CYMS claimed a tense three-wicket Royal Hotel Cup victory over Kinross, but it's a game the students were unlucky not to win.

The green and golds bumbled their way through the dying stages of the rain-affected Twenty20 clash against the students and at 4-96 chasing 102 for victory should have cantered to victory.

But some terrific death-bowling from Mac Webster and the run-out of Tom Satterthwaite and Rory Daburger late in the piece kept Kinross in the game.

But it all unravelled on the final ball.

Essentially, the students went from a winning position, to a tie, to a loss in the space of a ball after an attempted run-out resulted in overthrows, and the last men left standing, Dave Neil and a half-dressed Harry West, scurried through to complete the winning run.

Belmonte top scored for CYMS with 33 off 27 balls and despite always backing his side's batting to get the job done, he admitted to the final play of the game being a touch "surreal".

"I didn't understand what was going on. I was scoring with Angus Wilson and we both looked at each other and said 'what just happened'," Belmonte said.

"It was weird, but it was a weird night in general."

Adding to the other-worldly feeling of the night, Belmonte said CYMS' playing group was left in awe of some of the stories told by Zimbabwean recruit Vusimuzi Sibanda.

Sibanda opened the batting and hit 8 while also bowled three overs and left with figures of 0-22, but it was his tales of playing international cricket against some of the biggest names in the game that had the CYMS boys on the edge of their seats during the rain delays.

"It was an unreal experience," Belmonte said.

"He brought an aura to the team which was fantastic, and during rain and the lightning break, we all got together and he just spoke. He opened the batting against guys like Shaun Tait and Brett Lee ... I had to get his autograph.

Belmonte said despite CYMS panicking a bit with the willow in their chase against Kinross, he still sees his side's batting as a strength moving forward in the Royal Hotel Cup.

"We looked for the big shot but needed singles or twos," he said of Friday's game.

"I had plenty of faith. Big Dave Neil coming in, I was certain he'd keep a level head and he was able to do that.

"(Harry West) had half his gear on when he went out there. It was a strange ending to a strange game."