Skegness 296 for 7
Appleby Frodingham 2nds 65 all out
(Skegness won by 231 runs)

You could be forgiven for asking how such a one-sided game could have you anywhere near the edge of your seats. Well you needed to be there.

It was true theatre right up to the very last ball, when Skegness bowler Steve Kirkham produced something special to win the game for the seasiders.

Skegness should never have been in danger of picking up anything less than the maximum 20 points after posting a huge total of nearly 300.

But suddenly the clouds changed colour and the weather threatened to intervene.

Skipper Wade McCall, still smarting from the disappointment of losing out by the narrowest of margins in last year's championship race, must have been cursing yet another soggy English summer.

Heavy downpours caused a number of interruptions, the longest being shortly after 6.15pm with the home side in trouble on 29 for 7.

Skegness were itching to finish off the hosts and they had 33 overs in which to do it, but as soon as the covers were taken off to resume play, the rain came down again.

Eventually the match continued with Skegness requiring three wickets from a reduced period of ten overs and four balls.

Perversely the rain that had threatened to spoil the match and Skegness's hopes of hanging onto the coat tails of the top two in the championship race, was now adding spice to the contest.

Those 64 balls were all that McCall and Co had to mop up the tail and claim those three oh so valuable wickets.

No wonder he was fuming at Lady Luck, after losing the toss and being put into bat.

The home side, on the other hand, obviously didn't have the firepower to threaten the seasiders' total and were quite happy to use up valuable overs by toiling with the covers when instructed by the umpires.

They are precariously close to the relegation zone at the foot of the Premier League and a share of the points against one of the title chasers would have been more than they could have hoped for at tea.

The Steelmen had spent 50 overs in the field being blown away by the strong winds and some positive batting by their opponents, who were without the experienced Paul Butler due to illness.

Openers Tim Pashen and Jamie Epton put on 125 before Epton became the first of Barker's three stumping victims in the 27th over.

Pashen followed shortly afterwards with his 78 runs, including 12 fours, in the bag.

McCall and Pete Houghton kept the score ticking over and added 50 more between them. Indeed there were some useful middle order partnerships as the Skegness batsmen helped themselves to the runs on offer.

The pick of the bunch was perhaps Sean Chamberlain, who fell four runs short of a half century. And there was Saheed Bariwala, who faced just 16 balls for his 29.

As the two sides enjoyed their tea the dark clouds gathered over Brumby Hall and you got the feeling that Skegness would need to get on with their task in hand.

A wicket maiden for McCall's first over and a wicket for Kirkham in his first, set the tone and left the home side 2 for 2 after 2.

They limped to 29 for 7 before the rain intervened.

McCall had claimed another five wicket haul by this stage and Kirkham had knocked over the other two.

The break for rain disrupted their momentum and McCall was obviously not happy about the rule that reduced by two thirds the overs allowed to complete the job.

The slip cordon was heavily manned, but twice the App Frod batsmen edged through their fingers before the number nine Callaghan was trapped leg before by McCall with four overs left.

Steve Weatherall was proving to be something of a stubborn thorn in the Skegness side but in the third to last over he edged a Kirkham special at the perfect height for the slips.

Surely it had to be third time lucky, but no…his charmed life continued with another chance going begging.

You sensed that the belief in the Skegness camp was ebbing away. But Kirkham was not finished. In the penultimate ball of the match he steamed in and the ball thudded against Weatherall's pads.

The entire Skegness team went up and so did the umpire's finger to send a man who had hung around for more than an hour back to the pavilion.

So Mick Powell made his way to the crease with the hopes of his team resting on his experienced shoulders.

A batsman who occupied a higher position in the order might have had the confidence to leave Kirkham's final delivery, but Powell dangled his bat and edged the ball straight down Bariwala's throat at second slip.

As the home side hung their heads in their hands Bariwala was mobbed by his teammates for making it a truly remarkable finish and for leaving Kirkham on a hat-trick.

The dramatic season continues…