Slow and steady ended up trumping bursting out of the blocks in a remarkable contest where the victors ensured they used all their 45 overs whereas Cobo were done and dusted inside a dozen of theirs, losing by 94 runs, even though they hit more boundaries than the opposition.
The run chase was something akin to blink and you’ll miss it as once wickets started tumbling, they went down like dominoes as Irregulars took their chances to bag the important top-order batters off the seam bowling of Haisam Azeem before spinners Gallienne and Adeesha Yapa very quickly skittled the rest.
For the first 11 legal deliveries of their innings, it looked as though Cobo were going to make short work of their 177 target as Josh Butler took three boundaries from Ryan Levy’s opening over, which cost 21, and then opening partner Tom Nightingale hit back-to-back fours off Azeem’s third and fourth deliveries.
However, the brisk opening stand of 29 was broken when Nightingale clipped a leg-side ball to the safe hands of Yapa and Azeem went on to claim big wickets in his next two overs with Ollie Newey nicking off before Butler gloved an attempted pull shot to wicketkeeper Will Hanson, too, reducing them to 45 for 3.
In a very top-heavy batting line-up, Cobo were then relying on skipper Ollie Nightingale and in-form Alex Bushell to conjure the vast majority of the remaining runs.
They both started positively as well, as the boundaries continued to flow, until Bushell miscued a flat-batted stroke off Gallienne, spooning a catch to Luke Le Tissier at extra-cover, which sparked an astounding collapse as Cobo lost their last seven wickets for the addition of just four runs in 20 balls.
Bushell was the first wicket in the young left-arm spinner’s hat-trick as he then trapped both Chaitanya Shet and Matt Merrien LBW in successive deliveries.
Captain Nightingale was then unable to clear short fine leg from the first ball of Yapa's next over and youngster Jensen Moherndl was bowled two balls later.
Gallienne claimed his fourth wicket of the innings by removing Dan Brown and Irregulars completed their amazing victory when a sharp piece of work from Ben Wentzel ran out Kieran Le Gallez.
In the circumstances and with the benefit of hindsight, the result made Philip Smith’s earlier patience in compiling 65 from 135 balls look a particularly astute piece of batting.
Although the batter himself later admitted his frustration at finding the fielders with regularity, he still did a job for his side after the early loss of Le Tissier to Le Gallez for a duck.
Tidy bowling from Cobo to well-set fields kept the run-rate down for much of the innings, bar a couple of lusty blows from Yapa and Gashi Masvikeni.
Butler was the pick of the bowlers, claiming four wickets including a fine low return catch to dismiss Wentzel with his first ball, while Le Gallez later picked up a second and there was one for Tom Nightingale.
However, bowling was not Cobo’s problem on the day.
