Village team triumph after 40-run final over

An English village side has pulled off the nigh-on impossible after an arthritic 54-year-old scored 40 runs from the final over of a match to secure victory.

Dorchester-on-Thames pulled off surely one of club cricket's greatest ever heists in a Division Four Oxfordshire Cricket Association clash with Swinbrook.

Needing 35 from the final over of the game to overhaul Swinbrook's 240, 54-year-old Steve McComb dispatched Mihai Cucos' first delivery – a no-ball – for six, and then repeated the dose to reduce the equation to 22 required from five balls.

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Cucos then managed a dot ball to make it 22 needed from four. 

McComb then crashed the next ball for four, and again found the rope as Cucos was called for his second no-ball of the over. 

Now needing 13 with three balls still to be bowled, McComb turned the incredibility meter up a notch and blasted two consecutive sixes.

With the scores level and the final ball to come, Swinbrook's skipper brought the field up to save the single. Unperturbed, McComb swung hard again and sent the final ball sailing over the rope for his third consecutive six to hand Dorchester the scarcely believable win. 

Amidst the carnage, Dorchester tweeted McComb had struck 41 off the over, but later clarified they'd (justifiably) got a little over-excited.

"It was an amazing end to the game," McComb told the BBC.

"240 is a tough target to chase in our league and we never looked ahead of the rate.

"I had nothing to lose in the final over and the boundaries weren't huge, so I knew there was a slim chance.

"I've had an arthritic ankle for many years and I can't run very well between the wickets, as the lads constantly remind me, so I either try to score a boundary or hop for a single.

"When they brought the field in for the final ball I knew if I got bat on ball we'd be OK."

Ball-by-ball of the final over:

Need 35 from six

6nb (7)

Need 28 from six 

6 (13)

Need 22 off five

Dot (13)

Need 22 off four

4 (17)

Need 18 off three

4nb (22)

Need 13 off three

6 (28)

Need 7 off two

6 (34)

Need 1 off one

6 (40)