AN aggressive unbeaten knock of 34 by number eight batsman Kwacey McPherson propelled the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) to a thrilling one-wicket win against the Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) yesterday at the Queen’s College ground.

McPherson played some big shots towards the end and held his nerve at key moments of the reduced fixture (28 overs) of the NBS 40-over Second-Division cricket competition, which came down to the final over.

With 42 runs from 30 balls—a monumental  task owing to the discipline of the Malteenoes cricketers in the field and the low nature of the wicket—the 25-year-old was able to bring his team back into the game.

The seesaw battle drew to a close with GDF on the back foot, needing 18 runs from 12 balls with two wickets in hand, but McPherson was able to score 14 runs off of the first three balls of the penultimate over.  He struck a six and was then dropped at short third man—one of the few fielding blunders by the MSC.

With momentum on his side, McPherson then blasted a huge six, which disappeared into a tree on the northern side of the ground.   This placed GDF in control, but Stephon Brown was able to bowl three dot balls, which left the batting team needing four runs from six balls.

Ntini Permaul was able to keep his bowling tight in the final over. After the first two balls went for singles, he made the breakthrough.. Derrick McCalmon was however caught deep enough for the batsmen to cross and McPherson was given the charge again with two runs needed from three balls.

 He made no mistake and he laced the ball on the ground for a double, which pushed them to 172-9 and the win.

Earlier, top-order batsmen Javed Karim (32) and Leon Andrews (35) had given their team a respectable start, while Kurt Lovell had played a quickfire 17 (2X6s), but Malteenoes were able to pull the game back with discipline fielding.

1. Mars was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets.

When Malteenoes batted, Brown led the attack with 38 (3X6s, 2X4s).  A few others had starts, including 21 (3X6s) quick runs from Nichosie Barker, but the side settled for 171 from their allotted overs.

Left-arm spinner Keith Simpson picked up three wickets, while Colvis Sam, McCalmon and Junior Sinclair supported with two wickets each.