Fire Brigade able to defend red-hot total

This aggressive approach was a masterstroke by captain Rob Salter, as openers Tim Nelson and Miller Griffiths built a strong platform through the first 20 overs of the innings.

Griffiths (44) was the first to depart, caught just short of his half-century by Harry Wright off Jimmy Gelletly’s bowling.

Nelson (29) was the first to go, the second breakthrough coming in the 26th over from a nice caught-and-bowled effort by Blake Gibson.

Much like the opening pair, Bohden Learmonth and Brett Andison were able to partner effectively, building another stand to not allow L-G to gain momentum.

Learmonth toiled hard for his 21 but was undone by Marcus Stubbs, caught by Tyler Jones.

Andison (44) got to the same score as Griffiths, albeit 40 balls faster, before he was caught by Simon Tatt off Marcus Stubbs, the seamer striking again.

Wickets began flowing more freely for L-G after the top four were out, the last three wickets falling in just 10 balls.

Shannon Fleming (7) was caught by Josh O’Shea off James Keath’s bowling, Rob Salter was gone for a golden duck at the hands of Simon Tatt and Kaine Herbert (13) was beaten all ends up by Keath.

Cohan Cooper (19 not-out) and Shaun Doolan (13 not-out) were able to steady the ship and steer Fire Brigade home, finishing its 45 overs on 7-200.

Needing 201 for victory, L-G needed a good start and for a couple of its better batters to go on and get a good score.

L-G openers Josh O’Shea and Tyler Jones were able to navigate the first 11 overs and develop a reasonable partnership before O’Shea (11) was caught by Rob Salter.

The strongest pairing came from Jones and first-drop Harry Wright, who were able to carve out a significant second-wicket stand and break the back of the innings.

The Flames’ second scalp didn’t come until the 32nd over, where Jones (61) was caught by Shannon Fleming off Kaine Herbert’s bowling.

Unfortunately for L-G, the end of Jones’ and Wright’s partnership gave way to a challenging period of play for the visitors, losing the wickets of Wright (30), Scott Lucas (9) and James Keath (golden duck) in just five balls.

Suddenly, at 5-127 after 37 overs, new batters Simon Tatt and Jason Keath had some work to do if they were going to get their side the 75 runs still required in just eight overs.

The pair were able to battle through an L-G bowling attack with their tails up, but weren’t able to produce enough runs quickly enough.

With their backs against the wall, Tatt and Keath had to go for it, but in doing so, tried to sneak an extra run and the former was run out in the 44th over for 25.

Jason Keath (30 not-out) and Marcus Stubbs (4 not-out) were left to finish off the run chase, with L-G falling 26 runs short.

This victory pushes the Flames back into the finals picture while simultaneously pushing L-G into the hot seat down the stretch.