Smith's a one-hit wonder

Tim Smith is the toast of Saffron Walden after steering the Tractor Boys into club cricket's National Knockout Cup Final. The farmer, so often a match-winner with his slow medium left-arm swing bowling, turned batting hero in Walden's dramatic semi-final win over Stanmore.

Walden are the first Essex side to reach the Final in the Cup's 34-year's history and they will meet Worcestershire side Barnt Green at Edgbaston on 5 September.

In the semi-final, last man Smith struck precisely one not out from the one ball he faced, the fifth of the 45th and final over.

But his nerveless chip over mid-wicket was enough to clinch Walden's place in their first major final as their score of 174 for nine pipped Stanmore who closed on 173 for seven.

Smith, 48, said: "I've been on the verge of packing up every season for the last 10 years but I must still enjoy it or I would not keep putting myself through all that.

"When you've had your arms on the steering wheel of a tractor 14 hours a day, it's not easy to get your arm up to bowl against fit young blokes who are less than half your age."