Selkirk’s sensational last-gasp victory over Tranent & Preston Village 2 at Polwarth Park generated levels of tension usually only found in ‘Mission Impossible’ movies.
With the home side requiring just four runs for victory in the final over to beat Selkirk’s total of 150, and with two wickets in hand, a single off the first ball looked to have all but ended the Souters’ chances of a win.
Showing no sign of the strain he must undoubtedly have been under, death bowler Bob Wilkinson somehow managed to take the final two Tranent wickets in his next three deliveries, sparking wild celebrations among his Selkirk team-mates.
M. Fenton, K. Paterson, L. McCulloch & I. Gardiner
Front: T. Dekker, R. Banks, D. Heard (capt.), G. Fenton, G. Borthwick
Having won the toss Selkirk opted to bat, and were indebted to Greg Fenton (40) and Kenny Paterson (37) for putting together a solid opening partnership of 68.
In the latter part of his innings Paterson aggravated an Achilles heel injury, but bravely batted on (after calling for a runner) despite being in obvious pain.
The loss of top order batsmen Michael Fenton and Todd Dekker in consecutive overs saw Selkirk reduced to 71/3, but the visitors managed to haul themselves back into contention with good knocks from Rory Banks (22) and Ian Gardiner (14).
Spilled catches, 20 extras and a lot of overthrows by the home team helped boost Selkirk’s total, with the Philiphaugh side eventually all out for 150 in the 39th over.
The best bowlers for Tranent & PV2 were A. Pathrose (3/25), A. Sanilkumar (2/25) and M. Krishnan (2/31).
In reply, the home side’s batsmen made steady progress towards the visitors’ total, anchored by a fine knock from talented all-rounder Aaron Pathrose (31).
However, no-one did more to keep Selkirk in the game than wicket-keeper Todd Dekker, whose brilliant performance behind the stumps saw him take four catches and make a stumping, and who didn’t concede a single bye.
Rory Banks (3/32), Daniel Heard (1/19), Greg Fenton (1/16) and Greg Borthwick (1/8) all took wickets at vital times for Selkirk.
However, it was Bob Wilkinson (3/12) who proved the Souters’ ace in the pack – his nerveless final over underlining why cricket can produce breath-taking finales that even Tom Cruise would be proud of.
Match report and photo by John Smail.