Saunders helps Hornchurch to Dukes T20 glory

Buckhurst Hill 95/7 (20.0 overs)

Hornchurch 99/2 (16.4 overs)

Buckhurst Hill won the toss and elected to bat

Hornchurch won by eight wickets

An unbeaten half-century from Ronnie Saunders carried Hornchurch to Dukes Essex T20 glory in front of a sizable crowd at the Old County Ground, Brentwood.

Saunders’ knock came off 54 balls and included eight 4s and one 6 as Hornchurch cantered to the crown with some to spare.

Hendro Puchert and Prithviraj Sarvaiya attempted to curb Hornchurch’s progress by taking the wickets of skipper Billy Gordon and Jas Bassan, but their toil was not to be rewarded.

Earlier, Buckhurst Hill had posted a modest 95/7 – Saihaj Jaspal (19) and Ryan Karunakaran (18) top-scoring – Marc Whitlock claiming 2/19 for the eventual winners.

Hornchurch: Ronnie Saunders, Billy Gordon (Capt), Shane Barwick, Merv Westfield, Roy Smith, Michael Bones (WK), Jas Bassan, Marc Whitlock, Jermaine Shillingford, Frankie Jacobs, Luke Edwards

Buckhurst Hill: Prashant Chand-Bajpai (Capt), Hendro Puchert, Saihaj Jaspal, Prithviraj Sarvaiya, Will Stoner, Daniel Parkinson, Daniel Platt, Viraj Gandhi, Billy Wright (WK), Jaydeep Dhuria, Ryan Karunakaran

Umpires: Rafiq Patel and Ray Clark

Scorers: Hugh Oxlade and Lee Bones