Pattaya CC travelled to Phuket for 2 days of cricket at the Alan Cooke Ground over the weekend October 24-25.
A depleted squad due to injuries and unavailability played a 30 over game on the Saturday and after electing to field and bowling only one over it seemed that would be the last cricket for the day as the heavens opened. The ground soon resembled a lake, but optimism prevailed and after much debate the game was reduced to a very damp 15 over a side run fest, well at least for Phuket.
Boundaries were hard to find as the water squelched over the fielder’s shoes but Manesh (29) and Ali Khan (33) led the charge to post a very good 130/4. The PCC highlight was the leg side stumping by Paul Hack off the medium quick bowling of Venky.
In reply PCC got off to the worst possible start with Dan Nicholson (1) running himself out after having run out Dimple (0) two balls previously. In between the schoolboy calling Venky (0) was caught behind and the captain Simon Philbrook was at the non-striker’s end wondering what he was witnessing.
The procession of wickets continued with nobody capable of scoring above 4 runs and eventually PCC were all out for a paltry 53. Simon contributed 22 and fortunately extras chipped in with a face saving 17. And yes, you mathematicians reading this have calculated correctly, the other 10 batsmen mustered only 14 runs between them!
Moving quickly on to the Sunday T20 game against our old foes Patong CC and on a very bright and sunny afternoon the home team batted first. Imitiaz (23) and Stuart Hamilton (61no) batted superbly against a spirited Pattaya bowling attack that was led by the ever youthful David Scott (1/28) and 70 years old!
Arif (20) and Dipesh (20) maintained a vibrant run rate to register a challenging 160/5. PCC badly needed a good start and Dimple (19) looked in imperious form with 4 majestic boundaries. However, the wheels came off again due to a lack of judgement from both batsmen and umpires and PCC stumbled to a disappointing 88 all out.
The weekend represents the start of the 2015/16 season and PCC welcome anyone wishing to play or be involved to get in touch via the club website www. pattayacricketclub.com, its Facebook page or call Simon on 0870395790.
