WHAT a finish! And who said cricket is boring?

Yes, it did take two long days, more than 12 hours of play and a grueling 179.5 overs of attrition.

But the second Super Test between King’s Road and the Battersea Badgers was far from dull.

South London cricket’s showpiece match went right down to the wire in a spectacular finish that will live long in the memory for all those involved.

Unfortunately for The Road – who lost out by the tightest of margins – Sunday’s pulsating climax ended in disappointment.

But they shouldn’t be gutted – because despite being completely dominated, The Road fought bravely to battle back in the final session and take it to a frantic final over.

At that point anything could have happened and the rollercoaster match was teetering on a knife-edge between a heroic draw for The Road and a last minute win for the Badgers.

Incredibly, King’s Road had batted out 88 overs of the day’s 90 after being made to follow-on in response to the Badgers’ mammoth first innings total of 350.

As the tension built in their second innings their stubborn Road rearguard action first avoided what would have been an humiliating innings defeat, and then against all odds inched a lead of 17.

Then in the 87^th over – with just two and a bit overs left until the match would be declared a draw – their resistance finally broke.

Click here to read our report of the first day
Click here to read the Badgers’ match report

Having hung on manfully in the face of some fierce bowling, James Couldrey was caught in the slips by a stunning – and ultimately match-winning – catch by Alex Shires.

It left the tired but unrelenting Badgers needing to bat again and score a tricky 18 to win in 12 nerve-wracking balls – or see King’s Road save an incredible draw from the jaws of certain defeat.

Tony Swann, who bravely stepped up to the plate to take the pressure over, was edged for a boundary on the first ball by Andy Thorpe before seeing a horrible no-ball hit for 6 by Robin Mackrell.

To see the match scorecard click here

The big man took Robin’s wicket but conceded 14. It left the Badgers needing only 4 from the last over bowled by second innings batting hero Adam.

If there was anyone who could do it though, it was Adam. He knew every ball was crucial yet, with wickets in hand, the Badgers could afford to run two from every hit.

And so they did. Sharp fielding from James and Mark Isham grabbed two wickets in the first four balls and more importantly kept the opposition down to singles.

Then with two balls left and the Badgers needing one to win captain Pete Warman top-edged one high up to third man.

Both teams had their hearts in their mouths knowing this was the moment the match would be decided.

Running backwards Raju Mazumder scrambled towards it and, in a desperate attempt, he got his hands to the ball – but couldn’t quite hold onto the tough chance.

The ball fell to ground and, with Pete completing the run, the Badgers had done it. It was a cruel end which left the Badgers breathing a huge sigh of relief.

They had finally managed to force a victory which – although it was deserved – had become far from certain after The Road’s stirling fightback.

Most of that was down to a stubborn batting display from the King’s Road heroes Mark, Matt Cocken, John Smalley , Tony and in the dying overs, Adam Majeed and James.

Adam in particular reigned in his attacking instincts to frustrate the Badgers time and time again as they tried everything to secure the win. Even Tony reigned in his big-hitting style to manage a string of forward defensives.

Never have The Road batted so resolutely against a side that had looked rampant on day one and still by far the better side in the second.

Having battered King’s Road in their first innings all around Battersea Park, the Badgers must have been supremely confident – but the question remained: could they do enough to force the win?

In the evening session the Badgers declared on Saturday with 6 wickets down leaving The Road a daunting 28 overs to negotiate by losing as few wickets as possible.

The Badgers though made early inroads taking 4 wickets before the close of play to leave The Road reeling overnight and already hoping to bat out a draw.

Openers Mark and Tom both batted with steely determination on the drying pitch against the Badgers’ impressive pace attack.

But both fell before the close, Tom having scored 38 and Mark’s 4 belied his careful innings off 46 balls – which in the situation was just what the doctor ordered.

Leon Watson and nightwatchman Raju followed soon after though, leaving The Road in trouble and Matt and John the two batsmen not out overnight.

In the morning session of day two, The Road already needed something special while the Badgers must have thought victory was just a matter of time.

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Wickets then proceeded to fall at regular intervals to leave The Road further in the mire with only a strong display from John holding up the Badgers’ march to victory.

The big Northerner played patiently at first before opening up to hit 44 off 65 balls, which included two defiant sixes. But it was not enough to stop The Road being skittled out for a disappointing 170.

With 68 overs to play and the follow-on enforced, King’s Road were staring down the barrel of a embarrassingly early finish unless they could somehow survive.

From the start the Badgers set out to do one thing and one thing only – take the 10 wickets they needed. Runs didn’t matter and the batsmen were surrounded by a super-attacking umbrella field.

When Tom – probably The Road’s best hope of a big score – fell on 4 playing onto his stumps from a wayward delivery it looked grim for the boys from Battersea.

Leon made it to the lunch break but fell soon after, while Mark played brilliantly again but without reward scoring 1 in 47 balls to keep out the pacemen who were clearly sensing blood.

After that The Road finally started to show their mettle. With defeat looking almost certain, Matt forged useful partnerships with Mark and John before Tony hit a handy 35.

By this time the Badgers were beginning to realise securing the win wasn’t going to be as easy as they first thought. And when the overs left in the day dipped below 20 frustration started to kick in.

Vocal appeals for the wickets of first Tony and then Adam were turned down and the desperate nature of those exposed the tension in the middle as the match became closer and closer with every ball.

The immovable Adam – normally such an attacking batsman – literally parked the bus in front of his wicket and refused to let anything pass.

Keats though only lasted 15 balls before he couldn’t resist having a swipe at a straight one and got bowled for 5.

Pritch followed in similar fashion surviving for 12 crucial deliveries and scoring 4.

By now, each run and each dot ball now was taking the game further from the Badgers’ grasp.

But The Road only had James and Raju left to eek out the remaining overs, while the Badgers’ big guns were giving everything in an attempt to rip through the last pair and force the win.

It was a real backs to the wall fight and you could cut the tension with a knife.

And in the 87th over Alex pouched that catch at slip off Robin which wrestled the Badgers back into contention for the win. If it had happened three balls later it would almost certainly have been too late.

The Badgers were left with two overs to hit the 18 runs needed to claim victory – and despite the best attempts of The Road they managed with one ball to spare.

After two exhausting days of solid, enthralling match-ups probably the most memorable game between the sides was over – and cricket was the clear winner.

The Badgers toasted the result with Champagne and cigars, and who could blame them?