The Piranhas won the toss and elected to send an under-strength Pirates team in to bat. 

The strain of being two men short showed on the Pirates, who lost wickets quickly and consistently throughout their innings, and could only cobble together a total of 74. 

Pirates wicketkeeper Brad Wylie said that the team did not have much hope leading into the second innings of the match.

“We didn’t bat how we wanted, and then we struggled our way to [74],” Wylie said. 

“We didn’t think that would be enough.” 

When the Piranhas reached 2/41, the only course of action left to the Pirates was to keep bowling their lines and lengths and hope for a miracle. 

And then the miracle came. 

From 2/41 chasing a total of 75, the Piranhas – who lost batting lynchpin Dan Poidevin to representative duties this week – collapsed spectacularly to fall just a few runs short of the required total. 

Wylie credited the disciplined bowling of Alex Ward and Shaun Davis, who both bowled nine overs straight and took five and three wickets respectively, as the key to an unlikely victory for the Pirates.