It was a day of pumping tunes and thumping defeat as a Pacific line-up, with the returning flare of Giaco Bridgett, as well as Navid and Hugh, took on a sedate but effective Arkley CC in the acoustic shadow of the Alexandra Park Festival. The opposition got off to a slow start as Giaco showed them an out-swing masterclass, beating the bat on numerous occasions, with support from Phil Smith, restricting the rate to under three until drinks. After the removal of openers Sittampazam (c Chasseaud, b Bridgett) and Morgan (ro Chowdry), Arkley upped their game and put on a massive third wicket partnership of 221no (Cawdy 118no / Lewis 102no), taking advantage of an incredibly short boundary and pacing their innings to perfection to set Pacific a daunting total of 269 runs to chase down.

The chase started well, with the run rate in check and the batsmen playing their shots against spin which was generally summed up by the waiting Pacific batsmen as "rubbish". Rubbish turned out to be an under-estimation as the opening pair of Sharma and Woodland fell, the latter hitting a massive, first ever career six before being stumped the very next ball. This became a theme for innings, with batsmen getting in, playing big shots and getting out, with wickets falling regularly. The innings of note came curtesy of Chasseaud (69), who played his regular steadying role, accumulating runs at will, as well as hitting a big six of his own. Burnham (37) entertained with some unorthodox madness before succumbing with the victory still a definite possibility. Sittampazam then returned with the ball to tear through the middle order and tail, taking 6-27, only finding resistance from a heroic innings by Macpherson (17) who played gritty, brave cricket, bringing comment from his team that they were "daring to dream" of victory. Late drama was brought about by a nasty collision as bowler and wicketkeeper, both named Phil, called for the same catch and found only each other. After a swift icing, the innings was concluded when a shooter snuck beneath the defensive bat of Chasseaud with Pacific coming up 70 runs short of the victory with 200 all out.

Match report by Sam Howes