Denied a place on ground accreditation grounds in this summer's Southern Premier League after winning the Hampshire League at the first attempt last year, Ferndown had beaten Ventnor, won the Taunton regional finals with victories over 2023 ECB finalists Neyland and OTs & Romsey, before knocking out Birmingham Premier Leaguers Halesowen in the semi-final.
But drained from pulling off a thrilling last-ball win to beat Halesowen, Ferndown found the Lord's national final a step too far and were soundly beaten by Broadstairs, who had twice finished runners-up in the past, most recently against Sarisbury Athletic.
Wayfarers were in the game with Broadstairs 71-3, but Nathan Fox (34*) and Jake Benfield (32*) took the game away from them. It all went disastrously wrong for Ferndown with the bat as they lost openers Alex Sansom and Eric Linge on 10 and then Freddie Pittaway for a second ball duck. They fell to 41-5 before Will Sansom made 38 to lift their final total to 77.