Shettigar snatch secures stunning tie

Caerphilly Catapults - 310 vs Ballycastle Bats - 310*

	Catapults	Bats
Keeper	Carrington	Alford
Chasers	Denison	Quigley
	Lympsham	Evans
	Lafarge	Thomsonicle
Beaters	Lofthouse (C)	Smeek
	Aderonis	Nutter
Seeker	Bryson	Shettigar (C)

Sunday opened with another clash of youth vs experience, with the rising Catapults fancying themselves to topple the arguably fading Bats. Caerphilly’s win over the Harpies Round 2 was a performance more polished than many thought possible from the ragtag young bunch. The Bats got on the board for season 2012 largely thanks to the brilliance of Ajax Shettigar. Their general play still left a lot to be desired, but such is Shettigar’s dominance that Caerphilly must be able to pull clear of the Bats, not just stay with them.

Early on the task looked well and truly achievable. The Catapult Chasers were unstoppable, making Alexandra Alford’s return in goal for the Bats a trying one. Antigona Lympsham ran the show, brilliantly utilizing the juxtaposing strengths of the huge and intimidating Ralph Denision compared with the nimble and elfin Crisiant Lafarge.          

The Bats Chasers proved to be quite nimble themselves and as so often happens, rookie Catapult Keeper Caddock Carrington had a much harder time of it in his second match. The Demeter Quigley led counter-attacks kept the Bats in the match, but Caerphilly were clearly the better team, primarily from the Beater mismatch. Rubens Smeek and Nobby Nutter were mediocre against the Kestrels. Up against the calibre of Asgeir Lofthouse and Addfywnn Aderonis they looked downright juvenile.

But the Bats fought gallantly and somehow froze the margin around the 150 mark. The Catapults looked panicked and were already beginning to fade. The disappointingly small but admirably vocal crowd could sense something special coming when Shettigar began to make his presence known.

With the score at 300-160, Shettigar suddenly swooped, diving full length off his broom from ten feet to catch the snitch, with no concern for his safety But almost precisely as he leapt of his broom, Lympsham herself had slotted her only goal of the game to take the Catapults lead to 150, ensuring a sensational tie! Not since the Appleby Arrows and Holyhead Harpies tied 990-990 in Round 2 of 2010 had a match been split.

It was a result both teams could feel hard done by. Shettigar’s was the kind of feat that deserved to win the game for his team. They had also defended brilliantly to keep the contest alive. But the Catapults were clearly the superior team. 

Caerphilly Catapults - 310: Denison 18, Lafarge 12, Lympsham 1

Ballycastle Bats - 310: Quigley 11, Evans 4, Thomsonicle 1, Shettigar Snatch

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: AJAX SHETTIGAR (BATS)