We last played these guys a little over a month ago which we won by 40 runs, you can read it here.
This game we struggled to take early wickets, with just three in the first four overs. Their first pair started with a 10 and finished the first over with 18. This was bowled by King and was a pretty good comeback after the first ball. They continued the onslaught in the next over bowled by Mahstar, hitting a further 19 runs including two 7s from no balls. Lobstar bowled the best over of the match with a runout and a catch for -7 runs. Cap'n Bob was on the receiving end of some more big hitting conceeding 27 from the over including a seven and some 5s. The partnership was 57, which was totally unexpected considering the previous time we played these guys the first pair made 20.
The next pair we slowed the rate, with them reaching the back net twice and Pax got a stumping. Thorpe bowled pretty tight conceeding just 9 including 4 from the jackpot ball. The Don (6) and Lobstar (8) both bowled a good line and gave the batsmen something to think about. Pax's wicket kept his runs to just 4 which included a 5 off the bat. The pair made 27 runs.
Philbert (-3) bowled the jackpot to the third pair and picked up a runout on the second ball. Mahstar (4) bowled a much better second over with runs coming mostly in 2s, but also picked up a runout. The King (12) was bowling tight, but got hit for a 7 from the 5th ball which messed up his figures. Thorpe (10) didn't allow shots to the back net. The pair made 23 runs.
But this time they were 107, and whenever a team reaches 100 before the final pair, you know that you'll have a big total to chase. Pax (11) was unlucky enough to be hit to the back net on the full on the jackpot for a total of 14 runs. Although back to back runouts at the end of the over brought the total back down. Philbert (14) conceeded mostly 2s and 3s, Cap'n Bob (10) only conceeded 3s, 2s and singles. They were 142 after 15 overs. The Don took the final over and was hit for 5 first ball, then picked up a wicket (bowled). This was follwoed by another 5 and a runout. They hit 2 from the final ball for a total partnership of 37 and a team total of 144.
I'm not sure if was had successfully chased down a total that size before so we had a real tough time ahead of us.
Philbert and King started well with 30 from the first two overs which included three 5s by Phil and no wickets. They were set back a bit with a third ball rule wicket but managed 2 runs in the over due to some extras. The fourth over they had the score upto 39, but Phil was runout after hitting a straight seven, and King was runout after hitting a five. They made a total of 29 which is 7 runs behind what we needed per pair to reach the total. Phil made 22 from 11 legal deliveries, but lost two wickets and faced two wides and a noball. King made 14 from 9 legal deliveries, but lost 1 wicket and faced a noball.
The Don and Lobstar were together again, starting with a jackpot for four total, then after a couple of dot balls they lost a wicket with the 3rd ball rule. They still managed to gain 3 runs from the over. The next over Lobstar hit a three, they faced a couple of wides with the Don being caught in between netting 2 runs. The next over they played some nice shots for some 2s, but Lobstar was caught out once which kept the over to 4 runs. Their last over started with the Don hitting a seven, and they kept the wickets in tact for the rest of the over netting 14 runs for a partnership of 23. The Don made 20 from 8 legal deliveries but lost 1 wicket and faced three wides. Lobstar made 10 from 12 legal deliveries but lost 2 wickets and faced one wide.
On comparison after the second pair we were 32 runs behind, which made it a difficult task to chase down, and we didn't think that we would make it.
Cap'n Bob and Mahstar batted third and started with a jackpot wide followed by a three. Mahstar was bowled first ball, but managed to hold out the next few. The pair had 6 after their first over. The next over was a good one with just one downfall with Mahstar being runout after hitting the ball pretty straight at the bowler, for a drop catch, but unable to make his ground. Bob hit a four and a seven in the over to gain a net 12 runs. We were then just 15 runs behind the comparison. The next over saw some 2s and singles for a total of 8 runs. With the last over netting -1 with a runout and four singles. This made the partnership of 25, which under normal circumstances is an ok score to gain a team total of 100. However since we were chasing 144, the comparison saw us 30 runs behind. Bob made 21 from 7 legal deliveries, and faced 2 wides and a noball. Mahstar made 9 from 13 legal delvieries but lost 3 wickets and faced 1 wide.
Pax and Thorpe came out needing 68 for victory, which as our past history shows is a very unlikely partnership target. However, Pax hit the jackpot ball to the back net for a total of 10 runs. The next ball they gained a single from a wide, this was followed by a 4, a 3 which included a stolen run keeping Thorpe on strike to hit a 7, and ending the over with Pax hitting another 4. That's a total of 31 runs in one over, which could be the highest single over that any of our batsmen have achieved. This brought us within 10 of the comparison. The next over they gained an easy 10 runs with 2s and singles without risk. A few wides in the second last over along with a 5 and a 4 helped get us to 9 runs behind the comparison and needing a further 12 runs from the final over. This was more than achievable as we can get 2 runs a ball easy enough with the side net. They got 10 from the first three balls with back to back 4s. This left 2 runs from 3 balls needed, and we were given them with a wide. Pax was then able to block out the last two balls for victory. This was a record partnership of 68 and one of the highest totals we have successfully chased down.
Without a doubt the voting would go to Pax and Thorpe for winning the game for us, the only question was who would have the 3 and who would have the 2, and then the 1 vote was a lottery.
With a new draw, we see two different team names with Hacks and G-unit not previously there, although they could just have renamed some teams.
The ladder is as follows:
| Team Name | W | L | D | For | Agst | % | BP | TP |
| Plaster Masters | 7 | 2 | 0 | 851 | 691 | 123.15 | 43 | 85 |
| Hacks | 7 | 2 | 0 | 867 | 361 | 240.17 | 39 | 81 |
| Yorkies | 5 | 4 | 0 | 801 | 787 | 101.78 | 42 | 72 |
| SFS | 5 | 4 | 0 | 788 | 854 | 92.27 | 35 | 65 |
| Black Hill Steve's | 4 | 5 | 0 | 715 | 752 | 95.08 | 33 | 57 |
| G-Unit | 1 | 5 | 4 | 390 | 529 | 73.72 | 27 | 33 |
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