WISBECH fell to an agonising six-run Twenty20 defeat to Bourne in their first Jaidka Cup Final for more than a decade last night.

While they have had a disappointing start to their Tucker Gardner Premier Division campaign, Wisbech showed ruthless form to reach the final of the prestigious tournament.

But last night’s thrilling contest at Peterborough Town’s Bretton Gate ground finished with Wisbech failing to get the 10 runs they needed off the final over.

Australian seamer Drew Jones took 3-33 and Wisbech’s spinners Gary Freear and Craig Johnson bowled economically to restrict Bourne to 136-9.

In reply, the in-form Freear got Wisbech off to a flying start with a quickfire 48 but the middle order failed to take advantage and the Harecroft Road hopefuls were dismissed for 130.

Freear - who is set to captain Wisbech for the rest of the season while James Williams recovers from a shoulder operation - said his young side should be proud that they got to their first Jaidka Cup Final in 11 years.

He said: “A lot of us were quite down afterwards but I pointed out that we did really well to get there - we beat Peterborough Town with basically half a side.

“There were about four run-outs and I think nerves got to a few people. We put too much pressure on ourselves. It was probably a lot of our players’ first senior final.

“They will learn from this - you can’t learn until you’re in the situation and it’s credit to the club that we got ourselves there.”

Freear said Wisbech have the perfect chance to bounce back, as they prepare to take on table-topping rivals March at Harecroft Road on Saturday.

“It’s a big derby,” he said. “Usually we go in as favourites but they are obviously playing some incredible cricket this year and Matt Wilcox is in amazing form.

“It will probably be quite nice to go in as underdogs for a change.”