Pattaya Cricket Club began their league campaign on Sunday, Dec. 13 against Indorama at the beautiful Thai Polo Ground. With a much changed side from last season, PCC won the toss and elected to bat first in the 25 over format.
Despite losing Venky (0) in the opening over, Dan Nicholson (40) and debutant Anthony Sheperd (14) looked assured as they set the foundation for a competitive total. PCC captain Simon Philbrook (51no) provided the required impetus to the innings and ably supported by Andy Emery (30no) the pair put on 82 runs in the final 11 overs to post a challenging 162/3.
In reply, the Indorama openers survived dropped catches to reach 53/0 from the opening 10 overs. Then a remarkable over of controlled swing bowling from man of the match Raj Kumar turned the game on its head. His first ball clean bowled a bemused Rachit (12), his third ball yorker was too good for Mrinai (0) trapped lbw and the final delivery, a repeat of the third, snared Sumeet (0) lbw.
As if inspired by the grinning Raj, Jason Darby (2/4) and David Scott (3/13) mopped up the middle to lower order leaving Raj to claim one more wicket (4/14) and Andy Emery to remove Nishant’s off stump with his first delivery. Indorama were all out for 72 with all 10 wickets falling for just 19 runs in 9.1 overs.
It was the perfect start to a league campaign for Pattaya with the next league fixture at home on January 11. PCC have a friendly internal game on Sunday, Dec. 20 from 11 a.m. and all are welcome to come along and join in.
PCC would like to thank the continued support of the PSC and encourage anyone interested in playing cricket to contact the club via its website www.pattayacricketclub.com or the Facebook page.
