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| After Superstars wrestled back the Ken block trophy last season for the first time since 2015, it was all to play for at Chiswick on Wednesday night. Konrad (4-2-14-1) and Bishop (3-0-11-1) opened the bowling excellently in overcast conditions. Dodgers were limping along at under 4 an over when the bowlers changed. Mountain's (3-0-11-1) first ball was blasted to cow corner and Brunt took an excellent catch, lurching onto his knees at the last moment to evoke a 'bambi on ice' feel to the dismissal. Moments later Dodger Dollin pulled a muscle and retired hurt, shortly followed by a neat Brunt/Warren run out. | |||||||||
| Lovell's bowling was particularly good (4-0-19-4) and brought the drama of a hattrick ball, which was calmly blocked by incoming Dodger Adam (26). He, Ralph (17) and our old friend Extras (22) boosted the total to 101, at the expense of Allen-Perry (3-0-17-0) Briggs's (3-0-26-0) figures. | |||||||||
| This felt like a below par score, and with Warren (23) and Conway's (31) glorious opening partnership reaching 57 at the halfway point, you could forgive the Superstars on the boundary for feeling optimistic. | |||||||||
| At this point Dodgers deployed a bowler called Secret (4-2-7-3) and as you can see from his figures, he was a potent weapon. "Total panic" might be an unfair assessment, but the openers were both dismissed and the ensuing middle order collapse Gaught (4) Brunt (0) Lovell (4) may have been a factor in why Superstar No6 Mountain arriving in the middle without his pads on. | |||||||||
| We'd limped to 65 for 5 off 15. The game was slipping away, but Gigg dragged Superstars back into it with some priceless boundaries and an IPL strike rate of 200. | |||||||||
| Final Over. 12 to win. Gigg slapped the first ball for 4 through the covers. The joy was dampened moments later as Barry played the next ball straight back the bowler Ralph, who calmly ran him out. Mountain could only manage 1 off the third ball; bringing John Bishop onto strike. He clipped the fourth for 2 but failed to connect with the fifth; a bye was somehow scampered. Final ball; 4 to win. Ralph bowled a slow delivery which seemed to hang in the air for an eternity. Mountain stooped for the pull, connected cleanly, and found a gap behind square. He slipped turning for the second as the ball held up just inside the boundary. The throw to the keeper was short, allowing Bishop to complete a third run. After collecting the ball, rather than throwing wildly at the stumps to gift us the win, the Dodgers keeper kept his cool and trotted the few yards to effect the run out and seal another memorable Dodgers Superstars tie. | |||||||||
| This was the third tie of the Ken Block Trophy era but thankfully less contentious that the 2012 overthrow farce (where Raj Trivedi also scored the vital runs after attempting to bat without pads) or the 2013 one, which involved "relays" (?) and was subject to consideration on Test Match Special! | |||||||||
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