Day 3
Batters XI vs Allrounders XI
at the PDV Dome
Good bounce, good for batting.
Daniel Towns belted two fours and a massive six off Bryce Cunningham, bowling the 49th over, as the Batters snatched a tense victory over the allrounders. Towns had previously been struggling to get the ball away, at 12 off 19 balls, and faced up to his ex-teammate with 18 needed off the last 2 overs.
Rising to the occasion, he scored 15 of the 16 runs in the over, and the crowd enjoyed every minute of it. Earlier, Ian Markus and Marc Robbins scored fifties to anchor the Allrounders total, but Brown gave the impetus toward the end, with a brutal innings of 25 off just 13 balls, clobbering Towns for a huge six.
Breakthroughs for Cunningham and Gaurav Nayak appeared to have shifted the advantage to the Allrounders, despite fine half-cenuturies from Das and Bharat. Alas, it was not to be, as Towns emphatically stated.
Allrounders XI 252 (44.2 overs)
Batters XI 253/7 (49.3 overs)
Batters XI won by 3 wickets
Wicketkeepers XI vs Spinners XI
at the CW Oval
Wet, overcast conditions; good bounce and pace for batting.
The wicketkeepers lacked penetration once more, and Neil Pickup cashed in with 3 sixes, 8 fours, and a century, but could not take his team to victory. The renowned bunny survive 12 LBW appeals, and hit sixes off Garven, Dobson and Burke, much to the enjoyment of the crowd. His partner Currie gathered 11 fours and a six himself, whilst scoring a more impressive unbeaten hundred.
Earlier the wicketkeepers reached 275 all out, but largely due to the batting of Mamesh and Lezama, as the spinners maintained control of the innings for the large part. Whilst the spinners chased with enough heart and luck not to lose any wickets, a fantastic spell from Alex Blackman came up trumps in the end, as there was not enough time achieve the target.
Wicketkeepers XI 275 (49.5 overs)
Spinners XI 260/0 (50 overs)
Wicketkeepers XI won by 15 runs