It was all too easy for Amsterdam Flames as they booked their place in at least the play-off  with victory over Glasgow Cosmic, whose tournament was finished as soon as they reached Dublin.

 

 

The final margin was five wickets with four overs to spare after Glasgow collapsed from 117 for four with three overs left to 126 all out.

 

The Flames can still finish top but they will need Belfast Wolves to beat current leaders Edinburgh Castle Rockers by somewhere between 35 and 80-odd runs, which looks unlikely.

 

The Flames though deserve their place at the weekend and while they may be third favourites, like Rotterdam Rockers they have won their last three games and it is the Castle Rockers who will be trying to avoid a third successive defeat on Thursday.

 

It was a struggle from the start for Glasgow after being put into bat by Scott Edwards, taking nine and a half overs to bring up the team 50 for the loss of just  two wickets, although skipper George Munsey then hit Aryan Dutt for back to back sixes.

 

No 4 batter Liam Livingstone was dropped on six by Jordan Neill and so everyone of the Englishman’s next 38 runs must have been painful. However, Michael Bracewell and Dutt bowled back to back maidens from the Dublin Road End to leave Cosmic on 105 for six with four overs remaining.

 

Twelve came  off  the 17th over but that was as good as it got for Glasgow as Bas De Leede had Matthew Cross brilliantly caught by Curtis Campher from his first ball and 10 balls later he had figures of four for six with the opposition failing to bat out the 20 overs. 

 

It was not the most convincing start by Amsterdam – probably complacent chasing such a modest total – with the top three all back in the dug-out inside the first five overs with just 27 on the board. There was a Glasgow debut for Ireland Test player Reuben Wilson and he claimed the huge scalp of Australia’s Steve Smith with his third ball.

 

It was to be only success as international team-mate Campher took over, hitting 44 from 30 balls, with five fours and a six and with Bracewell and Edwards both chipping in with painless 20s, the result was never in doubt.

 

Campher was surprisingly ignored for the player of the match although he also dismissed Glasgow’s top scorer Munsey immediately after he had brought up his 50 and was the unlucky bowler when Livingstone was dropped. It was David Payne who picked up the award for figures of three for 27, which included two first ball victims  in Finn Allen and Michael Leask and, in his final over, Livingstone - caught by Neill in the exactly the same position as he had dropped him eight overs earlier.