A young FP side bounced back superbly from Monday night’s last ball disappointment to send Grade 1 big guns Kintore crashing out of this years 7s. With Kintore losing to St Ronald both sides knew it was winner takes all for a place in the Duncan Cup semi final and it was FPs who batted, bowled and fielded superbly to spring the surprise. Budd was the batting hero with an unbeaten 40, ably supported by young Sam Knudson.
FPs made one change with Karthick replacing Mike Phillips, lining up with Budd, Knudson, Morrison, Whyte, Muthu, Karthick and Russell, once again Morrison lost the toss as Kintore chose to bat. After an unsuccessful over on Monday, Morrison shuffled his pack with Budd behind the stumps and Muthu taking his first over in FP colours. He did not let anyone down either, bowling the most economical over conceding just 8 from his 8 balls with no boundaries or extras as FPs made a solid start.
Sam Knudson took the second over and FPs soon had Kintore 9 for 2 as both of Knudson’s first two deliveries brought run out’s, first Budd beating Maxfield before Grayson tried a single to the bowler and could not beat his accurate throw. 2 balls later it got even better for FPs as Kintore fell to 11 for 3 as Knudson clean bowled Green. Morrison’s over went for 12 and Whyte kept things tight with 14 from his 8 balls as FPs fielded expertly cutting off twos and keeping calm under pressure.
Laird launched 2 sixes but youngster Russell kept Kintore in check bowling a bemused Walker with a high full toss for 17 as Kintore reached 61 for 4. When Karthick’s first ball of the final over went for 6, Kintore still had their eye on a score of over 90, but Whyte took a great running catch on the boundary as Laird fell for 32 and Karthick only conceded 8 more as Kintore reached 81 for 5.
This total was probably below par and was greatly helped by FPs sharp and sensible fielding backed up by good bowling as they only conceeded 3 wides and1 no ball.
Knudson moved up the order to open with Budd and they made a steady start running extremely well with 7 twos in the opening 2 overs as they reached 26 despite hitting no boundaries. From Stalker’s next over Budd struck their first boundary but the batsman had to run hard for the rest as they reached 41 from 3 leaving 41 needed from the remaining 3.
Knudson fell run out for 17 in Green’s over and FPs could only add one boundary from his over but still managed to collect 17 as Morrison combined with Budd with more intelligent running. FPs now needed 24 from 16 balls. Morrison launched Laird’s first ball for 6 before falling in the same over bowled for 10 as FPs moved to 64 for 2. Whyte and Budd scrambled 4 more runs in Laird’s remaining 3 balls leaving 14 needed from the last over to be bowled by Anderson.
Budd cleverly deflected the first ball for 2 before pulling the next ball for 4 and then adding 2 more well run twos. He finished the game in style pulling the 5th ball for 4 as FPs claimed a surprise win with 3 deliveries to spare. Undoubtedly Budd was the star with 40 not out which contained just 4 boundaries – his great running a real highlight, however, it was a great effort by all those involved as FPs once again showed great spirit and commitment against a team from a higher grade.
