Karan Anand and Rob Swiergon were the batting heroes
FPs made three changes from their 9 run victory over Siyapa the previous day, Roland Knudson for Agha Haider, Pete Macklin for Hamish Penman and Karan Anand for John Thomson. Macklin taking the gloves For the first time this season Swiergon won the toss and elected to bowl. With the weather set fine and the outfield like lightning Knights got off to a rapid start with both batsmen using the pace on the ball to find the boundary. It wasn’t until the 14th over FPs had their first breakthrough with veteran spinner Knudson picking up the wicket of M.Mohan. S.Palaniappan was next to fall for 36, Challa taking a good high catch off the bowling of Anand even if the bowler did his best to put him off. FPs continued to plug away while Knights regularly found the boundary until V.Ramaswamy was bowled by Sood after bringing up a well-made 51, score 166. FPs continued to bowl tight lines and were rewarded with the score on 182, Tenneti caught by Nattrass bowled Challa for 39. Wickets continued to fall at regular intervals and some late middle-order runs from A.Kachie saw Knights post a workable total of 233.
FPs knew the total was manageable as long as they kept wickets in hand, Alex Keith had other thoughts as he walked past a wide one to be stumped for the second time in two days for 1. Nattrass was soon to follow, that infamous straight ball doing the trick again and he departed for 6 the score being 25 for2. That soon became 25 for 3 with Sam Knudson bowled trying to put one in the rugby stand he so dearly missed last year. Anand joined Swiergon at the crease and with the screeches of the opposing team being heard in a four-mile radius of Rubislaw, FPs knew they had a job to do to book themselves in a place in the cup final. Anand started in his usual aggressive manner peppering the boundary and keeping out the good balls while Swiergon played second fiddle rotating the strike. After 10 overs the score was 52 for 3 and 20 the score was 99 for 3, Skipper Swiergon and Anand talked about knocking it off 50 at a time. As runs started to flow the fielding became cumbersome and Knights shoulders dropped, and FPs knew this was their chance and both batsmen put their foot down and after 30 overs the score was 184 for 3.
At the 30 over point Knights also knew it was do or die, first though Anand brought up a semi chanceless ton, surprisingly fell soon after Anand skying a slower ball, leaving the field having smashed 106 in rather quick time. McKinney (skinny soon to be medium) joined Swiergon with 40 required off the last 9, They picked off the singles, and after a rather expensive over of wides which at one point the skipper asked the umpire if he could bring the bowler off having gone for 12 off one ball FPs could sniff victory. With 13 needed McMedium hit a four before Swiergon cover drove one and then pulled one for four to finish the match with 5.5 overs to spare.
It was a great game played in a competitive manner, a big shout out to the excellent umpires for the day for keeping a lid on proceedings and for keeping the game moving.
Man of the match goes to Karan for his aggressive and match-winning 106.
The champagne moment goes to Nattrass and his one-handed diving catch at mid-on.
FPs will play Gordonians in the final at Mannofield on Sunday 22nd August.
