Wild last over keeps Griffins on course

But in a quite remarkable last over, former Island skipper Jamie Nussbaumer handed them the victory on a plate.

With nine required off five balls to win and seven down, Nussbaumer delivered a wild above waist no-ball which handed Griffins five runs and a free hit.

The free hit brought two wides which followed by a single off the next ball, meant the one legal delivery had yielded eight and victory came with two balls to spare.

It was a crazy end to a see-saw affair.

Batting first, Cobo got an early leg-up via four leg side wides from Luke Bichard and when he over adjusted in the same over, Josh Butler crashed him square for a lovely four.

Butler and Jamie Nussbaumer progressed nicely through the first four overs at a then healthy rate of eight an over.

Bichard’s third over from the 3G end hauled the rate back a touch and Dane Mullen’s opening over from the opposite end was unusual for the rare calling of a no-ball against the wicket-keeper for thrusting his gloves ahead of the stumps.

Another rarity was the sight of Nussbaumer’s swinging bat slipping through his grip and flying yards through the air.

Cobo sat at 44 for no loss at the end of the power-play overs, but then Butler went for a second to the mid-wicket boundary fielder and was run out by a distance.

The Griffins spin twins Adam Martel and Luke Le Tissier slowed the tempo further and at halfway Cobo were on a sluggish 63 for 1 – not enough you expected.

It had become a grind for the soon-to-be-deposed champions and when Le Tissier yorked a frustrated Newey the run rate had slipped to six.

Nussbaumer, who had moved into his 40s, tried to force the matter, but Tom Kirk had him flailing at thin air several times and in the next over the opener holed out to Adam Wakeford running in from long on to pouch the catch one handed at the second attempt.

Wakeford picked up the wicket of another Island man, Ben Ferbrache, similarly two overs later, and with the lower middle order crumbling Cobo ultimately failed to set a run a ball target.

But they also defended it and 112 looked a long way away as Luke Le Tissier prodded at Butler’s first ball of the innings and the off break beat the edge and bowled him.

Cobo’s sudden elevated spirits soon turned to frowns.

Nussbaumer’s first over down the slope included two sets of five wides on a night when, bowling wise, he could not get it right at all.

Butler picked up a second wicket in his second over, Damian Wallen swiping the ball straight into short mid wicket’s hands and although Adam Martel lifted him for six and out of the ground, he got one through the batsman’s defences in the same over to leave the leaders on a precarious 37 for 3 after seven.

Jordan Martel (30) and Marcus Thomas (12) batted Griffins right back into the hunt with a gutsy stand of 49 but their late dismissals, both caught in the deep, seemingly had swung the game back Cobo’s way.

But nobody accounted for that most unlikely of finishes.