Horseshoe Point provided ideal conditions for an afternoon of cricket on Sunday 28 Jan clouds and a light breeze against Tamil Nadu CC (TMNCC). PCC were looking to extend their winning streak despite not having Luke Stokes or Andy Emery available. TMNCC kept the match fairly tight in the initial overs and good fielding limited PCC to a slightly sub-par score of 185. However, TMNCC’s reply was fraught with poor communication between the batsmen, resulting in three run-outs and excellent catching by Andre Human and Jainish Parikah, leading to a convincing and comfortable win for PCC by 74 runs.
Wez Masterton and Ramiz Raja conducted the toss with the umpires, Sanjeev Jeya and Naveed, which TMNCC won and asked PCC to bat first. As usual Wez opened with Ryan Driver against the pace of Sheik Babu and Nagoor Meeran. Sheik’s first over included a wide which went for a boundary 4 and a 4 for Wez, so a good start, but Nagoor was much more accurate and harder to get away. Frustration induced Wez to force the issue and Nagoor had him caught on the cover boundary by a good catch by Shafeen Inaz for a disappointing 4 with the score on 19 in the 4th over.
Mike Gerits joined Ryan and they raised the run rate to 7 per over having forced the removal of Sayed Sultan, hit for 17 from two overs. The partnership was on 48 when Mohammed Ibrahim was brought into the attack and his 2nd ball had Mike well caught by Nogoor for 22 and the score on 67 for 2. Andre took the crease and he and Ryan took Shafeen for 20 in one over due to a boundary wide, boundary no-ball, boundary free hit and a final 6. Shafeen was removed and Mohammed continued with Wayoo Magudoom.
It was Wayoo that struck next when he removed Andre’s off stump for 9 and it was 98 for 3 in the 14th over and drinks were taken. Mohammed was TMNCCs main threat and when Ryan had reached 50, he got a ball to go on a little quicker and the top edge was caught by Murali at mid-wicket. 115 for 4 and a few more runs would be appreciated. Roshan Perera had replaced Andre at No 5 and was doing well until Mohammed struck again, his third wicket. Another high catch, well caught by Mohideen Thamby.
Jainish was doing well as Nagoor and Sheik returned to the attack but Trevor’s appearance was very brief as he was run out off Mohammed’s last ball for 2 and the score had slipped to 130 for 6. Habby Singh went out for some swashbuckling and rapid running between the wickets with Jainish and the run rate picked up appreciably against Nagoor and Sheik. The last 6 overs saw 55 added, but Jainish was dismissed for 21 by Nagoor when another skier was caught by Mohideen at 163 for 7 in the 23rd. Hansie Singh kept Habby company for a few runs whilst Habby finished with 34 not out and PCC on 185 for 7.
TMNCC opened with Nagoor and Sheikh against Ryan and Andre. Both batsmen proved to be extremely resilient and protected their wickets well, but the run rate was 2 per over by the 5th and only picked up when Mike Gerits was punished by both batsmen for 33 from 3 overs. As usual Ryan bowled his 5 overs straight through, but he remained wicketless although economical at only 19 runs. Terry Conrad and Jainish entered the bowling attack from the 10th over and Terry had an immediate impact as Sheik was superbly caught by Andre running in from the long-on boundary. Babu out for 19 and 56 for 1.
Thereafter wickets tumbled at a rapid rate and put TMNCC under self-induced pressure. Jainish’s first over (12th) also yielded rewards as Syed Hussain, who had recovered from a ball damaging his foot whilst wicket keeping, only lasted 4 balls for his 6 runs. A skier to short-mid-on was met by Jainish who had purchased a new pair of catching hands. 63 for 2. Jainish struck again in his next over (14th) when Andre took another good catch at long-on, that of Mohideen for 5 and TMNCC were 71 for 3.
Early drinks were taken. Terry bowled well but was replaced by Habby whose first over was poor but he managed another wicket, that of Nagoor, runout for 29. A misfield by Hansie Singh induced a run that was not there and a good throw left Nogoor was well short. 77 for 4. A few quick runs from the big-hitting Sayed Sultan pushed the score along to 92 before he fell to Andre’s 3rd catch of the day, this time at long-off for 14 and Jainish’s 3rd wicket. TMNCC were in trouble.
It got worse in Habby’s next over, the 18th, when Wayoo was well caught on the boundary by Jainish. 95 for 5. Things got comical at this point when Murali and Ramiz were both at the same end and Capt Ramiz stood his ground. Murali runout for a duck. 95 for 6. Another over and another wicket. This time it was Habby having Ramiz well caught at long-on by Ryan for 2. 97 for 8. Mohammed provided some resistance with his 12 but he too found a batsman at his end and Guddu Shahab was run out for 1. 102 for 9. Mohammed managed a pair of boundaries from Andre’s bowling in the last over, the 22nd, before a good diving catch from Mike sent him and TMNCC back to the tent for 111 all out after 21.5 overs. A very good all-round effort from PCC and they will need an even better effort next week against Asian Stars.
The MoTM award went to Habby Singh for his 34 not out and 2 for 16 from 3 overs. PCC would like to thank their sponsors, the Outback Bar, the Magic Bar, the Ayen Bar and the Pattaya Sports Group 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]
