ASTON Ingham held their nerve amid knife-edge tension to progress to a regional final in the Voneus Village Cup after finishing all square with Colwall.
Anthony James top scored on 61 and Alex Gooding cracked 45 for the Gloucestershire County League outfit who, asked to bat after losing the toss at home, battled their way to reach 196-7.
Colwall, in reply, were looking strong at 156-4 only to slide to 167-9 and then recover to level the scores thanks to some terrific hitting from James Beswick.
But just as it seemed the visitors were poised to pull off victory, Toby O’Neill grabbed the final wicket with just three balls remaining to send Aston Ingham through on fewer wickets lost.
O’Neill ended with 2-37 from 7.4, figures which tell only half the story of the dramatic finish when one missed length would have been fatal, while James continued his memorable afternoon’s work with a haul of 6-26 with Gooding taking 1-26, both from eight.
Beswick was left stranded on an unbeaten 77 from 54 (three fours, eight sixes) as Aston Ingham booked their place in the Herefordshire & Powys final. away to Brockhampton on June 9.
Painswick progressed to the Gloucestershire final after Apperley withdrew, and will be away to Marshfield or Frocester.
That semi-final was washed out and, under competition rules, will now take place at Frocester on Sunday.
Langford, in the Oxfordshire group, went out by 83 runs at home to Oxford Downs.
PAINSWICK booked their place in the second stage of WEPL’s T20 knock out with convincing victories over Cheltenham and then Hatherley & Reddings.
Luke Woolway cracked 51 in a 38-run success over Cheltenham. Matt Conolly grabbing 4-15 from 2.4.
And Woolway followed up with a terrific unbeaten 89 from 36 (six fours, six sixes) in a 40-run triumph over Hatherley.
Pools have been drawn for round two (June 23) which is straight knock out, venues to be announced shortly.
The four winners will progress to a WEPL finals day with the champions going into the first national round of the ECB Club T20.
Pool One: Bristol West Indian Phoenix, Chippenham, Swindon, Potterne.
Pool Two: Painswick, Tewkesbury, Gloucester, Frocester.
Pool Three: Twyford House, Golden Hill, Bristol, Bedminster.
Pool Four: Clevedon, Wembdon, Bath, Bridgwater.
RAIN meant no play was possible in the group semi-final between Golden Hill and Bristol in the ECB National Club Championship.
The clubs will try again on Sunday with the prize a home play-off against Penzance.
Main image courtesy Aaron Parsons Photography