MIDDLESEX WON BY 13 RUNS
Unicorns won the toss and elected to bowl
Middlesex 338 for 4
Unicorns 325 all out
Middlesex lost the toss at Falkland Cricket Club and were put into bat by the Unicorns captain.
Middlesex suffered an early setback when Tom Lace was caught behind off the bowling of Wareing for 4 in the fifth over, before the Middlesex top order settled down and began to take control of proceedings.
Lane’s fellow opener Stephen Eskinazi was joined at the crease by George Scott, and the pair proceeded to put on 250 for the second wicket, before Scott eventually fell off the final ball of the 45th over for a magnificent 106. Eskinazi then fell in the next over, one short of his one hundred and fifty, with his 149 coming off 140 balls.
With a solid platform to build on, Ollie Rayner then unleashed chaos on the Unicorns bowlers, smashing his was to 60 from just 20 deliveries, including seven boundaries and five maximums, to take the Middlesex score to 338 for 4 from their 50 overs.
The Unicorns lost opener West for just 14 in the seventh over to Harry Podmore, before George Scott picked up the Unicorns captain Whittock for a duck, and at 51 for 2 in the tenth over the Unicorns reply looked to be faltering.
Opener Kilbee and number four Thomason has other ideas however, as they put on 88 for the third wicket before Kilbee fell for 77 to Arthur Godsal. At this point the Unicorns were 139 for 3 in the 24th over.
Thomason was joined in the middle by Pepper, and the fightback continued, with the pair adding 48, before Thomason was trapped in front by Walallawita for 45 with the score was on 187 for 4 off 32.5
Godsal and Scott picked up another wicket apiece, however Pepper remained resolute at the crease, as the victory target got ever closer. With just five overs of the Unicorns innings remaining, the hosts were left needing just 33 runs with four wickets standing.
Godsal struck again in the 46th over, picking up his third wicket of the innings, bowling Gordon for 11, whilst Pepper continued to build his innings, reaching his hundred at the end of the 47th over.
Godsal’s fourth wicket came in the 48th over, when he took a return catch from number nine Bulcock, who had come and gone for just one, and with Unicorns on 320 for 8 Pepper was in danger of running out of partners. Fourteen were needed from the final two overs.
Relief came for Middlesex when Podmore struck twice in the penultimate over, first picking up the prize wicket of Pepper, whose magnificent knock 103 had come off 74 deliveries, and then number eleven Wareing, who departed for a golden duck, to see Middlesex to a thrilling thirteen run victory.
