When Manjinder Sandhu took out Shoaib Sherzai's middle stump Falcons required 2 runs to win. Glenmore needed just one last wicket. The Falcons number 11 strode anxiously to the crease, sunglasses on, and prepared to face Manji's final two deliveries. Both were full and on the stumps, but Hamza managed to keep them out. The first ball of the next over was bashed for four by Falcons hero Chintan Thakker and a thrilling game of cricket was in the books. Falcons were jubilant, and owed their success to a fantastic rearguard from their middle order. Meanwhile, Glenmore were left to contemplate another tremendous performance with the ball, but a less than accomplished effort with the bat.

Glenmore batted first and it didn't take long for Mark Turner to get into his stride, whacking his third ball back past the bowler for four. But whereas previous attacks have been unable to contain Turner at all, the Falcons bowlers maintained a probing line and length to at least keep his scoring rate to about a run-a-ball. It took a fantastic piece of cricket to remove Turner for the first time this season. Chintan Thakker, who had swung the ball consistently during his opening spell, took a remarkable caught and bowled as Turns smashed the ball back. Thakker simply threw out his right hand and the ball stuck in his palm. Turns was gone for 24 and Glenmore were 39-1 in 9 overs.

Incoming batsman Adam Knox and Alex Storey were made to work hard for their runs during a good stand of 57. Knox was the more fluent of the two, driving nicely and pulling with authority. Meanwhile Storey was far from his best, repeatedly playing and missing, and at one point put on his back after being struck with a bouncer. But, the two Englishmen had done well to take the score to 96 before Storey finally edged one to the keeper for a pedestrian 38. 96-2 was a decent looking foundation and the hope was that the Glenmore middle order would be able to build on it and make a substantial total. It wasn't to be however as wickets tumbled with alarming regularity to leave Glenmore in a hole at 124-8! Knox was run out for 22 following a communication malfunction with Iqbal Sandhu leaving both batsmen at the same end. Anjan was caught beind. Iqbal holed out to long on. Leading edges from Jenkinson and Suki Ghotra both landed comfortably in the hands of Falcons fielders. And Manjinder Sandhu was comprehensively bowled. 7 wickets had fallen for just 28 runs!

Jonathan Bray had returned to the Glenmore team for the first time this Summer, and thankfully managed to stick around to prevent a total collapse. He found a willing ally in the form of Ali Memon. Jon was obdurate in defense, while still managing to coax the ball into the gaps on the off-side. He and Memon worked extremely hard, and ran very well to get the scoreboard ticking over once again. Together they put on 35 very useful runs before Bray was caught for a determined 30. Memon, now with Rich Harvey for company, decided to play a few shots and twice cleared the in-field. The big man had batted very well, but was eventually out for 18, chipping Chand's slower ball to cover. Glenmore were all out for 172. A good score from where they were at 124-8, but a very disappointing score having been 96-1.

Despite being well below par with their batting, Storey's men were confident they could defend their total. To do so they would need early wickets, and things could not have gone any better for them. Once again Manjinder Sandhu was exemplary with the new ball, and in his first over he sent two balls across the right hander before a big, hooping inswinger found the inside edge and went back onto the stumps. Every ball Manji was sending down looked like getting a wicket, and at the other end Suki was equally accurate. He produced a beauty (pitched middle, hit middle) to get rid of Qamar Khan, not just removing the leg bail but breaking it in two! Both openers were gone for ducks and Glenmore were buzzing. Things got even better when Manji yet again hit the stumps, this time swinging it behind the pads of Adeel Khan to take out leg stump. Falcons were on the ropes, three wickets down with just three runs on the board. What a start!

The Glenmore bowlers continued to test the Falcons batsmen, and a few half chances went begging. Twice edges flew high through the slips, and on more than one occasion deliveries found inside edges which narrowly missed the stumps. Zeerak Chughtai was steadfast in defense, and put on a handy 34 partnership with Junaid Abbas. The introduction of Iqbal Sandhu got Glenmore celebrating again as the big fella found Abbas' outside edge and Storey took a smart catch to his right to leave Falcons 37-4. This brought Syed Chand to the middle and started the Falcons fight back. Chand resisted his naturally aggressive style to play a more measured, defensive innings. He and Chughtai kept Iqbal and Jenkinson at bay, and looked quite comfortable. Their partnership was ended with the very first ball of spin bowling Glenmore had delivered in 2015. Rich Harvey must have put a bit of overspin on his first ball as Chughtai played it down at his feet but then saw it roll back onto his stumps.

Number 7 Aamir Khan was not at all interested in chasing the target with ones and twos, which was perfectly evident the way he repeatedly tried to launch Harvey into the car park! Credit to Aamir though, it didn't take him long before he was finding the middle of the bat and the ball was soaring out of the ground. A big one off Jenkinson, and a few boundaries off Harvey, and all of a sudden the momentum was back with Falcons. The bowlers were rotated in a bid to make the breakthrough, and it was Iqbal who did the trick, again teaming with Storey to dismiss Chand for 32. But if Glenmore thought they'd broken the back of Falcons batting line up they were severely mistaken. Chintan Thakker whacked his first ball for four and kept the pressure on the Glenmore bowlers. Iqbal, Manji and Suki were all used to get rid of Aamir before the ball was thrown back to Harvey. The canny off-spinner was brave enough to toss one up, Aamir (37) couldn't resist, and Iqbal took a steepling catch out at cow-corner. Surely now Glenmore could close the door?

A Glenmore victory looked all the more likely when Jenkinson knocked over Desai (0) with a perfectly pitched off cutter. The boys in blue were two wickets away, and Falcons still needed 37. But Thakker stayed calm, and was able to find the boundary consistently. His new partner, Shoaib Sherzai backed up a useful display with the ball with a defiant knock against the Glenmore attack. With the runs required dropping, once again Manjinder was brought into the attack. With just two needed to win Sherzai was cleaned up and Glenmore still had hope of pulling off a famous victory. But, two important dot balls defended by Syed Hamza meant that Thakker was the match winner, clubbing a final boundary to win the game for his team.

It was an excellent game of cricket, with the momentum swinging back and forth throughout the day. In the end Falcons deserved their victory thanks to their accurate bowling and their fantastic middle order batting. Glenmore had performed magnificently with the ball to fight their way back into the game, but were left wishing for another 10-20 runs.