Travelling to Launceston, Gunnislake lost a pulsating match in the last over. Fortunes swung throughout the day as Launceston eventually won a hard fought match by four wickets.
Launceston had clearly followed Gunnislake’s batting woes this season, as on winning the toss they invited Gunnislake to bat. The captain shuffled his order once again in the search for runs, with brothers Simon and Kevin Beare opening the innings. Amid grey clouds there was an early break for rain, but no overs were lost. Simon looked in good touch, but both brothers were bowled in quick succession by Shane Davey. From 27 for 2, Dinesh Thirupuvanarajah and Russ Holloway began to rebuild the innings. Dinesh was his usual belligerent self, while Holloway again showed his class, with powerful hitting down the ground. Dinesh fell for 30 and not long after, Holloway, who had just reached a half century was bowled off an inside edge. At 128 for 5 Gunnislake were again at risk of a low score.
A few runs were nurdled by the middle order, but salvation came with Graham Murray entering the fray at number 9. His single run so far this season has remained a mystery, and today he decided to put the record straight. The ball was flying around the ground, particularly on the leg side. Three sixes, including one of 95 metres over wide long-on, saw seven men on the boundary trying to stem the flow of runs. Brian Martin ably kept the other end going as 160 was passed and a fourth batting point gained. An unlikely 200 was still on the cards, but Martin was bowled off the penultimate ball of the innings. Then Murray was run out off the final ball, attempting a suicidal single from the non-strikers end, but finished with a well deserved 44. The team closed with a season best 199, while Shane Davey and Martin Vanstone took three wickets each for Launceston. The match was finely poised.
Launceston’s reply got off to a terrible start, Phil Spry falling to a leaping one-handed catch in the gully by Joshy Varghese in the first over. Before a run had been scored, Morgan Jones edged to first slip in the second over and things were looking up for Gunnislake, 0 for 2! But Launceston captain James Theobold steadied the ship, while being particularly hard on anything wide of the off stump. At the other end Adil Raza took the attack to Gunnislake, before being hit on the toe in front of middle stump, out for a quick fire 24. But from here the momentum gradually shifted in favour of Launceston. Theobold found an able partner in Dan Sloman and the runs steadily accumulated. When Sloman got settled he started driving high and wide. Five sixes hit Lee Roberts and Joshy Varghese out of the attack before Sloman mis-judged one caught in the deep by Russ Holloway off the bowling of Paul Hollow, for 69. Launceston were only 25 runs short of their target but had a major wobble. Two more quick wickets fell, as the run rate dried up and a tight finish looked on the cards. But Theobold held firm, surviving three raucous shouts for LBW, to finish unbeaten on 84, as Launceston scraped home with three balls to spare.
While Launceston had their noses in front for much of the day, Gunnislake should take encouragement form a hard fought and close match. The team will rue some of the umpiring decisions and the lack of a DRS system, but that is Division 5 cricket!
Gunnislake 199-9 (R Holloway 50, G Murray 44, D Thirupuvanarajah 30; M Vanstone 3-42, S Davey 3-57), Launceston 203-6 ((J Theobold 84no, D Sloman 69; P Hollow 2-32, G Murray 2-51). Launceston (19 points) beat Gunnislake (7 points) by four wickets.
