The 5s pull off a 1 run win to stay top of the table.

The 5th XI met Romiley 4th XI at Flixton on Sunday with neither team having lost a game in the league so far. The 5s turned up to Flixton CC only to discover the outfield and runups covered in water, and so set about raiding the groundsman's shed for any tool that might assist them. In an effort that would make Barbs proud, the ground was cleared of (most) of the water and play began at 2:30 with Didsbury winning the toss and batting first (After being told by Rab that he had played a Tendulkar-esque innings on the same ground for Flixton 2s the day before, so clearly it was a world class deck).

The choice to bat first looked good as openers Hammad Ali and Ben Sadler both hit fours in the first couple of overs that raced away across the drier parts of the outfield, but the 5s sadly found themselves in trouble at 39-3 after the first ten, with Sadler, Blackmore, and Noble all departing. Ali continued to hold at the other end as 5th team debutant Finn Perls came to the crease. Perls quickly opened his account and raced to 18 after dispatching a bowler for 14 off an over and sending him out of the attack. After Ali had departed and Zohaib had come and gone, Muhammed Sharjeel joined Perls and together they put on a 50 partnership at a quick rate. The two looked extremely comfortable, and Perls passed 50, his first for the club, on debut for the 5s. An excellent innings with the only chance he gave being the one he was dismissed for on 56. Following that excellent partnership, Didsbury continued to find runs at a quick rate with Dillon Harris finding the boundary and Louis Rees dispatching their headband-wearing opening bowler for six over midwicket to bring the 5s up to 181-9 from their 40.

The 5s took to the field confident in the total they had to defend as Noah Brown and Sharjeel opened the bowling. As per usual at the moment, both Brown and Sharjeel were extremely unlucky not to pick up early wickets as both opening batsmen played loose shots but found the gaps, and had several LBW appeals turned down. Rees and Prince would come on and bowled tightly in their first couple of overs. Their opening pair put together a scratchy 60 run parternship, when George Noble brilliantly found a direct hit to run out the better of the two openers. The other opener quickly followed after an outstanding diving catch from Sadler at mid-off off the bowling of Prince. Numbers 3 and 4 for Romiley would continue to take advantage of what was a good batting pitch and fast outfield and would continue to find the boundary, and needed 80 off the last 15. Harris and Zohaib came into the attack and bowled extremely well, and gave very little away, but Romiley continued to chip away at the total with wickets in hand. Zohaib picked up a wicket after a sharp catch from Noble, and opened up the game as their number 3 was faced with the pressure of seeing his side home. Romiley decided to go before leaving it for the final overs and hit 14 off an over followed by 8 off the next. Brown bowled a tight over to bring the game back into balance as Romiley went into the final over needing 7 to win off 6 with Sharjeel to bowl. The first two balls were well placed into gaps in the offisde and scrambled back for 2 both times, and a quick single off the third. With only needing 2 off 3 balls, it looked like Romiley would get home, but a panicked attempt for a single resulted in a run out off the fourth ball of the over and an absolutely fantastic ball that clipped the top of offstump would remove the Romiley number 3, who had reached 53 by this stage, off the fifth ball. With all the Didsbury fielders in a close ring around the bat ready for the scrambled run, and a new batsmen on strike. A wild swing, when perhaps just getting bat on ball was needed, found the ball in wicketkeeper Perls' hand and launched the ball at the non-strikers end, and was cleanly collected by Sharjeel to run out the batsmen scrambling to get to the other end. An unbelievable end to a fantastic game of cricket, with Didsbury winning by 1 run.

I'm extremely proud of the team for that win as we continued to fight all the way through and put the opposition under pressure with some excellent fielding. A special thank you to those that had been called up late to the 5s following a cascade of dropouts in the evenings before the game. A brilliant innings and sharp work behind the stumps by Finn Perls on debut and a match-winning performance with bat and ball by Muhammed Sharjeel, but it was a magnificent effort by the entire team as we fielded relentlessly well which is why we won the game (Although Louis claims it was his six in the final over). A brilliant effort, and the 5th team sit joint top of the division, without having lost a game and have a game in-hand.