T20 cricket is made for nights like this!
After a sometimes frantic, but always entertaining evening’s cricket, Midleton overcame the challenge of Cork County Lions on the last ball of the game, with Magsi hitting the winning runs in an incredible match.
The Lions opened the batting against a 10 man Midleton side, and openers S. and T.R. Kahn quickly started exploiting the gaps in the visitor’s field with some clever play. Eventually, Magsi made the breakthrough thanks to a smart catch by Maqbool, before Midleton finally reached 11 men by the 6th over. Atif Akbar’s intelligent bowling was finally rewarded with a wicket, before Fayyaz Kahn, making his first appearance of the season, firmly pegged the home side back with a stunning four overs of bowling that left him with figures of 3/11, Maqboul taking another smart catch on an evening that saw plenty of other chances dropped. The Lions eventually set a total of 128, with Saleem unbeaten with a fine 42.
Midleton’s response got off to a flyer, with Boom Boom Akbar and Atif Jameel in excellent form. When Akbar finally fell, South African debutant Richard Rust did a fine job supporting Jameel, despite not swinging a bat in anger in 9 years. Though Midleton kept the run rate up, they were never allowed to surpass it thanks to some neat County bowling. Rust eventually fell for 14, before Majid Sharif put in a fine shift scoring 19 before being run out. When Jamell finally fell on 59, the visitor’s looked to be in real trouble, but Magsi and young David Jalil were on hand to bring the evening to a climax in the final over.
Requiring 5 from the last six balls, Midleton was assisted by two wides in a tense finish, before Jallil ran a fine single. Needing one off of the last ball to draw, Magsi struck a stunning drive, securing two runs and victory for the visitors and silencing the previously raucous Salsa class that had been taking place in the pavilion.
