07/06/2026
Stafford travelled to Loftus CC last Sunday to contest the final of the 2025 Ideson Cup.
The fixture was rained off twice last year meaning that the host club would be decided with the toss of a coin at the AGM, with Loftus calling right.
Acko lost the toss and The Place were asked to bat. The top order, which had looked strong in the early parts of the season, struggled with the Loftus bowlers keeping it very tight and a wicket that wasn’t particularly batter friendly with some staying low and others popping.
With this, wickets fell at regular intervals and at the 15 over drinks break, The Place had limped to 39-4. After drinks, Atif and Quill started to tick the score along with the ball regularly finding the gaps in the field.
At the end of the 20th over, The Place had crept up to 65-5 but still seemingly struggling to get the scoreboard moving with any pace. With things looking rather bleak, the tail which consisted of Nelly, Robbo and Acko showed the top order how it was done, skyrocketing the total to an impressive 169-9 from 30 overs with all three hitting numerous fours and sixes along the way. Stafford managing 130 runs from their remaining 15 overs after drinks 🤯
In reply, Loftus came out with home advantage knowing how the deck would play and raced out of the blocks, finding the boundary with regularity. Until Robbo finally got the break through and the prized wicket of T Ramzan as he drove at a wider, tempting delivery on the up straight to Brad who took the catch at head height.
With that first wicket, Stafford knew they needed another couple of wickets to try and get a foot back in the game. Not long after, the second wicket fell with Robbo taking an excellent caught and bowled to remove D Burton for 1.
However, with the dangerous Morrison finding the boundary with ease still, Loftus raced to 101-2 before the decision was made to take the pace off the ball and really make the batsmen work for their runs. Acko and Brad took over bowling duties and done a brilliant job of slowing the rate down and make scoring difficult, backed by a lively and agile fielding display in both the outfield and Nelly behind the stumps. Acko finished a great spell with 2 wickets for only 13 runs from his 6 overs and Brad, unfortunate to have no wicket to show from a good spell, backed Acko up very well. This spell of bowling had turned the tide and put The Place well and truly in the driving seat with the big wicket of Morrison falling during this spell, caught very well by Michael on the boundary edge.
Stafford with their new found momentum kept turning the screwing and building the pressure ball by ball. Loftus thanks to the tight bowling mentioned above limped to 157-7 from their 30 overs.
The Place claiming the victory and with it, the Ideson Cup for the 3rd time. A big mention to the lads who couldn’t play in the final on sunday but played a big part in getting the team there last season too. The team won 3 games from 3 with some great bowling, fielding and batting throughout. Particularly the centuries in the earlier rounds from Ollie Sherwood and Brad Sexton.
🏆 Ideson Cup Champions 2025 🏆
