SALTASH won the Clive Rosevear 20/20 Cup at St St Blazey in convincing manner by easily beating Gerrans by 53 runs in the semi-final and then Veryan by 23 runs in the final later in the day. In front of a good-size crowd on a sunny afternoon, Saltash ran up a good score of 138 for six in the semi-final against Gerrans. Saltash overcame the loss of skipper Ross Braund in the first over as the big-hitting duo of Nick Carpenter and Chris Simpson put the Gerrans bowlers to the sword, putting on 65 in eight overs. After Simpson was out for an entertaining 41, off- spinner Green claimed two wickets via sharp stumpings by Perry, including Carpenter for 31, to temporarily slow down the scoring. Richie Durndell added a useful little cameo before an over full of drama by quick bowler Shane Reid. He started off with a beamer to young Adam Stevenson, and was then hit for four by father Ian Stevenson. A further beamer at Stevenson senior had him taking evasive action, and it produced a warning from the umpire, only for it to be followed by a chest-high full toss, not called by the umpire, which Stevenson took exception to. To be fair to Gerrans, they sportingly voluntarily removed Reid from the attack, and the bowler also apologised to the batsmen. It did not seem to affect Stevenson senior as he launched a massive six out of the ground and right over the houses across the road. Despite being given 10 extra runs as a lower division side, Gerrans never threatened the Saltash total. Their one batsman of class, Reid, threatened briefly before being cleaned up by Simpson for 14, and a combination of tight bowling and excellent fielding saw wickets fall regularly as the guile of Durndell and Braund proved too good for most of the batsmen, who frankly looked out of their depth as they limped to 75 all out, plus the 10-run bonus. In the final, Saltash proved too strong for Veryan, who had hardly had to break sweat against a poor Boconnoc side in their semi-final. Saltash lost Carpenter early on, one ball after he smashed a straight six, but Simpson again proved to be the cornerstone of the innings with a hard-hit 47, and he received good support from Braund and Mark Hutchings. Durndell took a nasty knock when he top-edged one straight onto his nose, but he recovered in time to bowl a typical tight spell as Veryan tried to chase down another useful Saltash score of 131 on a new strip which played very low and slow. Veryan overcame the loss of Chaffin for a duck as Wheldon and Howard played with style with some elegant drives. They looked as though they would see Veryan home as they reached 82 for one with seven overs left, with Saltash uncharacteristically putting down some difficult chances. Braund made the vital breakthrough to bowl Wheldon for 37, and 14-year-old fast bowler Mark Partington- Smith then had Howard caught behind by Gary Pickard for 40. Veryan then completely lost their way, with Partington-Smith producing a sensational spell, claiming five wickets, while Braund again proved just too good for most of the lower order batsmen who came and went in a procession, six of them being clean bowled, while the dangerous Hocking was superbly caught on the boundary by Carpenter. Veryan were not helped by a hand injury to skipper Matt Dixon, who had to come in at number 11, and he was left bitterly disappointed with his side's collapse when Johns was bowled by Braund in the final over to leave Saltash winners by 23 runs. Partington-Smith was awarded the sponsors' man-of- the-match trophy for his match-winning spell of five for 26, and he is really one to watch for the future. Thanks must go to St Blazey, who were excellent hosts at a venue which proved to be a fitting choice for a final.