osner 20

G May not out 2

Extras 7

Total (7 wkts, 41.1 overs) 118

Fall: 1-39; 2-39; 3-46; 4-47; 5-57; 6-71; 7-105.

Did not bat: J Semmens, N George

Bowling: G Popperwell 10-3-24-4, S Kellow 3.1-0-22-0, E Osner 10-3-35-2, J Stephens 10-5-7-1, S O’Nyons 5-1-19-0, R Kellow 3-0-7-0.

Result: St Just (18pts) beat Falmouth (4pts) by three wickets.