LDCA A grade cricket
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PHANTOMS won their first one-day game for the season in a thrilling nail-biter over LSC Colts at Mark Taylor Oval on Saturday.
The requirement was a cricketing dream - three runs required for the win off just one ball.
Phantoms' bowling all-rounder Adam Hopkins (10no) was facing Colts opening bowler Josh Carn (4-22) to produce the unlikeliest of wins.
Hopkins swung hard, skying the ball and with batting partner John Gray (0no) they scrambled one-and-a-half runs before it returned towards earth well inside the confines of the square, only to be dropped by the fielder.
With two runs complete and starting for the third a tie was certain.
The ball was flung to the non-striker's end and missed the wickets, the third run was complete and victory went to the Phantoms by two wickets.
The game had got to that point on the back of some strong batting performances by both sides.
Colts won the toss and batted, posting 6-154. Dylan Barnes (23) and Lachlan O'Callaghan (14) got things off to a steady start, before Nathan Carn (38) and Jarryd Day (45no) went to work.
Day and Pattison (10no) finished the innings off well with consistent hitting.
David Haskins (2-23) and Richard Keith (2-43) were the multiple wicket-takers for Phantoms, but Matt Dedini (1-17) and Hopkins (1-19) bowled tight lines and managed three maidens each.
The Phantom innings had the worst possible start with a wicket off the first ball.
However, Dedini (54) and Tim Rolls (44) combined to have the match even at the drinks break.
That pair kept accumulating runs before the chase started getting tense as wickets fell, including Dedini and Simon Wallace (11) trying to up the ante.
Runs were at a premium and any failure in the field was costly.
Once in, Hopkins struck a boundary to ease the pressure, but more wickets fell, including Rolls and the final equation was six off six.
Two more wickets in the last over led to the three-off-one scenario that had players on edge, and left one side cheering and the other devastated by the gripping result.