This match will mostly be remembered as the match where Hope along with Bielby won the match for Grace's, turning an apparent loss into an exciting win. Highgate arrived late, so the game was sportingly reduced to 35 overs each. Hope was last onto the field in pads and gloves - he was to keep wicket, freeing up Bielby to bowl.
Shofiq lost the toss once more and Grace's were asked to field. Dekock took the first over and balled a decent spell, a tad short to begin with, but eventually he pitched it up and the ball began to swing and move away quite nicely. At the other end, Shofiq bowled left-arm over, finding good pace but with little success. The opening batsmen were very solid and appeared very capable, defending well and driving the occasional full-pitched delivery. Dekock bowled his 7 overs all in one spell, taking the wicket of the opener Cantrous, who drove hard but hit the ball in the air and was caught at mid-off by who else but the captain, caught low just off the ground, a great athletic catch.
The young Highgate captain Holly came to the crease and played some sweet drives and cuts to make 31 quick runs. Rice was now bowling in place of Shofiq and immediately finding a good length, except for one beamer which was taken well by our new keeper, but correctly no-balled. Rice took the two wickets of the other opener LBW and the young captain who had played so well, but nicked one and was caught nicely behind the stumps by new man Hope, who kept beautifully, not giving one bye.
Highgate's next man Brunner was in no mood to take prisoners as he attacked our bowlers with great zest, hitting Rice’s last over for 18 with two huge sixes, a four and two singles. His great 106 runs was eventually ended by the return of Shofiq's pace, not before clubbing four sixes and 18 fours, with Bielby and new boy Pretorius taking the brunt of some pretty fierce punishment. Thank goodness for Shofiq's pace.
Highgate posted a respectable 171–7 from 35 overs, so after another superb tea by Sopp, Camberwell and Stockinger opened the Grace's reply. Camberwell smacked his first 3 deliveries for 9 runs before edging to gully. Gutted! Ross looked solid, but after scoring 3 runs, he was bowled. Hardisty hung around for 8 patient runs, rebuilding the innings with Stockinger, who again was bowled after scoring 23 quick runs. Shofiq's and Pretorius's innings were all too brief, leaving Grace's struggling at 84-6. Bielby and Hope had different ideas as they got stuck into Highgate’s bowling attack, Hope hitting the ball with great power and going on to hit an unbeaten 58 not out with 10 fours, cutting, driving and pulling with composed skill. Bielby's innings was just as composed, offering able support and frequently giving the strike to Hope. Unfortunately, Bielby was out LBW, to everyone’s disbelief as the bowler was bowling from around the wicket, but the umpire felt it was straightening to hit middle stump, so that was that and off he walked. Hope completed the win with a firmly struck on-drive, so Grace's won with two overs to spare and to great applause. A fine game and a win which gave Graces great hope. What a comeback!