28 March 2021
PCC’s penultimate divisional match was played on an overcast Sunday at Pattana Sports Resort. It was a need-to-win match which was decided in the last over but could have gone either way. BCC2 were the better team on the day, although PCC could have won, but for their lacklustre fielding letting them down.
PCC won the toss and decided to bat first. Wez Masterton was unavailable for this match and his big hitting was sorely missed. Simon Wetherell and Matt Harkness opened against some accurate and quick bowling from Rahul Jangir and Semarjeet Singh. Runs were hard to come by and the run rate stuttered along at 2-4 per over. Matt was dismissed in the 7th over for 2 off 16 balls, caught by Abhinjet Kukarni off Aditya Meita. Simon W managed to get some boundaries off Janith Gallage until Janith had him caught by Sabeethan Kanagasinghham for 17.
This left Ryan Driver and Luke Stokes at the crease, but continued accurate bowling from Aditya and Soundar Krishnasamy kept the run rate to 5 an over. Some loose fielding and messy bowling from Samraat Rathod allowed PCC to add much needed runs before Luke was dismissed just before the 15th over drinks break when he stepped out to smash a wide from Soundar. A swing, a miss and a stumping saw him walk off with 20 and PCC on 69 for 3.
Dan Allen, the Sheffield whippet, dashed to the crease and gave Ryan plenty of support by rotating the strike to allow Ryan to hit 4 fours and 3 sixes. The run rate picked up considerably and PCC were 113 for by the 20th over. Ryan seemed to be leaning on his bat quite a lot – but it was a muggy day! Dan had scored 12 when he missed a ball from Rahul and lost his off stump and Ryan caught his breath. Simon Philbrook went out for the last 4 overs to support Ryan and remained 9 not out whilst Ryan was undefeated on 64 and PCC closed their innings on 145 for 4.
Rahul was the best of the BCC bowlers with 5 overs 1 for 17. Just about a par score, but it could go either way.
BCC 2 opened with Preetam Jana and Vishal Patkah against Ryan Driver and Matt Harkness. Ryan was bowling very well and forced an edge from Preetam to Dan Allen, the first of his 3 catches, in the first over. Matt was bowling too short and got thwacked around the ground by Vishal who was dropped by Josh Carr – an expensive error.
Bernie Lamprecht and Reds Liddell both started well but Vishal and Abhijit Kulkarni got their eyes in and pushed the run rate along at 6 runs per over. Vishal led a charmed life as he was dropped by Bernie and bowled by Reds off a free hit. 61 for 1 off 10 overs and BCC 2 were well ahead.
Chris Lindop entered the bowling attack and almost had Vishal caught by Matt – it would have been the catch of the year, but he couldn’t quite hang on. Chris persevered and had Vishal caught by Matt in the next over for 43. Rahul Jangir came to the crease and some indifferent fielding and another dropped catch from Josh allowed him to push on with Abhijit. 90 for 2 off 15 overs and drinks.
I think PCC got a stern talking-to from Simon Philbrook and any more dropped catches would result in sore bottoms. It did the trick, as BCC2 were about to lose 6 wickets for 56 in the last 10 overs and only just save the match in the final over. Ryan had Abhijit caught first ball by Reds for 34 and Prem Subramaniam arrived to survive a close run out and was then caught by Matt off Chris for just 1. Rahul fell in the next over to Ryan, caught behind for 7. Semarjeet Singh bailed out the sinking ship with a fine 20, but his partners fell like leaves. Sabateen was bowled for 1 by Chris Lindop and Matt Harkness returned to improve his figures with 2 wickets.
Janith struck the winning run with 2 balls to spare. BCC2 were 146 for 9 and won by 1 wicket. Ryan finished with outstanding figures of 5 overs, 3 for 4 whilst Chris had 5 overs 3 for 29. BCC2 gave away too many wides but PCC dropped too many catches. Man of the Match was Vishal Patkar.
The final divisional match will be at Pattana at 0830 on 4 April. Please come along and support. There is food and cold drinks, good cricket and friendly people.
Author’s note: Report on the PCC v RBSC match on 21 March correction. The catch attributed to Andy Emery should have be attributed to Chris Lindop.
