CHESTER-le-Street's hopes of winning a pre-season trip to the Caribbean were shattered last night when they lost by ten wickets to Ealing in the final of the Barbados Cockspur Club t20 at Chelmsford.

Asked to defend 120 in recreational cricket’s late summer showpiece, the Ropery Lane paid a heavy price for dropping the former Middlesex all-rounder Chris Peploe three times in the early overs of the innings.

The Ealing opener made 56 not out off 54 balls and shared an unbroken partnership of 123 in just 15.4 overs with man of the match Oliver Wilkin, who made an unbeaten 63.

Dropped by slip Andrew Smith off the first ball of the innings and later spilled by off their own bowling by both Quentin Hughes and Ian Hunter, Peploe finished the game with a six which seemed to sum up his side’s absolute dominance in what turned out to be a one-sided final.

Hughes said: “If you get a wicket with the first ball of an innings, it is suddenly a different match, but it was disappointing we did not respond when Ealing got off to a good start because that was what we had managed to do in the semi-final against Hyde.

“We dropped Peploe three times and you just cannot do that.

“One of our strengths has been our athletic fielding and that just made it more disappointing in a way.”

However, the Chester-le-Street skipper was also keen to praise the Ealing openers who had torn his seven-man attack apart to win the game with 26 balls to spare

He admitted: “Their openers batted beautifully.

“We had talked all day about the importance of playing straight on that wicket and that is exactly what they did.

“You can be disappointed but hardly frustrated when two batsmen have played like that and the margin is so overwhelming.”