ONE win from Lord’s. Liphook & Ripsley have the tantalizing prospect of a cup final at the home of cricket if they can win their Village Cup semi-final at Sussex side Mayfield on August 5.

Charles Janzur’s men reached the last four of the national competition with a superb display to beat North Perrott in Somerset on Sunday.

“It was a fantastic all-round performance on one of the best batting wickets I’ve ever played on,” said Janczur. “The ball did not seam or swing all day and the outfield was absolute lightning.”

The captain singled out George Neave for special praise after the young all-rounder steered Liphook home with an unbeaten 70 off 65 balls.

“George was outstanding with the bat. It was an extremely mature innings for his age and experience.”

Mayfield, who knocked out Rowledge in the sixth round, are currently top of the Sussex League Division?Two and were emphatic winners against Worlington in their quarter-final. They have an inspirational captain in Robert Sharma who impressed with both bat and ball against Rowledge, but Liphook will consider them beatable.

“Confidence is high. We will be taking a coach down as we have a lot of supporters interested in going, including the local football team,” added Janczur.

The village of Liphook is catching cup fever after their team’s bold run-chase in a high-scoring quarter-final. The victory target of 244 set by North Perrott looked daunting, but Liphook’s formidable top order did the job with two overs to spare, for the loss of only four wickets.

Electing to bat on their own ‘belter’ at Willis Lane, the hosts streaked away to 120 without loss, with openers George Retter (69) and 15-year-old keeper Jamie Baird (43) setting up a possible 300 total.

The spin of Dave Elliott broke the stand, but a further partnership of 81 between John Ireland (45) and skipper Jake Symes (55) sent the total spiralling beyond 200.

Crucially, Ryan Covey and Suman Ganguly slowed the momentum with a flurry of late wickets and their fine ‘death’ bowling held North Parrott to 243-7 in their 40 overs – a challenging total, but below what Liphook had expected 10 overs earlier.

Lewis Hunt removed Rob Nicklin and Ryan Covey cheaply and, at 35-2, Liphook had it all to do. However, Harry Munt and Ganguly, Liphook’s bankers, were now together and a stand of 93 in even time began to turn the game the visitors’ way.

At 128, Ganguly, after easing to 51 off 46 balls, was unluckily run out by a deflection from the bowler, Lorraine Szczepanski, who plays for Somerset Women.

North Perrott might have sensed that was their moment, but it brought Neave to the crease. Not called up to bowl earlier, Neave had patrolled the cover boundary like a cheetah, and now he took over responsibility for the final push. Munt went for an excellent 61 off 62 balls and Neave was joined by Richard Williams in an exhilarating partnership of 80.

With selective hitting, Neave stroked ten fours, while Williams did his bit with 26 not out off 25 balls.

And what a way to finish the game. With ample time remaining, Neave struck a towering six over extra cover to rapturous applause from the travelling supporters.