A SUPERB unbeaten century from opener Simon Danby powered Cornwall to the 2025 Over 50s 3XI County Championship title with a three-wicket victory over their Middlesex counterparts on Wednesday at Aston Rowant CC.

Held over from last season due to the bad weather, the Duchy made the long trip to Oxfordshire not knowing what to expect with both sides in the early stages of the season.

However, both sides served up a thrilling contest which went down to the last over.

Cornwall won the toss and struck early as Brian Dunstan trapped skipper Henry van der Walt lbw, and when James West retired hurt it was 44-1 in the 10th over.

Nileshbhai Patel was looking dangerous and raced to 44, before departing to the miserly Simon Johnson who sent down nine overs for just 10 runs as well as snaring Patel.

Ajay Pala was soon run-out by a combination of Michael Cockings and Johnson, and at 89-3 after 22 overs the Duchy were in command.

However, Middlesex then roared back as wicketkeeper Peter Sogbodjor’s 106 not out from as many balls in partnership with Carl Hoar (23) and Bilal Ali (24no) got them up to 243-4 from their 45 overs.

Cornwall were 23-2 in the seventh over with Adrian Warne (10) and Simon Harrison (0) out, before the dangerous Paul Miller went for 23 with 63 on the board.

Wickets fell at regular intervals as they slipped to 148-6, but with Danby there they still had a chance.

He gradually upped the ante but it was the brilliance of Mark Averiss and Cockings that proved a huge help as Averiss’ 31 from as many balls was followed by Cockings’ unbeaten 23 from just 11 deliveries.

The winning runs came from Cockings off the first ball of the final over with Danby still there on 108 from just 99 balls.