Milford march on in their bid to reach Lord’s

The South Staffs League Premier Division outfit are now just two games away from a trip to the home of cricket after defeating Northamptonshire side Barby in the National Village Cup.

Sunday’s eight-wicket success was built on the back of a superb display in the field that saw their visitors rolled out for just 111.

Seamer Tom Webb and leg-spinner Sam Jeavons shared top billing with the ball.

Webb bagged 4-31 from his eight overs while Jeavons spun his way to 3-8 from 3.3 overs.

An unbeaten 34 from opener Aaron Afford and 27 from skipper Stuart Phazey then saw the hosts comfortably over the line to earn a quarter-final showdown at home to Astwood Bank.

“Our performances in the last two rounds of this competition have been very good,” said Phazey.

“If we carry on performing how we have been on a Sunday, then I can’t see us not winning the next round.

“Astwood Bank are a very good side. We know that from playing against them in the past but the performance on Sunday was fantastic.

“We took wickets at really good times. We had them 48-5 and that’s hard to recover from in a 40-over game. When we batted, we had a 40-odd stand for the first wicket. We made good starts in both innings.

“We have had two comfortable victories in the last two rounds of the competition and they have given some of the younger lads a boost confidence wise.

“I’m trying not to get carried away by things and I don’t want us to get ahead of ourselves. But there is a bit of a buzz around the place following the win.”