JULIAN CUP: Burnham and North Maids fired up

The last time Burnham CC and North Maidenhead CC met in the Julian Cup final was in 2004 with the Bucks team winning an exciting contest in the final over.

An equally memorable clash could result on Tuesday at Boyn Grove as both teams are geed-up for a competition which is their only real hope for silverware this season.

Favourites and winners of eight of the last 12 finals, Burnham go into the match with no league form behind them, but the experience and skill to destroy any club in this shortened format of the game.

Under the captaincy of Shaid Nadeem, Burnham have some explosive batsmen in Obaid Sarwar and Mohammed Fazal, while their varied bowling attack mixes seamers like Adnan Malik with the slow off-spin of Rahul Mohindru.

North Maids have less firepower with bat and ball, but have proved their worth in this competition this season with good wins over Pinkneys Green, Burnham B and Marlow.

They also come into the match in fine form. Having lost their first six league matches, they have now won their last two, form which was kick-started by their semi-final success over Marlow.

Skipper Simon Carter was crucial to that win with a match-winning knock of 61, and his experience as captain and wicket-keeper will be crucial.

He will be looking to spinner Mark Dozell and seamer Asif Aziz to do most of the damage with the ball, but it will be a team effort with the bat that’s needed if North Maids are to upset the odds.

North Maids’ last final victory was in 2003 when they beat Burnham by 14 runs.