A painful blow to the elbow wasn't enough to stop captain Josh Hyde from leading the Rays into the Mid North Coast T20 league preliminary final on Wednesday night.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Rays lost six wickets in the process as they chased down the Wasps' imposing 4-202 under lights with one ball to spare at Oxley Oval.
They required more than 10 an over after Jared Humphreys (69), Nathan Lyon (46) and Zac Jones (54) had helped the Wasps to an imposing target.
But everyone chipped in during the Rays' run chase with experienced trio Ethan Hyde (30), Tim Harris (19) and Ricky Arnell (16) all contributing along with the skipper who was 55 not out.
Youthful duo Kyle Marron (18) and Jack Stace (21 not out) also played their part.
"We were always on target and it's a big effort to chase 10 an over for 20 overs," Hyde said.
"We were pretty clinical in our chase with some really good running between the wickets. We didn't get bogged down because you've only got to get bogged down for two or three overs and the run rate jumps from 10 to 15."
Hyde had to overcome a painful blow to his elbow early in his innings which saw him leave the field for treatment before he returned to hit the winning runs with a towering six over mid-wicket.
"I gave a few chances; it wasn't my most clinical innings at all, but when you're chasing 200 you've got to throw a bit of caution to the wind," he said.
"I got a bit lucky with a pink ball and in night cricket the ball is harder to pick up from the outfield."
The Rays were 0-50 in the fifth over when Hyde was hit with a waist-high full-toss on the point of the elbow from Wasps' quick Damian Bestwick.
"He bowled three beamers that over, but we bowled six no-ball free hits above the waist and they probably bowled eight," Hyde said.
"There were blokes like Nick Smith and Jared Humphreys who bowled them too so I think the pink ball must be lighter through the core of the ball because it comes off your bat like a marble."
Wasps captain Zac Jones admitted they missed a few things with the ball although he credited the way the Rays went about the chase.
"The batting from Rays attacked the game from the get-go and they were going at 10 an over so we were always under pressure," he said.
"We needed to bowl better to our areas because they had some good batters and we weren't contributing with the ball to slow the run rate down."
Jones conceded their passive approach in the field contributed to Hyde's performance.
"We bowled to his strengths and didn't bowl to where we could limit his runs, but Josh is a classy player," he said.
What else is happening in news, sport?
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark our website
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- You can support us with a subscription
- Follow us on Twitter: @portmacnews
- Follow us on Instagram: @portmacnews
- Follow us on Google News