The match was played at Horseshoe Point on a bright, sunny, Sunday afternoon with a brisk, cool northerly wind – thanks China. Pakistan CC had won 7 of their 8 matches and were not expecting a loss.
The battle of the two PCCs produced another close match and thrilling finish, but this time a win for Pattaya by 5 wickets with 1 ball to spare due to an 8 run penalty applied by the umpires for a slow over rate from Pakistan CC. Both teams had their ups and downs and crucial catches were dropped which could have changed the progress of the match, but the centre-piece of the day was Ryan Driver’s superb 130 Not Out.
Wez Masterton was absent and so Simon Philbrook took the reigns and conducted the toss with Tauseef Khalid before the umpires, Dr Mark Farrington and Waseem Raja (Sam). Pakistan CC won the toss and decided to bat first, their opening pair being Hammad and Karim Usasawat. They faced pace from Ryan Driver and spin from El Dutchie. As usual Ryan was very economical, averaging only 4 runs per over, but it was El Dutchie that was the most threatening. In his first over, Hammad, on 1, hit a ball to long-on where Luke Stokes’ normally safe hands dropped the ball over the boundary and gave a 6. That was a costly mistake as Hammad went on to make 50.
El Dutchie persisted and with Ryan tying down the batsmen, they struck out, but Karim holed out to a catch by Habby Sing at cover for 1 with the score on 15. This brought Tauseef, an accomplished batsman, to the crease where he set about El Dutchie with several boundary 4s. Habby dropped Tauseef when he was on 17 which again proved to be pivotal as Tauseef went on to make 77. Both bowlers bowled their maximum allowable 5 overs straight through and kept Pakistan to 56 for 1 by the 10th over – a remarkable feat, but it was not to last as Pattaya’s bowling lost its focus
Jainish gave away 8 wides in one over and was removed. Habby’s final 2 overs went for 25 and Andy Emery’s first 3 overs went for 37. This enabled Hammad and Tauseef to add 100 runs for the next 10 overs and a partnership of 140 runs. The 20th over saw a new strike weapon, Luke Stokes and his right arm leg spin. The difference in pace bamboozled Hammad who lost his off stump and it was 2 for 155. Ahmed Arshad only lasted 3 overs before he too was bowled by Luke and Pakistan CC were starting to crumble at 164 for 3. Andy finally found his line and length in his last over, the 23rd, when he bowled Tauseef. Sadiq Ahmed was beaten by a slower ball and was caught and bowled by Andy two balls later for 4 and the visitors were 171 for 5 after 23 overs.
This is where Luke bowled one too many overs and was destroyed by Javeed Khan and Anis Khan for 30 in one over. Under normal circumstances that may have turned the match in Pakistan’s favour as a 180 finish would have been sub-par, whilst 200-210 was defendable. However… Jainish was brought back for the last over and he too finally found line and length. Anis Khan was bowled for 9 and Amjad was bowled for 1 to leave Javed on 21 Not Out and Pakistan CC on 208 for 7. Andy, Luke and Jainish had all taken 2 wickets apiece but their figures were not pretty and Mr Extras got 39, 26 being wides.
As Wez was absent the opening pair for Pattaya was Jainish and Ryan against Ahmed Arshad and Amjad. Things started well for Ryan who benefitted from wayward bowling from both bowlers. Jainish was lucky when he was dropped on 2 at 3rd Man, but he didn’t last long as he was caught by Javed Khan and mid-wicket for 7 off Amjad. 33 for 1 by the 4th over. Luke went in at No 3 and despite his obvious ability, is going through an iffy patch.
Dawood Ali Shah had Luke caught on the long-on boundary by Sadiq Ahmed for 7 and Pattaya were 72 for 2 at 10 overs and reasonably ahead of the required run rate. Zeeshan Lal’s spin and Dawood managed to curb the run rate and Zeeshan had Trevor Moolman LBW with a full pitch delivery for 13. Drinks were taken at 15 overs with the scores almost identical with Ryan batting very well but not getting a great deal of support.
Pakistan were warned by the umpires at this point that their over rate was slow and they needed to pick up the pace with only 43 minutes for the final 10 overs. Simon Philbrook took the crease but he was not there long before he was bowled by an in-swinger from Hammad for 3. Meanwhile Ryan was accosting Hammad with boundaries galore, with 22 runs in one over and then he dished out the same punishment to Javed Khan and soon it was 165 for 5 from 20 overs.
Meanwhile, Andy Emery had been and gone for 5 having been caught by Tauseef off Yaseen. At this point it was noted by the scorer (me) that there were 5 overs left but only 17 minutes of play and thus Pakistan were in danger of being penalised as there were few extenuating circumstances to allow for leeway. 47 were need off 30 balls. Going to be interesting. Habby was doing well supporting Ryan by giving him the strike and the run rate was 8 per over – it needed to be 9.4!!
At the 2-hour match limit the 24th over had just been started and thus the umpires applied an 8 run penalty for the 1 over, the 25th, that had not been started. This increased the Pattaya score from 195 to 203 and so 6 were needed off the last over instead of 14. Game on!! Hammad bowled the last over. A no ball with one run and a free hit. The free hit went screaming towards cover and was brilliantly caught by Tauseef, but didn’t count. More singles followed and 209 was achieved with one ball to spare and Pattaya won by 5 wickets. Pakistan CC were unamused and words were said.
The Man of the Match was awarded to Ryan for his 130 not out.
Pattaya CC would like to thank their sponsors, the Outback Bar, the Magic Bar and the Ayen Bar for their support.
