Gaieties 7 July 2020

Manager Alex Wildman

Won by 5 Wickets

SOA 144 for 5 dec (Aziz 45, Warner 46 *)

Gaieties 140 all out (Allen 3-15, Madden 3-31, M Warner 3-20)

At the request of the FA and UEFA, the start time was moved forward an hour due to avoid detracting from their England/Denmark European Championships semi-final. Thanks to the early start the forecast rain had a very positive impact on the game turning it into a competitive run chase by Gaieties which SOA won on the last ball.

SOA's skipper lost the toss and we were put into bat on a slightly damp looking track. Jack Kelleher opened the attack for Gaieties with a quick, late swinging and seaming spell from which he conceded only 5 runs from 6 overs taking the wicket of Paddy Daniel caught behind, our other opener Nick Evans fighting hard before falling as he looked to accelerate. This brought Junaid Aziz to the crease and his partnerships with Paul Tanner, Ayyaz Malik and subsequently Matt Warner drove SOA to a respectable target. Rain had intervened with SOA on only 116 off 31.4 overs. However, 3.2 overs after the resumption SOA declared on 144 for 5 - Junaid's 45 and Matt Warner's 46* giving a platform to defend for the 25 or so overs available to Gaieties.

Colin Allen and Johnny Warner opened the SOA bowling, Johnny finding some good pace but going wicketless. Colin's superb two spells brought him 3 wickets from 7 overs for only 15 runs, including the prize wicket of SOA stalwart Fred Price who was masquerading as a Gaiety for the afternoon. The spin twin-brothers from different mothers, Ben Ling and Matt Warner, each took wickets at the right time, whilst Ben Madden's excellent spell of seam took a further 3 crucial wickets as the Gaieties chased on, never needing more than 7 an over until the death. With 5 runs needed off the last ball and the Gaieties' skipper Thurston on strike Colin took a steepling catch off Matt's bowling to secure a win for SOA.

Umpire Andrew Moss marshalled us all with a smile throughout the afternoon and our thanks go to him, our scorer Neil Harris and the opposition for a very enjoyable and closely contested game.