Pessimists hold on to deny Saints

PESSIMISTS moved to within a point of Premier One leaders Optimists last night after an 11-run defeat of St Saviour's. But Optis and new favourites Cobo, the only side left with a 100% record, will not be overly troubled by Pessimists' good start if this showing was anything to go by.

Pessimists, again reliant on ever-impressive opening batsman Tim Duke, were consistent and solid, but the unremarkable nature of their slender victory surely demonstrated that simply a place in the top three come the end of the season would be a terrific achievement for Tim Belton's side.

Indeed, but for a degree of sloppy running, St Saviour's, who squandered the chance to move ahead of St Pierre and into fourth in the table, might have won the points.

Belton's opening stand with Duke yielded 30, including 12 from the former's bat, before Ben Driver caught the Pessimists' captain off Phil Challenger.

Duke had no intention of following Belton back to the pavilion early, though. Duke went on to make 51 off 59 balls, a tally that included four fours.

He brought up his half-century in a slightly bizarre fashion; he looked doomed when, on 49, he pulled a shot off a Driver delivery only for Gary Tapp to produce an extraordinary drop at mid-wicket and then miss with a run-out attempt by inches.

Duke was eventually dismissed a few minutes later by Simon Fisher's tidy piece of fielding off a Spencer Noyon delivery.

Pessimists lacked inspiration thereafter and mustered a target of 111 off 21 overs. St Saviour's were chasing a run rate of just over five per over.

Opener Driver made 11 and Tapp, Owen Brock and Richard Veillard then got St Saviour's going with 18, 22 and 28 respectively.

Duke did not return Tapp's favour, securing his important wicket during a tidy period of bowling.

Brock was looking good until tempted into an ambitious, high and looping shot to deep mid-off in Keith Le Cheminant's second over; Belton held the chance comfortably.

St Saviour's hopes of victory were effectively dashed with the dismissal of Richard Veillard soon after. Veillard clocked up runs at the rate of more than one per ball until a loose shot to silly mid-on off Pierre Moody was caught by Ted Enevoldsen.

Noyon made five, including a four when he opened his shoulders on one occasion, a rare but impressive sight from a batsman who had been playing as straight as can be thus far this season.

But Noyon's promise was soon extinguished and St Saviour's brief moments of hope were dashed when Ross Bateman and Glenn Mourant were run out in quick succession.

Still, they were not too disheartened; the consensus was that 12 months ago St Saviour's wouldn't have got even this close to an in-form side.

The question for Pessimists is, of course, just how long can they keep this up?

Meanwhile, Optimists Two beat Cobo B in Reserve One at the Memorial Field, where Rob Batiste top scored for Cobo with 46 and Nick Chambers made 37 for Optis, for whom Mike De Haaff claimed six wickets.

The umpires were unhappy with their evening, though. They claimed that one of their coats was 'unwearable' and 'filthy'.