With Stone coming back into the side as wicket keeper there was no room for Kumar in the XI to face the league leaders. The match was set for what transpired to be a crucial 11.00 am start. Captain Dickeson lost the toss and Phoenix were inserted.
The first 40 minutes belonged to the visitors as within that time they saw off both Flanagans and the unsung hyphen by various means and with the partnership between Coach Downton and the illustrious hyphen realising just 34 it seemed to merely prolong the inevitable sequence of events. However, there followed a massive stand of 151 runs in 84 minutes from the illustrious hyphen and “Jlo” which changed the character of the match completely. Although neither man got a century there were probably important personal milestones in their respective tallies of 86 and 74. After both were out Captain Dickeson led the tail to add a further 41. Later Coach Webb expressed his satisfaction that Phoenix had batted for 50 overs.
YMCA set out bravely in pursuit of 247 and Coach Downton added to this season’s victims when he trapped Strydom lbw for 10. Shortt proved more difficult for Phoenix but Rory Flanagan had a scalp when Kelly caught Ahmed and Graham Flanagan got in on the act with a fine catch as Downton bagged McCready for 3. Beacroft gave Shortt some solid support and the illustrious hyphen had to be redployed in the field after an expensive over. Masud proved a golden arm for Phoenix as he had Shortt caught by Graham Flanagan lashing out at a poor delivery. The visitors added 9 before the rain came and with no further play possible the Duckworth-Lewis system decreed that Phoenix had done enough to win.
Man of the Match
Batting Nominations: D. L-S, “Jlo”
Bowling Nomination: Coach Downton
Fielding Nomination: Graham Flanagan
Overall a good team effort by Phoenix.
