Northamptonshire paceman, Richard Gleeson, delivered an number of inspiring performances for the North as part of the annual North South series.
After completing a clean sweep in the inaugural series in Dubai and Abu Dhabi last March, the South had maintained their dominance in this year’s opening match last Sunday – meaning the North had to win to keep the series alive.
And it was Gleeson who led the charge, bowling Middlesex’s Nick Gubbins for 109 with a rapid yorker, and followed up with the wicket of the dangerous Delray Rawlins for a duck two balls later after the South had began to close in on the Norths total of 335.
Having changed the momentum with these two prized wickets, the North managed to level the series and claimed their first victory in the North-South Series at the fifth attempt to take this year’s series into a decider on Friday.
Captain of the North side, Steven Mullaney, spoke of the joy of levelling the series, and also touched on the importance of Gleeson’s wickets in achieving the win.
“It’s a great feeling to have got the win, but now we want to win the series,” said Mullaney.
“There was a bit of pressure on today, because we had to win to keep the series alive. But we tried to take that off the lads and treat it as a one-off game. We’ve always backed our ability in this series, and it was great to see the lads show what they could do.”
“We knew the game wasn’t won at halfway, with the batting ability in the South team. Nick Gubbins played superbly again, and it was going to take something special to get him out. That was a special delivery from Richard Gleeson, and definitely the turning point of the match.”
The series will now be decided in the third match, at the 3Ws Oval on Friday.