Inter Services

The British Army have retained the Inter Services for the fourth consecutive year after rain derailed the tournament's final match against the Royal Air Force.

Video courtesy of Forces.net

The Army have dominated this year's Women's Inter Services T20 Championship at Arundel Castle.

Video courtesy of Forces.net

The Army women have added the 40-over title to the T20 crown they won earlier this year, with a dominant performance at Vine Lane.

Video courtesy of Forces.net

The Royal Air Force have been crowned men's 50 overs Inter Services Cricket champions for the first time since 2014 as the light blues beat the Army in the deciding game.

Video courtesy of Forces.net

Shorthouse & Beales Brilliance Seals IS50 Triumph for RAF

A partnership of 92 between skipper Thomas Shorthouse and Sam Beales saw the RAF to victory over defending champions the Army in the third and deciding game of the Inter-Services 50-over tournament.

After the second game of the tournament between the Army and the Royal Navy was abandoned without a ball being bowled, it set up a mouth-watering decider between defending champions the Army and the RAF, and Shorthouse’s and Beale’s brilliance with the bat proved to be decisive.

The pair came together with their side in disarray at 32-4 after some very tight Army bowling from left-arm seamer Nicolas Schofield (1-15), off-spinning captain Jay Boynton (2-24), and off-spinner Denson Narayan (1-21), but the classy stroke players’ fifth-wicket stand proved to be the catalyst in their victory that came with 1.5 overs to spare.

RAF skipper Thomas Shorthouse won the toss and elected to bowl first with rain forecasted, and his decision proved to be a fruitful one as they reduced the defending champions to 56-5, with seamers Jon Hawk (2-29) and Keiran Pearce (3-25) taking the wickets with the new ball. However, a brilliant 75 (87) from the Army’s Ross Dearden managed to steer the Army up to a competitive total of 161 all out. Slow left-armer Ashley Watson (3-41) bowled very well, taking the prized wicket of Army captain Jay Boynton (9) and two others.

The RAF run chase didn’t get off to the best start, and they were reduced to 32-4 when skipper Shorthouse was joined by Sam Beales at the crease. The pair set about rebuilding the innings, and they managed to get through a tough period where the Army had their best bowlers on. The RAF started to slowly increase our scoring rate and get back into the game. Just as the clouds started to build and with rain looming, Sam Beales hit back-to-back boundaries to get them one run ahead of the Duckworth Lewis Stern score. Moments later, the heavens opened, and the players were taken off the field. After around a two-hour delay for rain, play got back under way, and the RAF’s target was revised, leaving them requiring 36 off 7 overs. The pair then opened up, played a few more shots, and took the game by the scruff of the neck. Shorthouse 44 (74) fell with only 8 runs required, to a brilliant caught and bowled by the excellent Ross Dearden, and this brought Ashley Watson to the wicket, who hit a boundary off the second ball he faced.

Moments later, a wide from off-spinner Denson Narayan sealed victory for a jubilant RAF side. With victory in the bag, stroke player Sam Beales 49* (86) left the field with Ashley Watson, and he was greeted by his team-mates for anchoring his side home to a famous victory.

The opening game of the 2023 Inter-Services 50-over tournament was a clash between the Royal Navy and the RAF.

The conditions were challenging, and the RAF won the toss and elected to put the Royal Navy into bat. The Navy were bowled out for 213 in their final over, with notable performances throughout with the ball, and seamer Jon Hawk proved to be the standout performer (2-35). Sam Hewitt (47 from 60 balls) top scored for the Navy.

It was always going to be a hard chase for the RAF, with the pitch being hard to score freely on, and with uneven bounce and seam movement against an excellent bowling attack, nothing was guaranteed for the RAF. Number three batsman Adam Fisher played patiently and scored 67 off 105 balls to guide the RAF through the hardest part of their run chase. After he was dismissed, it was left to Luke Hansford to get them over the line and he did so brilliantly with 39 not out, despite pulling a hamstring and needing a runner for the second half of his innings, to see his side to victory with 3.1 overs to spare.

Captain Shorthouse, voted player of the tournament, was rightly delighted with the side after being crowned as Inter-Services 50-over champions. Shorthouse said:
“Overall, it was a great week for us and nice to avenge the loss in the IST20 earlier in the year. From a captain’s point of view, it was nice to see new people stepping up on the big occasion and getting the team over the line.
Shorthouse added:
“We have a really talented group of players in this side, and it will be exciting to see where we can go over the next couple of years. I want to thank all the players and management staff for all their help and efforts over the season. It’s been a highly enjoyable year from my point of view, and I can’t wait to get back out there next year."

Shorthouse went on to heap praise on retiring all-rounder Ashley Watson:
“I want to thank Ashley Watson for his service to RAF and UK Armed Forces cricket. He was a fantastic team-mate and a great role model for people coming into the team, both in terms of technical ability and desire to win. I personally learned so much from him over my time playing with him, and he will be greatly missed in the dressing room. My personal highlight from our time playing together would be our victory in the IST20 at Lord’s in 2018, where his spell of 4-16, which included a hat-trick, sealed the win for us and the player of the tournament for himself, which is always something he has aimed for and something he thoroughly deserved.”

Ashley Watson has had a stellar cricketing career for the RAF and the Combined Forces, with individual highlights including an excellent century against the Royal Navy in 2014 and a hat-trick against the Army at Lord’s when he finished with his best Inter-Services T20 figures of 4-16.

The former Norfolk captain made his RAF debut back in 2004, and he bows out at the top of his game as the highest wicket taker in Inter-Services tournament history with 77 wickets.

Army captain Jay Boynton was full of praise for the new champions, but he was also proud of his squad after another extremely successful cricket season.
“It was a great toss for the RAF to win, and with us not playing the second day against the Royal Navy due to rain, the RAF putting us into bat was a great decision. Overall, we just weren’t good enough with the bat and scored below par score of 16; however, Ross Dearden was outstanding, scoring 75, and was well-deserving of an Inter-Services 100 if we had batted better around him.
“Our bowling and catching at the beginning was phenomenal, and we had the RAF 32-4, and we were back in it, with Ross Dearden taking two remarkable grabs in the slips off my bowling, but credit has to go to Thomas Shorthouse and Sam Beales for putting on 92 for the fifth wicket, under immense pressure.
“We had a rain delay that saw us one run behind on DLS, and we eventually went back out on the field. The RAF needed 36 runs off 7 overs with 6 wickets remaining, meaning we needed to take early wickets which didn’t happen.
“Overall, not playing our first game against the Royal Navy didn’t help and our batting let us down, but the Army 50 over season on a whole was fantastic. We didn’t lose a game in the run up to Inter-Services and I am immensely proud of my squad for that. We will learn from this and come back stronger next year I’m sure of it.

Boynton concluded:
“I would also like to add, it was Ashley Watson’s (RAF) and Varun Bali’s (Army) last games in the Inter-Services due to them announcing their retirement. It’s been an absolute pleasure playing with and against them and they will be sorely missed.”