Well, I was there, watched every ball, wrote it all down, drove home thinking about it, ate, went to sleep thinking about it, slept, ate again, thought some more – and I am still not fully sure how it is I am writing up about the 2s getting to the T20 quarter finals. I’m sure the mention of the word ’steal’ in such an affluent part of the world is probably a sensitive subject, but this certainly felt like a heist to match anything in these parts in recent years after the 2s were looking well beaten for much of the Bowdon reply.

Even the match facts don’t convey what a remarkable win this was. The 2s made 151-6, recovering well and running like beggary. It felt like Bowdon batted much better, only losing 3 wickets in their reply, but somehow they still needed a boundary off the last to match the Dids total, before fluffing their lines in the super over as the 2s won with three deliveries unused. But how we even got to a super over is what’s still beyond me. I’ll try and explain.

The 2s chose to bat, suffered an early flurry of wickets and only found the boundary twice in the powerplay. Jack and Ed (Owen, not Catt) rebuilt with a composed stand of 57 off 52, before Ed was narrowly run out selflessly going for a second. The one run that did count in that sequence took Jack to an accomplished 50 (42 bs) but the lads were too busy clapping Ed off to notice, so the Chief Super somewhat bizarrely received a round of applause when he registered his 51st run.

Jack perished shortly afterwards, a tired looking swipe leaving Dids 92-6 in the 15th. That’s not a criticism, by the way – Bowdon is a big outfield, there was a considerable distance to the boundary one side, and it must have been exhausting. Dids ran 20 doubles and 3 trebles, as well as 43 singles, so you can appreciate the effort the batters put in. Tom – a very handy no.7 - is certainly never one to slack when it comes to running between the wickets, which he and Max did to good effect, but the left hander was also able to profit from the shorter leg side boundary, hitting successive sixes into the same garden (much to the owners’ ire) as 57 came off the last 5 in a heartening finale.

The first and last over of the Bowdon reply were to be the only times the 2s, to me at least, ever seemed to be in control. Raza conceded just a single and wide in the first, but by the end of the powerplay, Bowdon had already equalled the Dids boundary count of their entire innings, and then bettered it in the next as they raced to 71-0 off 7. At halfway Bowdon were 83-0 (Dids were 59-3 at that stage) and when opener Ben Atkinson missed a weary-looking heave at Ed (Catt, not Owen) the hosts were 93-1 off 11.3 overs, just 59 more needed off 51 with 9 wickets in hand. It looked all over casanova.

I’m not sure exactly when the momentum shifted, but Tom’s nerveless catch on the short boundary to dismiss Hal Dwobeng (57 off 43 and a very dangerous player) evidently lifted the team. Dwobeng clearly prefers dealing in boundaries and only he will know if it was frustration in not seeing one cross the rope in 39 deliveries that led to his holing out. Whatever, that made it 102-3 in the 14th, and with two new-ish batters in, the 2s sensed an opportunity. By the end of the 16th, the comparative scores were level (115) for the first time in 13 overs, Bowdon having been way ahead since the 3rd over, but just as it dawned on me that we were still in this, the hosts surged in front again with a burst of 23 off the next 2, the first time they found the boundary in 9 overs. However, my mind was not playing tricks – somehow we had whistled through 18 overs and they still needed 14 runs.

A tight penultimate over from Raza saw Bowdon on 144-3 as Jack prepared to bowl the last – Dids had been 140-6 after 19 – and the tension amongst the watching Bowdon team and a handful of spectators who had braved the chilly and increasingly murky evening was palpable. It was definitely a night for pink ball cricket! Jack hadn’t had the best of nights with the ball but just three singles and two precious dots came off the first five before the fateful last delivery, clumped through extra cover, parried by a sprawling fielder but having enough momentum to continue on over the boundary – and a stunned silence. Neither team knew what to do – certainly there was no celebrating, despite both teams, in their own way, having achieved something extraordinary. It felt like Dids had nicked it somehow, staving off certain defeat, whilst the Bowdon batter deserved great credit for finding the boundary when he absolutely had to.

The umpires got the super over organised, Bowdon had first hit, and Raza nailed it, going dot-one-two-wicket-dot (which was almost a wicket)-four. A super super-over if ever there was one. Hashir took leggage of the first ball of the Dids over, Jack went two-four to level it, and then, somewhat anti-climactically, at 21:05pm, a leg side wide settled it.

What a match! There was very little between two good teams on the night in what became an intriguing contest, and that’s reflected in the stats which (apart from the boundary count) were pretty even. The stats do show Dids played out 37 dot balls compared to 45 by Bowdon – perhaps it’s that crucial difference that had such a bearing on us getting to the super-over stage? Maybe the doubles we ran (20 compared to their 12)? But then they scored 70 in boundaries compared to our 44. So I’m still not sure! Dids had posted a decent total – an extremely good one after such a ropey start – and despite being without Mathew Laker and Stoney managed to somehow choke off the early avalanche of Bowdon runs with a really committed effort in the field and some skillful bowling, especially from the spinners. And Dids got through their overs (including hand sanitising and a couple of brief searches for the ball) in just 65 minutes, which is exceptional, and a major factor in the match situation sneaking up on Bowdon (and me), who incidentally took 19 mins longer over their allocation.

The hosts, despite still having 7 wickets in hand, could only equal our score having been so well placed for most of their innings, and that represents a major effort by all 11 of Didsbury. On the night the 2s ran to the point of exhaustion, flung themselves everywhere, and won a game they looked out of for quite a while. By the way, Dids had two five ball overs in their innings, which looked as though it could potentially be very telling, but by the same token, Bowdon were no-balled for only having three in the fielding circle, and believe you me, that is not an easy thing for umpires to spot and be sure of, so let’s be thankful for that.
After the cakewalk of the first round, this game could not have been a greater contrast and the 2s can take great heart from this as they move to the quarter finals and a meeting with Sale – which hopefully won’t take as long to arrange as this match, and be a bit less trying on the heartrate!