Holders Woodhouse Grange take on first-time finalists Foxton
Grassroots cricket will be centre stage on Sunday as the Davidstow Village Cup takes place at Lord’s. The competition’s 44th final will be fought between reigning champions Woodhouse Grange of Yorkshire and first-time finalists Foxton of Cambridgeshire.
It creates a chasm of experience at Lord’s between the two sides with Woodhouse Grange earning their place in four of the last eight finals, winning two of them. While aware of this, Foxton opening batsman Cei Sanderson is confident that he and his team-mates are capable of winning: “Woodhouse Grange have been synonymous with the final in recent years but we believe if we play the way we want to and can do then we can win regardless of how well they’ve done in the past.”
Sanderson has played a key role in getting Foxton to the final, notching up three centuries in the last three rounds, helping his side overcome Goatacre, Sibton Park and Langleybury with scores of 103, 112 and 123 not out respectively.
Despite his readiness to champion his team-mates’ abilities and chances on the day, Sanderson is more humble when it comes to his own returns, saying that he has done “all right” this year but admits with a happy chuckle that he’s been provided with unthinkable circumstances when asked if a century at the home of cricket is possible: “To even play at Lord’s is unbelievably special so the fact that I’m even thinking of scoring any runs at Lord’s is brilliant. It will be phenomenal walking out onto the field there.”
The same feeling is echoed by Woodhouse Grange captain Nick Hadfield, who lifted the trophy last year and will be playing in his sixth Village Cup final having made his Lord’s debut in 1999. “It’s always an honour to come back. Playing at Lord’s never loses its excitement from the first time to the last, it is a truly unparalleled ground and experience for an amateur cricketer.”
This year provides Woodhouse Grange with the chance to win a fourth Village Cup, something no side has managed before with Troon and St Fagans also three-time winners. “This fantastic competition means a great deal to the club and a fourth win would be a remarkable achievement,” says Hadfield. “It adds to the emphasis but playing at Lord’s is pressure in itself so it would just be nice to achieve a fourth victory.”
On the flip side Sanderson explains Foxton’s motives for wanting their first Village Cup triumph: “You don’t just want to get to Lord’s and lose in the final so it’s a massive thing for the club. We played against Reed who won it a few years ago [2012] so ever since then it’s been something the club have been striving to achieve so to have that in history books would be an amazing achievement.”
Hadfield has been matching Sanderson in the formbook this year with a century and four fifties to his name in six matches. His main concern is that he’s physically able to make it onto the field on Sunday: “I’ve just had a holiday. Fortunately we play large amounts of league and cup cricket so I’m just trying to stay in form.”
With both players expressing how excited they and the clubs are it sets up a final between two teams at opposite ends of the Village Cup experience who are both after the same goal – the kudos of being the best village club in the UK.
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