COLWALL'S dreams of a Lord's final are over for another year as Elvaston of Derbyshire ran out winners of this quarter final tie in the Village Knockout Championship.

ELVASTON v COLWALL

In the picturesque surroundings of Elvaston Castle Colwall's start was explosive with three wickets in the opening two overs to stun the 400 strong crowd.

Damien Berry claimed the first after Archer scooped into Dave Sutton's hands at gully before Johnson at the other end nicked Jordan Kontarines' delivery to Tim Riley at slip. Brear followed in the same over caught by Steve Ferguson to leave Elvaston at just 4-3 before continued tight spells from the two pacemen restricted the home side to 27 in the opening ten overs.

Birch and Thompson stabilised the innings in the short term, adding 25 for the fourth wicket before the latter fell to Sutton's excellent forward diving catch off the bowling of James Wagstaff.

The leg spinner went on to collect 2-39, including Birch's wicket for 29 but couldn't halt the timely knocks from Kettlewell and Torry that completed the recovery. Torry especially showed style with the bat to score a fine 68 runs in just 62 balls and push Elvaston to 127 inside 30 overs.

Missed catches extended Elvaston's run tally before Richard Williams bowled Kettlewell for 40 and Torry skied to Lee Hankins at deep mid-on. Williams went on to claim 3-48 after two excellent catches by Martin Oliver late on and leave Elvaston 194-9 from their 40 overs.

Colwall's confident start of 66 in the first 15 overs looked just what was required to challenge the difficult but workable total as Tom Wolfendale and Dave Powell took the initiative with some outstanding boundary shots.

Powell fell to Torry's superb one handed catch at point looking for further off-side runs but Wolfendale commanded the crease to work up a 63 ball half century that included nine fours. From then on a declining run rate proved critical as Colwall looked to consolidate after Richard Williams and then Tim Riley fell in successive overs.

The tight off spin of Thompson claimed Williams and next Wolfendale in the 23rd over to put the game in the balance at 84-4 as Colwall's grip on the game slowly loosened. The impressive Barrett's second spell came back to win the game from that point on as Colwall wickets tumbled in the search for much needed runs.

Two rain interruptions and gloomy batting conditions didn't help the Colwall cause in the run chase with only Steve Ferguson able to fend off the bowling comeback. Barrett collected 5-8 in his second spell to bowl through the middle order and tail before Ferguson's late charge to finish on 45 reduced the deficit to a respectable losing margin of 40 runs.

A disappointing end then to Colwall's campaign in the competition but one that will again be remembered for some excellent team and individual performances that led them to quarter finals for the second year running.

Colwall's Saturday's league game versus Winget was called off despite more than 58 overs play. Colwall had reached 192-8 in their 50 overs with Tim Riley top scoring with 62 and Dave Powell adding 60. Winget were 26-1 before the heavy rain.

Colwall would like to thank T S & R P Rowberry for their kind match sponsorship of this game.

Colwall now face two league away games tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday at Apperley and Frocester respectively.