No, this was not some form of football match. It was a hotly contested, high scoring cricket match in searing heat and very long grass which was settled by the application of penalty runs for a slow over rate. AIT had scored 202 for 4 and PCC scored 201 for 6, but AIT was deemed to be 2 overs short of the required 25 for the allocated 2 hours of play and thus 16 penalty runs were awarded. Thus, PCC won by 4 wickets.
Before I continue the report, I wish to make a brief summary of last week’s match which was not reported due to PCC’s press correspondent being ill. PCC were 5th in the BCL and played Marina CC (MCC) at Pattana Sports Resort on 27 Feb 2022. MCC won the toss and decided to bowl. Wez Masterton and Ryan Driver started well and maintained 10 runs per over with Wez 30 and Ryan 58 by the 10th over. Jainish added a quickfire 24 before the innings closed at 193 for 7. A challenging chase for MCC.
MCC lost opener Kumar Madhuraj first ball to Ryan Driver and despite dogged resistance from Krishnan Murali with 39, MCC were well behind the run rate. Wickets fell steadily and drinks saw 99 for 4 at 15 overs. Habbi Singh and Jainish Parikh took some punishment from Rauait Krishnan (36) and Sadish Swaja (36) in the latter overs as MCC zeroed in on the target.
Despite, their best efforts MCC, concluded at 184 for 6 and PCC won by 9 runs. This brought PCC to 4th in the Bangkok Cricket League (BCL) and a place in the play-offs. However, Bangkok Blues CC did PCC a favour by defeating Bangkok CC and thus PCC moved to 3rd place. PCC’s next match on 6 Mar 2022 was going to be an exacting challenge against the undefeated AIT.
Back to PCC vs AIT. PCC won the toss and decided to bowl. Pratyush Kumar and Anirudh Thorbok opened for AIT against the bowling of Ryan Driver and Tom Fogden. These two accomplished batsmen were hard to pin down and harder to get out, but there were chances. Bernie Lamprecht could only get his fingers to a low diving catch to his left off Steve Christie’s bowling and a flier off the shoulder of the bat whizzed past Keeper Colin Clark.
Habby Singh struck in the 9th over with the score on 61, dismissing Anirudh for 29, by getting one to nip back onto the top of leg stump. Pratyush continued to push the run rate with boundaries and quick singles. Drinks, sorely needed at 15 overs, saw the score at 106 for 1. After drinks Habby missed a caught and bowled opportunity from Pratyush, but the ball was hit extremely hard. Ryan Driver was brought back into the attack and a lifting ball forced a thick edge from Pratyush (61) which was gobbled up by Colin. 115 for 2 in the 17th over.
This brought Farhad Zulfiqar to the crease. Another hard hitting and accomplished batsman pushed the score along with Chaitanya Baba. Andy Emery was brought into the attack for just one over and his first ball had Chaitanya Baba drag a ball onto his stumps for 13, but Andy was expensive at 12 from the over. 135 for 3 after 19 overs. Farhad increased the run rate with several boundary 6’s against all bowlers and he finished 57 not out, but he lost Deepak Chowdhary for 17. Wez Masterton dropped a sitter from Deepak – right into his hands at short extra cover, but redeemed himself a few balls later when Deepak hit a skier off Bernie Lamprecht in the 24th. AIT finished their innings on 202 for 4.
PCC had a monumental task ahead of them. AIT’s bowlers were known to be competent and the required run rate was impressive at 8.08. Wez with his leg injury and Ryan Driver opened the batting against Sattendra Shakya and Aditya Metta. Wez was going to do his usual thing, but he could only take easy singles; twos and quick runs were out of the question.
Wez led a charmed life as he struggled to time the ball and his new bat sounded awful. He was dropped with the score on 24 and 48, first by Sattendra and then by Janith Gallage. Sattendra bowled very well, but Aditya got battered at 10 per over as PCC progressed to 61 in the 9th over when Wez was caught for 36 of 26 balls faced by Aditya off Pratyush’s bowling.
Ryan continued hitting singles and boundaries. Luke Stokes entered the fray and hit a rapid 19 before he didn’t quite middle the ball and was caught on the boundary by Pratyush off Michkat Ullah’s very effective off spin bowling. 90 for 2 in the 12th over and PCC very slightly ahead. Colin Clark followed quickly, again being caught by Anirudh for 5 off a ball from Mishkat that he didn’t middle.
The bowling rate was rather slow at this point and AIT were advised to make amends. Ryan had some luck at 105 when he hit a wide ball to a fielder who dropped him – a costly mistake. Tom Fogden lasted even less time than Colin, as he too was caught off Mishkat for 0 and PCC were struggling at 113 for 4 in the 17th over and the scores were level. Ryan received some much-needed help at this point from Jainish Parikh and Simon Philbrook who battered Mishkat, Aditya, Aketi Krishnan and Deepak Chowdhary for numerous boundaries.
Several extras, mainly wides and No Balls helped the score along but the over rate was still below par. Jainish was caught on the boundary by Aketi Krishna for 19 from 10 balls off Deepak Chowdhary. Simon went for 16 at the end of the 22nd over, by which time the 2 hours allocated for the match was up and 3 overs remained unbowled. The Umpire, after a short consultation with the BCL Playing Conditions, informed the Captain of AIT that 16 penalty runs (2 overs) would be awarded at the end of the match.
More frantic bowling by AIT and batting by Ryan brought the innings to an end at 201 for 6, but 16 runs were added and thus PCC won the match by 4 wickets. Ryan carried his bat through the innings and finished very tired, sweaty and unbeaten on 79 and was awarded the MotM award.
Mishkat Ullah had taken 3 for 37 and AIT had batted well.
PCC have two matches (Bangkok Blues and Tamilnadu CCs) before the Elimination finals begin on 27 March 2020.
 |
 |
 |
