Another match, another exciting finish. The Phoenix scoffs at comfortable victories; it laughs at being back in the pub by 8pm; it sizes up that gift horse and then looks it right in the mouth.
Yes, a win but with only one ball to spare – in spite of having an ARM offshoot 7-19 after 9 overs and a modest target to chase of 91.
The day began with some impressively tight bowling from our opening pair, Faz and Stuart C. After giving the ARM openers nothing to hit, we quickly broke through with a wicket from Stuart in his first over and another from Faz in his second. The run tap stayed dry, but the initial trickle of wickets quickly turned into a flood as Stuart cleaned up the top and middle order, finishing with the extraordinary figures of 6-4, including an almost hat trick. (Mind you, he preferred to take his wickets with full tosses where possible, so his much better balls could be admired without any pesky interventions by the batters)
Sajog picked up where our openers left off and coupled with some impressive Phoenix fielding, notably from Bruce, ARM were in desperate trouble at the halfway point. Their nos 7 and 9 quickly turned the tables though, and it became clear our opponents did not feel encumbered by any batting order conventions. Stuart R and Kay bore the brunt of this counter-attack,, and by the time Ralph and Sajog chimed in with a couple of late wickets, ARM had mounted a competitive total of 91.
Mind you, that still looked eminently gettable, and you’d hope well within the 20 overs. Unless your opening bats think it’s a Test match of course. And so a slow start led to a fast finish . . .
After a mini flurry of runs in early overs, Graham B and your match reporter got bogged down through a combination of good bowling and some well-meaning fresh air swings. Simon retired after 12 overs and Graham finally fell to an infield catch in the 17th and it was left to Ralph to bring us (almost) home with another retirement. Kay added the finishing touches with 6 runs from 2 balls and we had the victory we (mostly) deserved.
A good all round team effort in the end, with confident skippering from Jeff and at least we ensured an exciting spectacle for any fans in attendance. Worth the price of admission . . .
ARM
Abishek b Creed 1
Jayanth lbw Creed 6
Avinash b Lee 2
Manish B lbw Creed 0
Anshaman c Lee, b Creed 0
Jinesh c & b Creed 0
Manish P c & b Sajog 36
Satya c Kay, b Creed 1
Isack no 28
Nihit c Creed, b Minter 2
Masthik b Minter 6
Extras 9
Total 91
Phoenix
Briscoe c ?, b Vinesh 16
Lancaster no 25
Minter no 26
Wilson c ?, b Vinesh 2
Cairnduff no 0
Bisht no 6
Extras 20
Total 95