PATTAYA, Thailand – Pattaya CC got back to winning ways to keep their hopes of a top 4 finish alive by defeating the British Club by 2 wickets with 7 balls to spare. The match was played on a cloudy but very warm afternoon at Horseshoe Point on Sunday 25th Feb. The British Club (BC) were out to avenge a severe drubbing that they had received in a pre-season friendly, whereas PCC were trying to show that they could keep extras and dropped catches to reasonable numbers.
The toss was conducted by Wez Masterton, yes, finally his final game and Pramodh Kamalakannan as witnessed by umpires Clive Rogerson and Dharmesh Mer. Pramodh won the toss and decided to bat first. The BC opened with Ben Eastwell and Mak Kahn against the pace of Ryan driver, with his newly repaired chin, and Andre Human. Tight bowling kept the run rate down in the first few overs, but Mak made good ground later against both bowlers. Ben was given the benefit of the doubt in a close LBW appeal from Ryan, but it made little difference as Ben was run out for 8 during Steve Christie’s first over, by Wez’s shy at the stumps. 38 for 1 from the 6th over.
Dale Lamb took the crease and he made good progress with Mak who continued to plunder boundaries, some of them iffy edges. Steve bowled with mixed results and was unlucky when Ryan couldn’t hold on to a running catch on the boundary and Max dropped Kahn the next ball. That proved to be very costly. The run rate stood at a steady 7 per over with 67 for 1 by the 10th Mike entered the attack and apart from a few wides, a tidy over. Andre re-entered the attack and between them they kept things steady until Andre had Dale caught for 25 when he skied a ball to mid-wicket and into the hands of Steve. 93 for 2 in the 13th.
Habby entered the attack in the 16th over and Mak continued to hit boundaries from Steve and Karthik Rajendran provided support. By the 20th over BC were retaining wickets but needed to pick the run rate up. This they did but it cost wickets with Mak going for a splendid 80 having been caught by Andre at long-on off Mike Gerits. Sunil Kumar replaced him but did not last long as he was caught at deep-mid wicket by Wez for 11. 173 for 4 in the 23rd over and the run rate had increased to 7.2. Habby bowled the last over and removed Pramod’s middle stump off the last ball to conclude BC’s innings at a respectable 180 for 5.
PCC would have to bat well as Luke Stokes was not available. Wez and Ryan opened against Pramodh and Patrick (Talal Sanoon). Wez started with his usual style and blasted 12 off the first over but Patrick was quite tidy. Pramodh got revenge in his second over after Wez hit another six and was then bowled for 20. Mike Gerits took the crease and the run rate slowed a little. Patrick struck in his 3rd over, the 7th, when Ryan got an edge was superbly caught by Dave Elder at first slip for 13, 51 for 2.
Andre joined Mike who set about Karthik for 22 runs in the 8th over. Dilip Mishra replaced Karthik and steadied the flow of runs but Ben Eastwell’s inclusion into the attack benefited Mike’s big hitting. The run rate increased to 9.5 an over and PCC were passed 100 in the 11th over. Dilip was replaced by Dave Elder but the runs kept coming until Pramodh re-entered the battle. His final over saw Andre’s bails flying down the field and PCC were 124 for 3 and drinks were taken. PCC were comfortably ahead at this point but there were no more accomplished batsmen in the tent.
Dave Elder and Ed Khan took some punishment from Habby Singh and Mike although Ed was unlucky when the Keeper dropped a skier from Habby. It made little difference as Habby was out in the next over from Dave, caught for 16 by Pramodh at mid-off, 152 for 4 in the 18th. Things took an interesting turn at this point as PCC steadily lost wickets and it looked like PCC might be bowled out. Notwithstanding, the maximum game time of 2 hours was approaching and even with allowances, BC were well behind the over rate and their tardiness was liable to earn them a 16 run penalty.
Mike Gerits was the first to return to the tent as he was caught for 70 by Ben off Patrick which brought Trevor Moolman to the crease, 154 for 5. Dave Elder’s last over brought results as Max Burzler went for 2 and Hansie Singh emerged from the tent. Hansie made a valuable quick 8 before he was bowled by Karthik and Andy Emery took the crease at 164 for 7 in the 22nd over. The BC were in with a chance if they could bowl PCC out.
They needed 3 wickets in 3 overs. Trevor was the next to go has he skied a ball to the keeper who caught this one and Ben took his first wicket, 176 for 8 in the 23rd over. Karthik took the 24th over and Andy Emery crunched a boundary 4 to score 182 and a win by 2 wickets. PCC had lost the last 5 wickets for 30 runs and nearly lost the match. Patrick, Pramodh and Dave each took 2 wickets, but it was Mike Gerits’ 70 runs and 2 wickets for 39 that earned him his second MoTM award.
PCC would like to thank their sponsors, the Outback Bar, the Magic Bar and the Pattaya Sports Club for their support and assistance.
If there are any persons of any ages and abilities out there in the Pattaya area who would like to get involved with cricket, please visit our website, our Facebook page, the Outback Bar (the PCC home base) or contact Simon Philbrook at [email protected]
