Forfarshire captured their second-straight Men’s T20 Scottish Cup title – and second trophy of the season, with a nail-biting three wicket win over Carlton.
The Broughty Ferry outfit looked to be cruising to their target of 130 when positioned on 95-2 inside 11 overs, but Carlton fought back superbly to force a nervy climax.
It would be Jack Hogarth and Lewis James who held their nerve, both striking boundaries at the death to get their side over the line, and add to their Men’s Scottish Cup triumph two weeks ago.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, Carlton suffered a disastrous start as a mix-up in the middle saw Tom Simpson run out for just one.
Arun Pillai and Daniel Da Costa set about building a platform, and rotated the strike well whilst being aided by some wayward bowling, reaching 39 at the conclusion of the powerplay.
Jack Hogarth was introduced in the following over, and found the breakthrough as he bowled Da Costa – and spin was the way to go for Forfarshire, as Lyle Roberston soon removed Pillai to leave Carlton 56-3.
From that moment on the Arrows lost regular wickets, with no one other than Hugo Southwell (31) able to build an innings of note, as Hogarth and Robertson tied their opponents down through the middle overs.
Will Hardie’s dismissal in the 18th over reduced Carlton to 106-6, but Lewis O’Donnell and Umair Mohammed manged to negotiate their side to a defendable total, the former striking the first and only six of the innings from the first ball of the penultimate over.
Scott Cameron, who finished with 3-16, would remove both O’Donnell and Mohammed in the final over, leaving Forfarshire requiring 130 to defend their title.
And the beginning to their response was rampant, Jack O’Neill and Craig Wallace looking destructive as they brought up their fifty partnership inside 5 overs, the former in particular getting after the spin of Angus Beattie, taking him for 14 in three balls.
Scotland international Alasdair Evans broke the opening stand in the final over of the powerplay, O’Neill miscuing a pull shot to Hugo Southwell at mid on who took a simple catch.
Callum Garden would fall to Arun Pillai’s first ball, but Wallace and Lyle Robertson would advance the score to 95, leaving Forfarshire requiring just 35 from 56 deliveries.
However, Angus Beattie struck to remove Wallace, caught and bowled, sparking a fight back from Carlton.
Arun Pillai and Umair Mohammed were impressive as they ran through Forfarshire’s middle order. When the latter removed James Sim in the 18th over, the chasing side had been reduced to 119-7, and had gone 48 balls without finding the boundary.
That brought together Jack Hogarth and Lewis James, the latter easing his side’s nerves as he found the boundary with the final ball of the over, reducing the target to just three.
And the the victory was sealed the following ball, Hogarth carving Evans away for four to spark jubilant celebrations.
