Pacific sucumbed to what was eventually a comforatable defeat at the hands of Black Rose. On a stiflingly hot day at Highgate Woods, home skipper Andre Mishra won a vital toss and undertandably chose to bat. There was a generally commited effort in the field by Pacific, highlighted by some good early catching and shrewd field placing by skipper Jon Webley. However as the heat took its toll, a couple of important chances were spilled - enabling Rose to push on throughout their innings with wickets in hand.
Those chances were put into context when old Welsh Warhorse Jim Davies wrapped up the innings with his first ever Pacific hat-trick - finishing with figures of 5-45. By that stage thought Rose - who had batted consistantly well throught their top order - had reached a challenging target of 247 all out.
With the wicket already well worn, it always looked a tall order - but with dimiutive South African opener Guy Wiehahn showing an array of attacking shots - ably supported at the start by revitalised old timer Peter Hollman - Pacific got off to a decent start.
However the loss in quick succession of strokemakers Conrad Chandler, skipper Webley and then Davies meant the chase stalled when it should have been taking off. With Aussie Chris Atkin going first ball, Wiehahn was left with too much to do - while Rose skipper Mishra applied the brakes with some challenging left arm spin on the tricky surface.
The lower order all chipped in with contributions - but the required run rate was soon out of reach - and the respectability of passing 200 was a more likely goal than a serious assault on the target.
"Black Rose definitely deserved to win on the day" said a disappointed skipper Jon Webley after the game. "Apart from Guy, our big guns failed to fire - and we were always going to find it tough going after having to field in that heat." he added, bemoaning his lack of tossing ability.
XI:- Matt Callender, Matt Holiday, Jin Davies, Peter Hollman, Jon Webley*, Guy Wiehahn, Chris Atkin, Joe Bennett, Jon Brown, Conrad Chandler, & Aroon Koarankar..
