Rovers earn last-over win

EVERYONE wants to beat the champions. So far, the two teams that have attempted to do so in Barclays Evening League Division One have failed, but they gave it a good go.

Firstly, newcomers HSBC Griffins gave C&W Rovers a scare and then, on Friday evening, the title holders had to hold their nerve in a last-over victory over DHS St Pierre.

Eight wickets sounds a comfortable victory margin but the match was far closer that that suggests and had it not been for a couple of costly fielding errors, St Pierre could have produced something of an upset.

Saints got off to a flyer after Dave Hearse had won the toss and elected to bat with Matt Jeffery's opening over costing 17 runs.

However, things went pear-shaped quickly for the batting side when Jeffery's replacement, Aaron Scoones, struck with his first delivery, bowling the dangerous Carl Le Tissier.

Things got worse before they got better, with Tim Duke picking up the wickets of Justin Walker and top-scorer Vince Kenny in his second and third overs respectively.

With a lengthy tail to the order, it looked as if it could be a short night.

But the rest of the batsmen all chipped in with small yet important contributions, particularly Javen Isabelle who smacked a couple of boundaries in his 15 to get St Pierre up to a respectable 94 for nine from their 15 overs.

Richard Headington and Duke were cruising early on, taking 40 off the first six overs until the latter got a nick to the wicketkeeper Karl Ogier off Hearse.

It was Duke's first Evening League dismissal since 28 June, ending a run of seven undefeated half-centuries.

Scoones joined the remaining opener and they batted sensibly to push towards the target, picking up boundaries regularly, yet there was still work to be done when Rachid Frihmat bowled Headington for 41 with the final ball of the 13th over with 10 runs still required.

Isabelle was charged with bowling the penultimate over and did a good job with just three runs coming off the first four deliveries until an untimely misfield led to a boundary off the fifth and relieved some of the tension.

Rovers still required a couple off the final over and Jeffery dotted the first two balls with the fielders close-in around the bat but then crashed the third to the boundary for the win.