Rory Flanagan, Conor Kelly and Jamie Faulds dropped out of the side for various reasons and missed the trip to Rush. Stephen Neill and Graham Flanagan returned and so did the lesser spotted David Ford. The illustrious hyphen did not seek paternity leave.
The latter opened the bowling for Phoenix with Coach Downton taking the other end. The coach bowled eleven dot balls to Jansen and concluded this duel when the Rush opener played down the wrong line. Van Zyl struck three boundaries at the other end but after rotating the strike with Gull he also fell to the coach – caught Neill. The coach conceded a boundary to Shaukat but got his revenge when the unsung hyphen took a catch. After two further maidens his last over saw the demise of S Iqbal and the coach ended with 10-6-7-4. Conliffe had been on for several overs at this stage and the Kildare man’s figures were quite respectable. Phoenix probably regarded Gull as the danger man after his 86 in the Park and so were quite pleased when he was bowled by Masud for 23. Sheridan and Mullan were left to carry the burden of the batting and the former became the senior man after Kumar had Mullan caught by Conliffe. Masud and Kumar both took one more wicket, Neill had a caught and bowled and the innings closed on 178 when Conliffe got an lbw verdict against Sheehan.
Batting was not easy early on for Graham Flanagan and the unsung hyphen and a stand of 35 in 56 minutes ended with Flanagan out for 17. Conliffe came in next and scored 9 in a stand of 19 after which drinks were taken. The arrival of Coach Downton to the crease brought more action to the Phoenix innings and the coach contributed 38 runs to a stand of 67 which appeared to put Phoenix in a strong position. The loss of the coach and the illustrious hyphen within three minutes put a little pressure back on and the unsung hyphen reached his maiden 50 for Phoenix during a stand of 25 with Captain Dickeson. The former was finally dismissed for 54 which left the latter to guide the tail home. The skipper was the subject of several lbw appeals all of which he survived and ended undefeated on 38 with Masud providing sufficient support to see Phoenix through by 5 wickets with 2 overs to spare.
Man of the Match
Bowling Nomination: Coach Downton
Batting Nomination: Matt Plunkett-Cole
