An extrodinary match played on as warm & sunny a day in Mid April to the accompanying uninterrupted whirr of the helicopters over Highbury.
This was the 1st meeting between the two ground sharers of Wray Crescent & those who were there saw the former Wray Crescent Colts get one over their Senior Islington side thanks to a Senior Islingtonian, Roger Greenslade who's unbeaten knock saw the last wicket put on nearly a 100 to win the match by 1 wicket & with 10 balls to spare.
For Pacific it was deja vue & ignominy as they'd seen Graces do the same with their last 2 wicket partnerships earlier in the week, & take the game out of reach. This time once the foot came of the gas after Islington stalling at 98-8 & still needing another 100 runs it was too late to change events as the 2 batters played uninheeded & they took advantage of the gaps & short boundaries. 2 dropped catches, one a piece of slapstick when a huge top edge skyed upwards . With both players calling, debutant keeper Richard Gaffin & Captain Rob Bastin collided mid pitch & the ball spilled harmlessly earthbound, simply compounded the pain. with just 10 runs short of target another mistimed upish drive went over bowler Chandler's head & sub fielder Sheldon failed to hang on moving round from mid on to mid off. There were no further alarms & the winning runs came off Rees through mid wicket for 4 as the no 10 bat picked his short length delivery.
Earlier, Conrad Chandler scored his highest score for Pacific with 91 & a maidem century was cruelly denied him when he failed to spot a slower ball which then failed to clear long on.
Excellent bowling from James Gleadow & Jon Webley had turned around the game as Islington's openers had started brighlty with 64 from the 1st 8 overs but despite another quality spell from Shane Mundie & the notable efforts of Gleadow & Webley, they could only watch the unthinkable unfold before them as batters chased down the total if not without the odd scare.
IX:- Chris Atkin, Rob Bastin*, Conrad Chandler, James Gleadow, Peter Hollman, Shane Mundie, Jon Webley, Shayne Rees, Richard Gaffin+, David Oughton & Denny Morgan.
