worcestershire ccc academy won the four counties t20 competition held at New Road, defeating staffordshire development x1 by nine runs in the final today.
the home side elected to bat and totalled 139-7 in their 20 overs.
jacques banton – 33 off 24 balls – and skipper pete clark (17) put on 52 for the first wicket.
joe miszkowski made 37 off 31 deliveries and rehan edavaleth chipped in with an unbeaten 26 off 22 balls.
staffordshire reached 80-0 in the 13th over in reply but then wickets started to tumble and the run rate began to climb.
the task of scoring 23 off the final over from banton was beyond them and they closed on 130-9.
banton completed a successful match by finishing with figures of 4-0-30-4 with josh baker (4-0-20-1), ed bragg (3-0-16-1) and clark (4-0-25-1) the other wicket-takers.
in the semi-final the academy had overcome herefordshire seconds by 100 runs.
banton had also made a telling impact in that game with 59 off 41 balls and he and fellow opener matt davis – 51 off 34 – shared a stand of 111.
miszkowski chipped in with 29 from 17 in a total of 198-6.
edavaleth had fine figures of 4-0-11-5 as herefordshire were restricted to 98-8 in reply.
baker (3-0-9-1), bragg (2-0-16-1) and aaron tomson (3-0-15-1) helped the academy complete an emphatic victory.
