SWINDON Under 15s won the Wiltshire section of the national Vitality Blast T20 Cup last week.
Match-winning contributions from Aadi Tiwari with the bat and Raghav Jaiswal with the ball helped Swindon claim a 34-run victory over Biddestone on their travels.
They will now face the Hampshire winners on Sunday, July 16 as Swindon look to progress further into the national club championship.
Swindon won the toss and opted to bat first in unfamiliar conditions, but openers Rakesh Venkat Savalapu and Finlay Hobson made steady but encouraging start before wicketkeeper Hobson was caught on 20 with the score at 47-0.
The north Wiltshire outfit continued to tick along nicely before Savalapu was bowled for 21 on 76-1, bringing Tiwari to the crease.
Swindon’s number three struck a quartet of fours in his bustling 27 from 22 balls before being stumped by Ed Armstrong off the bowling of Tom McArthur.
That valuable innings from Tiwari allowed those who followed him to play with more freedom and set up a daunting total of 124-5 – William Jordan (16 off 24) and Nisar Shinwari (13 from 12) finishing off the bulk of the visitors’ runs.
In response, Daniyal Anwar trapped Biddestone captain Armstrong in front for nine and Nisar Shinwari bowled McArthur for two as Swindon made the ideal start.
James Stirling (13 from 14) and Joe Knight (18 from 24) threatened to launch a counter-attack for the hosts, only for Shubham Marathe and man of the match, Jaiswal to bring the two Biddestone batters’ innings to an end.
The remaining six wickets were largely taken by Jaiswal – although a run out each from Marathe and Advik Tatwani helped Swindon keep Biddestone down.
Jaiswal combined with Savalapu for a catch before watching Hobson whip off the bails when Freddie Cheetham moved out of his crease.
The final two wickets fell through catches from Hobson and Marathe, and Biddestone were all out for 90 with 12 balls remaining.
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