A six from Ben John in the final over of the game saw the Ospreys through to victory in a nail biting 20/20 charity match against Mumbles Cricket Club on Friday evening.
The Ospreys edged to a five run victory with just five balls to spare in front of a large crowd at Mumbles' picturesque Marespool Ground after an evening of outstanding cricketing entertainment in aid of LATCH, the Welsh Children's Cancer Charity.
After winning the toss, Mumbles elected to bat first and got off to a flying start with 13 off the first over, but the Ospreys were able to pin them back to 18 for 2, thanks to some excellent work in the field allowing Sam Davies and Tom Smith to run out batsmen Dave Maternaghan and Cameron Protheroe.
Ellis Jones then went for 9, caught John bowled James Goode, and he was joined in the pavilion by Ieuan Rosser, who was stumped by Matthew Torrance off the bowling of Tom Smith without scoring, to leave the home side precariously placed on 45 for 4.
After Scott Phillips went for 5, Goode claiming the catch off John's bowling, top scorer Dion Holden finally found a partner able to stay at the wicket in Luke Brown. Holden was eventually dismissed for 38, run out by Torrance, before Sam Davies caught Brown spectacularly on the boundary (33) off a Hanno Dirksen delivery.
The young fly half was in the right place again shortly after to take a high ball from Owen Davies off the bowling of Dan Biggar, with Mumbles 128 for 8. Youngster Jamie Sheldon led a late rally, with a quick unbeaten knock of 17, and after Rhys Marchant was cleaned bowled for a duck by Barry Davies John Blyth was able to add 7 runs to leave Mumbles 151-9 after their 20 overs.
Despite the outstanding work in the field to restrict Mumbles, not many in the crowd were backing the Ospreys to reach their target, but they got off to a solid start, openers Tom Grabham and Matthew Torrance scoring 15 and 10 respectively as they reached 36-2.
A dazzling display from Hanno Dirksen, in at 3, saw him top score on the night with 41 before being caught and bowled as the Ospreys upped the pace, the highlight of his innings a huge six that was knocked clean out of the ground. Biggar added 8, Smith 16 and Kristian Phillips 3 as the Ospreys progress slowed and they fell behind the required run rate, but some big hitting by Sam Davies and John saw them claw their way back into the game.
Davies knocked a pair of sixes to leave the Ospreys needing just the one run in the final over, with John duly obliging with another maximum to secure the win, taking the score to 156 for 6.