After a 2 week break for the team due to the 1st round cup exit, Pacific were back in league action & aspiring to compete for the 2nd division title. However, it was a return to recent league form too as a combination of poor & niave feilding & undisciplined bowling gave the Martians the edge.
At least the batting did not give up & Sammy Purcell & Conrad Chandler put the bowling woes behind them with an excellent unbeaten partnership of 89 whilst keeping up with the asking rate of 7 an over. One superb over from Zubair 4-0-28-2 & who was the pick of the bowlers swung the pendulum back to the Martians, as did the enforced retirement of Chandler (52*).
Subsequent batsmen could not pick up the ball in the failing light & struggled to adjust as the clock went past 9pm as pacific became victim of their own abysmal over arte earlier in the evening. With Joseph & roberts lasting 4 balls without scoring , it was down to needing 11 of the last over. 2 wides & 9 from 6 balls. a leg bye, a dot ball, a 3, Purcell bowled, another dot ball & Matt Holiday needed 5 to win from the last ball. A lofted on drive for 2 was the best he could do & a pulsating game came to an exciting finish with the clock showing 9.12pm.
VIII:- Sammy Purcell, Conrad Chadler, Peter Hollman, Steve Emmins*, Darryl Roberts, Steve Lay, Matt Holliday & Chris Joseph. A division 2 match on pitch #3.
