NEWPORT Cricket Club will go into the 2024 season as South Wales Premier League T20 champions after triumphing at Spytty Park thanks to a last-ball boundary.
The 2023 finals day was postponed at the end of last season due to torrential rain so was arranged for the start of the current campaign.
Newport played Bridgend and Swansea faced Pontarddulais in the semi-finals, with both turning into straightforward victories.
Newport won by 67 runs after posting 147-4 from their 20 overs with Morgan Bevans continuing his early season run of good form with an unbeaten 65.
Bridgend were dismissed for 80 with Kameel Sahabdeen 3-17, Prabath Perera 2-13 and Muji Ilyas 2-10 starring with the ball.
WINNERS: Captain Muji Ilyas presented with the SWPL T20 Trophy by SWPL chairman Paul Morgan (Image: Newport CC)
That set up a clash with Swansea, who won the toss and elected to bat.
They would have rued that decision when they fell to 38-5 from eight overs with Michael Clayden and Tegh Sehgal claiming two wickets apiece.
Two further wickets by young Kameel Sahabdeen saw Swansea slump to 88-7 off 16 overs but any chance of an easy win was dashed as Adam Sylvester smashed a quick 30 not out in just 14 balls.
The Swansea total looked a lot more respectable at 130-8 off the allotted 20 overs, with Sehgal 3-17, Clayden 2-9 and Sahabdeen 2-27 doing the damage.
Newport lost an early wicket in reply, but Harry Friend and Mike Clayden held things together posting 50-1 off 8.4 overs.
The two took the Newport score to 63-2 before Clayden (38) was out, well caught on the boundary edge by Osian Webber.
Another wicket soon followed at 71-3 and a tight finish was always on the cards. However, captain Muji Ilyas, who had orchestrated the fielding side of the game expertly, began his innings on the offensive.
With Harry Friend playing sensibly at the other end, picking up singles and the occasional boundary, a match-winning partnership was beginning to form.
At 129-3 with just 12 runs needed to win, Newport were in the driving seat but 2023 league champions Swansea were determined not to lie down.
With six runs needed to win off the last over, the game was turned on its head with just two singles and three dot balls bowled by Asim Hameed.
This meant Newport’s Harry Friend (48no) required four to win off the final ball of the match.
With the field well spread, tensions were high as Friend smashed the final ball back past the bowler, all along the ground, bisecting deep mid-off and deep mid-on along the boundary.
It was a shot that dreams are made of to clinch a seven-wicket win and earn the SWPL T20 Trophy for the third time after previous wins in 2016 and 2018.
Friend finished on a run-a-ball unbeaten 52 while Ilyas finished 28 not out off 23 balls.
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