A thrilling victory

Picture the scene: we're almost down and out. Cae Glas Ladies, thanks to an onslaught by somebody looking suspiciously like a man, are ten runs from victory with 14 balls remaining. Surely there's no way back. Is there? Just like Mr Stallone in the Rocky movies, there was.

Step forward our heroes, Rory Jones and Dave Ryder, with honourable mentions to Geraint Jones, Rory's elder brother, Matt Daulby, and our stand-in wicket keeper (again) Brian Cole. Thanks to this quintet, we somehow snatched victory - by five runs.

After batting first, we struggled to 83 all out. That represented something of a recovery after we had been reduced to 2-2 off four overs, then 20-odd for four. Only a handful of our batters made double figures - Dave Ryder, Mike Stokes and Steve Daulby, I think - and we were probably 20 runs short of a good score on another flat Whittington pitch.

Our innings certainly didn't lack drama, though, and one fielder needed the first aid kit for a split finger after one diving stop, while Huw Jones gloved a ball on to his own face.

I went in at number seven or eight and ended not out on two or three, Jamal being the last man to fall LBW in the final over. Jamal's innings was notable for the fact that it was the first time I had seen one of our adult players wearing a helmet. I think he'd seen the Huw incident and decided he didn't fancy a trip to the dentist.

Anyway, our reply started well even if we didn't take wickets. I was grateful to Brian's agility behind the stumps as I struggled to find a decent line opening the bowling, but I didn't go for many runs and even induced a couple of edges that almost carried.

Mike Stokes produced a miserly spell, and after 10 overs, Cae Glas had only made 33. It was the skipper Justin Evans (who's asked me to point out there's a lot more to him than a pair of expensive Puma pads) who made the breakthrough, bowling their Kiwi opener (another male) with his increasingly effective leg spin.

However, their number three (another male) was an accomplished player, who proceeded to play with a great deal of authority. Our total looked worryingly low.

We took a couple more wickets - courtesy of Steve Daulbly, who also opted to bowl slow left arm rather than his usual pace - to leave Cae Glas with 14 balls to make 10 runs, with seven wickets in hand.

And that's when it all happened. Rory bowled the penultimate over, removing the number three courtesy of a smart catch by Matt Daulby. Two balls later there was a run out - courtesy of a brilliant throw by Matt and smart work by Brian to whip the bails off - followed by another wicket for Rory, this time clean bowling the hapless batswoman.

This left the game poised on a knife edge going into the final over. Dave Ryder was bowling with Cae Glas now needing six to win. His first ball produced a wicket, clean bowled. Crucially, it was also a dot ball. Next up, a dot ball, followed by a scrambled single. Then another run out - this time Geraint Jones throwing down the stumps from eight or nine yards. It's a good job his throw hit - they probably would have won it off the overthrows, the ball was travelling so quickly.

Another dot and a run out off the final ball - this time courtesy of Brian behind the stumps - saw us to victory. With hindsight it was an enjoyable. At the time, things were pretty tense, particularly after I managed a couple of inexcusable misfields. I'm just glad they didn't cost us victory...