After
our very disappointing effort in the 1st Semi, and a 2 ½ hour
wait between games, Blackout’s season was in the balance as we tool on the
mankeding Chokers for a finals birth.
Out
of our line up went Big Pete (playing for the Skrotes), in came our
unofficial 8th player Rashid.
Still
playing with 7, the game was a complete reversal of our previous match.
Col’s caught & bowled in the opening over signalled we were back on
track. The bowling and fielding was exemplary. All the wickets we missed out
on in the 1st game materialised in the 2nd. In all, we
took 24 wickets. Whether it was Tim’s catching prowess up the back,
Dave’s caught & bowled, Rashid’s run outs or me bowling the same
player 3 times in an over (yes, give myself a wrap) everyone contributed to
this onslaught. In the end the Chokers scored a very gettable 59.
Or
so it seemed…
Our
batting started right on track until our star openers lost 4 quick wickets
in consecutive deliveries. When the dust settled Tim & Col walked off
with 16. The next pairing of Brian & Paul were only successful in
pushing our total to 20 (no thanks to the umpire who must have run out of
fingers & toes and failed to add the score up correctly).
The
pressure was now well and truly on the experienced paring of Dave &
myself. Luckily, a complete form reversal on my part (and a very determined
29 runs later) was enough to edge closer to their total. This left Brian and
Rashid to score the winning runs.
