DIV.12 MATCH SUMMARY - Wexford 2 vs Naas 1, 21/9/24
*Naas 1 defeated Wexford 2 by 7 runs*
- Naas 1: 10-264 off 36.4 overs [Leigh Leesman 104, Sameer Singh 69, Attila Stahlut 5-58, Jithin Antony 3-37]
- Wexford 2: 10-257 off 39.1 overs [Joby Jose 65, Jasper Xavier 43, Harshith Shanker 5-50, Leigh Leesman 2-25]

What a wonderful game to see out the 2024 season. At one stage Naas were 0-187, a phenomenal opening stand. Wexford were looking down the barrel of having to chase 300+ until the skipper Attila bowled his best innings of the season with a 5-wicket haul to dismiss 5 of the top 6 batsmen, including the wicket of the dangerous Leigh Leesman. Great support provided by Akhil Sajeendran with his left armers from the other end and also the Wexford fielders with some blinding catches managed to bring Wexford back into the match. Jithin Antony then chimed in with 3 wickets in a fiery second spell with the wind behind his back.
- Naas 1 bowled out for 264. Attila 5 wkts, Jithin 3 wkts, Akhil & Manu both with 1 wkt. Jithin & Dale with 2 brilliant catches each, Joby with a catch and Masud with probably the catch of the season at midwicket diving without any care for his body - wonderful energy from the fielders.

In reply; we matched the required run rate of approx 6 runs per over for the entire innings. Unfortunately we were not able to maintain a long term partnership though with wickets falling regularly throughout. However the batting was brilliant, lovely stroke making by the top order. Asela was so aggressive, Jasper brilliant, Joby sublime as always (top scoring again), not to mention Dale with a quickfire 20 odd, same for Jithin and Masud. Every batsman that came in believed in themselves and the team and it was by and large the best batting display and run chase I’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing as Wexford Wanderers 2nd team captain. As the rain set in, and the bad light loomed, lo and behold it was up to yours truly & Akhil to hit the 8 runs required to win off the last over to win. Unfortunately my stepping down the wicket to ‘win in style’ didn’t pay off and I was castled by a brilliant ball. That’s just cricket hey.
- Wexford 2 bowled out for 257. Joby 65, Jasper 43, Asela 25, Jithin 25, Alan 21, Dale 19, Masud 14, Manu 11, Akhil 9*.

A wonderful team performance all round, and whilst we unfortunately ended up on the wrong side of the result (just 7 runs short), our opponents were just brilliant to play against, giving us a match for the ages which was played in the very best of spirits. ?