Griffins remain unbeaten as Le Tissier sees them home
GRIFFINS gave their supporters something to cheer on Tuesday.
The fact that the club’s sponsor chose that particular night to host an evening on the Legends Terrace at the KGV added a bit of extra pressure on the champions in what was always likely to be a stiff test against Cobo and there were a couple of occasions when their usual high standards slipped – particularly with the ball.
But they still managed to restrict their opponents to what has to be considered an under-par score on the mat with an outfield like lightning and then Luke Le Tissier got to work in a manner reminiscent of his majestic hundred against the same opposition last year to guide his side to victory with something to spare.
Cobo’s T20 strength is in their batting and that was even more the case this week as they fielded an XI shorn of pace bowlers such as Luke Nussbaumer and Ollie Newey, so after winning the toss and electing to bat, they would have been looking to post something in the region of 170-180.
What followed over the first innings was a very mixed bag that ended up with them setting a target of less than eight an over.
They got off to a good start with 13 coming from the opening over – Tim Ravenscroft hitting Tom Kirk’s first ball of the match for four and captain Josh Butler notching back-to-back boundaries later in his opposite number’s set of six.
However, by the end of the powerplay, they had lost that momentum as well as their top three.
Dane Mullen did most of the damage as he claimed the big scalps of both openers, Butler without adding further to his score and Ravenscroft for 31 having hit five fours and a six in his 20-ball knock.
Adam Martel added the wicket of Jamie Nussbaumer and Cobo were 49 for 3 inside six overs.
With Kirk then able to spread the field, the Griffins captain would have been looking to turn the screw, but his change bowlers were not initially on the same script and they served up some out-of-character dross to help Cobo get motoring again.
Ben Ferbrache and Dec Martel capitalised to the tune of 41 runs in four overs before the latter, who had already smacked a couple of fours and sixes from the 10 balls he had previously faced, miscued an attempted pull of Marcus Thomas and Jordon Martel gratefully clung on to the catch at deep square-leg.
That left Ferbrache to bat for 10 more overs with a largely inexperienced lower order and while the Island batter received some useful support from wicketkeeper Fintan Ridgwick, who scored at a run-a-ball, the boundaries started to dry up once more.
In the end, Cobo had to settle for 152 with Ferbrache left one short of a half-century having missed out on a lot of strike in the last couple of overs.
Le Tissier then took it largely upon himself to ensure there were no major hiccups in the run chase against a spin-dominated attack.
He did lose a couple of partners in the powerplay as Damian Wallen, who had already had a couple of lives, missed a straight one from young Louis Steyn and the same bowler also picked up the wicket of Matt Philp as Dec Martel took a well-judged catch at deep square-leg.
But Jason Martel joined Le Tissier and played the support role in a composed manner to allow the opener to do the bulk of the work with some trademark reverses as well as some more conventional strokes.
He would finish unbeaten on 80 from 57 balls with 10 fours and a big six swept towards the setting sun.
Although Martin and Kirk fell with the winning line in sight, Glenn Le Tissier joined his brother to see their side home with seven balls to spare.
