YELVERTON Bohemians are just four wins away from playing at Lord’s after beating Sidbury by seven wickets in the regional final of the Cricketer National Village Cup.

Sidbury made a respectable 221 for seven in their 40 overs, which Yelverton knocked off with more than 10 overs to spare.

Yelverton now progress to the national stages of the competition and face a trip to Frocester CC in Gloucestershire for the round of 32.

Sidbury made a slow start but wickets were hard to come by for the visitors. Pick of the bowlers Kevin Treweeks (3-32) broke the opening stand of 65, but the home side were unfazed and continued to bat solidly. 

There were contributions throughout the order, notably from Mark Bishop (46), and the latter overs of the innings were fruitful. 

Despite having a tough total to chase, Yelverton never looked in doubt thanks to a superb opening stand of 172. Captain Ben Grove (106) and James Casey (47) got the visitors up to 65 after just nine overs, well ahead of the required rate.

The pair soldiered on at a controlled pace before Grove moved the game irreversibly in Yelverton’s favour by taking 23 off the 18th over. His imperious hitting continued thereafter as he raced towards a century. 

Grove’s second fifty runs came in just 21 balls, his 106 off 68 deliveries in total. When he was dismissed two balls after reaching his century, the damage was done.

Dan Cooper (21) played an entertaining cameo to keep the momentum going. He was impressively caught by Bishop off the bowling of Alex Paget (2-49). Casey was dismissed lbw by Paget within touching distance of the win.

The match was sealed in the 29th over when Rob Grove edging the ball through the vacant slip area for the winning runs.