A superb century from Tim Marshall was not enough as Pacific continued to lose games from winning positions. It was the Aussie's first ton for Pacific - unless you count the weight of food he's eaten at tea in the past couple of years - but the lower order again failed to convert a strong position into a win against our longest standing rivals.

Crossbats 222 for 2 from 45 Overs (Collier 112, Wright 51, J Campbell 9 overs for 23, M Alexander 9 overs for 27)

Pacific 208 All Out from 43.5 Overs (T Marshall 102, P Hollman 33)

Having been drawn against long standing rivals Crossbats in the 45 Over Middlesex Plate – Pacific found themselves under pressure as Crossbats openers Iain Collier and Alistair Wright set about building an impressive opening stand of over 150 at Wray Crescent.

In the limited overs format lack of wickets was less important than the run rate – and with Wright in particular finding it difficult to get the bowling away – the run rate never became unmanageable. Collier’s century exuded class and he took advantage of Pacific’s inexperienced fifth bowler to up the tempo. It was fitting that the partnership was broken by a run out – Jonathan Campbell’s smart fielding beating Collier to the keeper Peter Czabotar’s end – the batsman departing for 112.

Wright soon followed for 51 – run out as he tried to pinch a single to burley wicketkeeper-batsman-leg spinner Tim Marshall – who had removed the keeper’s gloves to fill-in some of the fifth bowler’s overs. No more wickets were to fall – but Crossbats failed to really get the ball away either. Particular credit to the veteran pair of Campbell (9 over for 21) and Mike Alexander (9 overs for 27) for fine spells of bowling. A run rate of just under 5 an over seemed eminently gettable on the astro turf strip.

Pacific’s innings started with an early breakthrough – Rob Bastin top edging to Wright at slip and departing for a duck. However Peter Hollman and Tim Marshall set about repairing the damage with a stand of 114. Hollman showed his best form of the season so far - despite being struck a painful blow in his midriff when he miss timed a pull shot - nudging the ball around in a skilful supporting innings of 33. Meanwhile Aussie Marshall became increasingly belligerent as he moved towards his first ever Pacific century.

Extra bounce led to Hollman top edging a chance through to the keeper – but skipper Steve Lay kept Marshall company in a stand of 46 that kept Pacific in the driving seat at 160 for 2 and up with the run rate. However when Marshall fell for 102 – there was a flurry of wickets – as Pete Czabotar (1) and Matt Patel (1) fell in quick succession.

However skipper Lay and all-rounder Campbell seemed to have regained control until a suicidal run from Lay left Campbell short of his ground for 8. Lay’s reaction was to try to blast the winning runs – but after a couple of big hit he fell to a catch at mid-on for 23. With Darryl Roberts given lbw first ball – even though there may have been a little inside edge first – and then Colin Black falling for 7 – there was too much for last pair to do and when Oliver Haill was bowled for 6 it was all over – Pacific finishing 14 runs short.

“Again we could – and probably should – have won.” said skipper Steve Lay later. “But let’s not take anything away from Tim’s effort with the bat – it was outstanding – especially coming after he had kept wicket and then bowled 8 overs.” he added.

Pete misses and the ball hits !