Phoenix were largely unchanged from the Malahide defeat apart from Faulds slotting in to the position vacated by Stone. CYM claimed to be even more under strength than usual and were talking up the prospect of an early finish. Captain Dickeson won the toss and inserted the home team.
Nicol and Henson got off to a steady start. Coach Downton’s economy rate was not as miserly as usual but Rory Flanagan fared a little better at the other end and the former CYM stalwart broke the partnership at 51 with Faulds taking the catch. Captain Dickeson decided to keep a few Flanagan overs in the bank and brought on Conor Kelly. Downton ended on 10-2-41-0 and was replaced by the illustrious hyphen. The latter caught and bowled Nicol in his second over and after a short stand with Rasool McDonald lost his wicket to Kelly. Rasool and Vaughan added 38 for CYM and then Rasool fell to Masud Ahmed who had replaced Kelly as Wardell took his second catch. Morgan and Vaughan added 60 at a good pace and Vaughan ended as top scorer for the home team with 52 not out. Flanagan bowled Morgan in the final over and the innings closed on 191 for 5.
After four dot balls there was some action in the Phoenix innings with a boundary for Flanagan followed by Brennan hitting the stumps. The score was still in single figures when the unsung hyphen and Conliffe (Saturday’s top scorer) essayed a dodgy single and paid the price. Coach Downton batted steadily with both hyphens as Plunkett-Cole fell to McDonald for 6 and Langford-Smith was caught and bowled by Rasool for 12. Phoenix were 60 for 4 after 18 overs and then it started raining. Coach Webb later described the Phoenix innings as a roller coaster ride and although he is a great believer in the power of positive thinking he might have taken the 8 points for a game being rained off at this stage. However, the game continued uninterrupted until it reached a definite conclusion. Coach Downton and Conor Kelly added a quick 50 stand to put Phoenix ahead on the Duckworth-Lewis method but the loss of both batsmen close together for 40 and 31 respectively left Phoenix at 109 for 6 with a lot to do. There was some controversy from the CYM viewpoint when Captain Dickeson survived an appeal for a catch early in his innings and then his stand with Masud seemed to give Phoenix the winning momentum. A stand of 72 contained five boundaries for the skipper and three for Masud with the latter also hitting two “maximums”. Nicol had Dickeson caught by Kennedy to leave Masud in charge of leading the tail to the finish for Phoenix and Masud added 8 with Kumar before Vaughan had him caught by Henson. Needing 3 to win Phoenix had just two wickets in hand and Kumar’s aerial efforts were not the best for supporters with cardiac difficulties. He added 2 with Wardell to level the score but was caught when he attempted to hit the winning run. Last man Faulds tentatively negotiated the last ball of the over and No. 10 Wardell was on strike at last. Umpire Walsh called a wide against Nicol to give Phoenix victory and the match ended with neither of the undefeated batsmen having scored a run.
Man of the Match: A good team effort by Phoenix to defeat a spirited home team
