Northern Counties Cricket Club skipper Will Ford looking to add to perfect league season ahead of T20 Cup final against Forres
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Northern Counties Cricket Club completed a perfect Senior League campaign last weekend – but there is still potentially more silverware on the horizon for the Inverness side.
An exciting victory over Forres last time out gave Counties a spotless league record of 12 wins out of 12, backing up the Senior League title with an invincible season.
The always-dangerous Pal Dhami led the way for Forres, who batted first on home turf, scoring 61.
Sajid Muhammad (49), Fraser Merricks (34) and Gus Farr (32) also contributed valuable runs, as Forres set their opponents a target of 232 for victory from their 40 overs.
Of Counties' bowlers, meanwhile, Lewis Pacey, Nuwan Eshwara and Shaun Thomas took two wickets apiece.
It was a very competitive total, but Counties did not back down from the challenge and set about proactively trying to put pressure on the Forres bowlers.
Shaun Thomas carried his bat, scoring 64 not out, with his best partnership coming with Richard Smith (41).
Captain Will Ford (27 not out) strode to the crease determined to get his side over the line, and would eventually hit the winning runs himself with an over to spare to cap off the league season.
"Losing to Forres in the League Cup final earlier this season was a bit of a kick in the stones, because we felt that we should have done better for ourselves there," Ford said.
"It's easy to look at the negatives, but we went the whole league season without losing and that last game against Forres, everyone was saying it's one of the best games of cricket they have been involved in.
"Chasing 231 batting second, we went and got the runs quite easily with five wickets in hand. It wasn't boring, there was a bit of grit and determination, a bit of angst, a bit of everything really. It was everything you'd want from sport.
"We showed that we're not just a team that bats first and then controls people with our bowling and fielding, so it was enjoyable, very much so.
"Me and Shaun don't often get to bat together, but we've known each other since we were knee-high to a grasshopper.
"It was nice to go out and hit the winning runs with him there in the middle and enjoy that with him.
"It was the perfect ending to a perfect season."
There is still one more match for Northern Counties to play this season, though, and they could make it a trophy double.
The T20 Cup final was originally supposed to be played earlier in the summer, but weather conditions meant it was postponed until this Saturday.
Again, Forres will be their opponents, and while Ford would rather not have the winner-take-all element in the final game of the year he is confident that Counties are capable of coming out on top once again.
"I'm glad they haven't left it another couple of weeks, because by that time everyone would have disappeared and started to hibernate," he reasoned.
"We could finish the season with two trophies in two weeks, which would be nice, but at the same time it would have been nice to finish on the high of last Saturday.
"Now we might finish the season with a loss in a cup final, which isn't the best, but we'll just have to do what we can to make sure that doesn't happen.
"Cricket is always a bit of fun, but especially in T20. We've got a strong team, so we just have to go and do what we do best.
"If we bat and bowl well, and be the team we have been all season, I'd hope we can come out on top."
