Choosing to bat first on a placid pitch did not pay off for St John’s who lost wickets at regular intervals to a very good bowling and fielding display from the St Paul’s boys'. Only 4 St John’s players could manage double figures and their innings closed in the 29th over for only 89 runs in the 29th over. An excellent aggressive spell of 6 overs from Josh Malpas saw him rewarded with 4 for 21. He was well supported by Simon Morbey, Sam Holmes and Bede Higgens who each took 2 wickets. The St Paul’s fielding was impressive and Bede Higgens took the catch of the day having to run towards the boundary from his mid on position, taking the catch over his shoulder to dismiss the dangerous Matt Cooper who the previous week had made 113.
St Paul’s were batting before lunch and at that stage had progressed to 34 for 1 without taking too many chances against a testing St John’s new ball attack. After lunch Alastair Blackett was joined by Chris Swanson and these two saw the side home in 24.2 overs with Blackett batting particularly well to end on 42 not out scoring 7 x 4’s and one huge 6 to the square leg boundary.
The unbeaten St Paul’s team has now qualified for the Divison 1 competition final which will be played on Saturday 23 March 2013 against St Peter’s.
