Watford Town secured the Herts T20 Trophy in dramatic style at Redbourn on Sunday.

Needing to score an unlikely 182 to overhaul Letchworth’s challenging total, they reached their target in the last over, with the last two batters at the crease. It capped a great day for the club’s first team, after a convincing victory over host club Redbourn, in the earlier sem-final.

Letchworth play a division higher than Watford Town in the Herts League and showed their quality in their earlier semi-final when crushing Berkhamsted by nine wickets. Their overseas star, Christy O’Brien, had top-scored with 69 in that match and the Kiwi was soon into his stride in the final, putting on 90 runs with David Sprittles for the second wicket, in just ten overs.

When O’Brien fell, he had taken 81 off Watford’s seven bowlers, an innings that included eight fours and five sixes. The run-rate slowed with his departure but with Sprittles reaching 51 not out, the Watford batters still faced the challenge of scoring at more than nine runs an over if they were to secure their first silverware for many years.

Openers Farhan Hussain and Asad Sajjad took the fight to Letchworth in dramatic fashion, scoring 69 off the first four overs to give their team the belief that victory was possible. After Hussain went for 23, off just 11 balls, three of the next four batsman fell without scoring, in a collapse all too familiar in league matches this season. Sajjar batted superbly for 49 off 24 balls but when he was seventh out Watford Town still needed 75 to win, although they had nearly ten overs in hand.

Syed Ali (33 off 21 balls) and Haseeb Khan (22 off 15 balls) took the team 48 runs closer to their target and within sight of victory. Khan’s effort was remarkable, batting through the pain of a serious hand injury, suffered when fielding.

The fall of the ninth wicket, with the score on 174, set up the dramatic conclusion and they started the 20th and final over requiring just one run to win. Off the first ball, Billy Sheikh drove the ball straight at the mid-off fielder, who inexplicably dropped the catch, allowing a scrambled single for victory, to the delight of the young Watford Town team and their band of supporters.

The absence of the trophy meant no presentation ceremony and a slight anti-climax but the silverware will be collected at a later date, when the celebrations can be continued.