South Manchester claimed a thrilling 17-run victory over Olympics in a low-scoring encounter in the Greater Manchester League.

In a remarkable contest, South came out the winners when all looked lost. Put into bat on a drying wicket following heavy rain, South made the worst possible start when Ray Tammam was out to the first ball of the innings.

Things didn’t get any better after that as wickets continued to fall. 0-1 soon became 11-3 as Akiva Lieberman also suffered a first-baller. Only Steven Allweis held the innings together with two sixes and a four in his 20 before he also fell.

At 48-6 it was looking desperate. David Cohen took up the mantle and was helped by Josh Woolfstein and Andrew Feldman to keep the innings alive. Cohen fell on 17 and the innings closed on 108 all out.

Olympic lost an early wicket to Dan Glicher in reply, but then the runs flowed. At 70-2 all looked lost for South, but then Allweis chipped in with a couple of quick wickets after reverting to spin bowling and Olympic stated to panic.

Wickets started to fall regularly before Dan Paul finished off the innings with a devastating spell of 2-3, to give South an unlikely 17-run victory.

GMACL TABLE:

1. Ashton 2nd XI Pl. 5, W. 4, D. 0, L. 0, T. 0, NR. 1, BaP. 34, BoP. 34, MP. 90, TP. 158
2. West Didsbury Pl. 6, W. 4, D. 0, L. 2, T. 0, NR. 0, BaP. 38, BoP. 39, MP. 80, TP. 157
3. South Manchester Pl. 5, W. 4, D. 0, L. 1, T. 0, NR. 0, BaP. 27, BoP. 35, MP. 80, TP. 142
4. Olympic MSJ Pl. 6, W. 3, D. 0, L. 2, T. 1, NR. 0, BaP. 30, BoP. 34, MP. 70, TP. 134
5. Salford Blue Jays Pl. 6, W. 2, D. 0, L. 3, T. 0, NR. 1, BaP. 30, BoP. 28, MP. 50, TP. 108
6. Foresters Pl. 6, W. 1, D. 0, L. 4, T. 0, NR. 1, BaP. 26, BoP. 17, MP. 30, TP. 73
7. Offerton Pl. 5, W. 1, D. 0, L. 3, T. 0, NR. 1, BaP. 17, BoP. 16, MP. 30, TP. 63
8. Wilmslow Pl. 5, W. 0, D. 0, L. 4, T. 0, NR. 1, BaP. 18, BoP. 17, MP. 10, TP. 45