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ByAnonymous, Anonymous
South Manchester rounded off their summer with defeat in a T20 final against Foresters.
Captain Steven Glicher reflected on "a hugely disappointing result after a below-par performance," at Styal CC. This combined with the fact that they have narrowly missed out on promotion as a result of other results, means that South Manchester walk away without any silverware this year.
However, Glicher believes the team has made big strides, and said: "It has been our best season yet in the league and we are already looking forward and planning for 2015."
South were asked to bat first and started steadily with Loz Newman and Akiva Lieberman putting on 13 before Lieberman fell to a ball that kept low.
13-1 soon became 26-2 as Shai Rabinovitz fell for 6. Newman batted sensibly, making 22 before he too succumbed to a caught and bowled.
Losing early wickets put pressure on the incoming batsmen and at this stage it looked like a low score would result. However, with Steve Allweis and Josh Oehley at the crease, the rate started to pick up. Oehley made an immediate impact, hitting his first ball for 4. A superb cameo innings of 25 included two sixes and two fours off just 13 balls to propel South along.
At the other end, Allweis kept his cool and also started to accelerate. He finished unbeaten on 44 which also included two fours and two sixes and South set Foresters a target of 138.
Looking at the wicket, it was always going to be difficult to defend as Foresters set off quickly and kept up with the required rate. South finally took the first wicket at 39 when Franks had Leeks caught behind by Simon Jeffries.
39-1 quickly became 39-2 as Dan Glicher bowled Ahmed for a duck. He struck again with the score on 45 as Steve Glicher took a fine catch to dismiss Brierley and South were back in the game.
Foresters captain Shaun Steele then took the South bowlers to task with a fine knock of 36 including four 4’s and a six to take the game away from South again before being bowled by Oehley.
Another wicket from Dan Glicher (3-29) kept South’s hopes alive but it was not to be, as Foresters reached their target with just nine balls to spare.
The umpires presented the trophies and the man-of-the-match award went to Steele.
Akiva Lieberman and Steven Allweis were joint winners of South Manchester's Player of the Year accolade.
In a ceremony held after the final, Dan Glicher collected the Young Player of the Year prize, while Josh Woolfstein was recognised for the 'Champagne Moment' after driving back from London on the morning of a game to play. He went on to hit an unbeaten 25 to beat Foresters earlier in the season. Captain Steven Glicher said: "This shows the type of commitment that will ensure success in the seasons ahead."