RST Vipers and Cobras both win on last ball

0
1467
yan Driver of Rugby School Thailand Vipers bowls to Bernie Lamprecht of Pattaya Cricket Club (PCC) whilst Edwin van Rensburg backs up and Dan Allan wicket keeps. PCC let this tight match get away, dominated by accurate bowling, few runs and a final ball victory to RST Vipers by 1 run.
yan Driver of Rugby School Thailand Vipers bowls to Bernie Lamprecht of Pattaya Cricket Club (PCC) whilst Edwin van Rensburg backs up and Dan Allan wicket keeps. PCC let this tight match get away, dominated by accurate bowling, few runs and a final ball victory to RST Vipers by 1 run.

Pattaya Indoor Cricket League – Round 10

The evening fixtures on Monday, 25th Nov at Rugby School Thailand (RST), Banglamung were between RST Vipers versus Pattaya Cricket Club (PCC) and RST Cobras versus Asian All Stars (AAS).

In the first match PCC should have won having scored more runs and retained their wickets but they gave away too many extras. It was a really tight match dominated by accurate bowling, few runs and a final ball victory to RST Vipers by 1 run.

Marcus Large of Vipers bowls to Matt Harkness whilst Wez Masterton backs up and Dan Allan wicketkeeps.
Marcus Large of Vipers bowls to Matt Harkness whilst Wez Masterton backs up and Dan Allan wicketkeeps.

PCC opened the batting with Bernie Lamprecht and Edwin van Rensburg. Ryan Driver bowled Bernie second ball and along with Marcus Large restricted PCC to 20 with 10 dot balls. Stuart Douglas was unlucky not to get a wicket when Bernie was dropped by Marcus.

Trevor Moolman and Richard Holt managed the same score but Richard was caught behind by Dan Allan and then bowled by Matt Mann. A meagre 27 for 3 at the hallway stage.

Wez Masterton and Matt Harkness picked up the pace and managed 30 runs but Wez was bowled by Ryan and again Stuart had a catch dropped. Jainish Parikh and Andy Emery were kept under raps with 6 dots balls as Andy was caught behind by the faintest of snicks and Jainish survived another spilt catch from Marcus Large for the second time.

RST Vipers might regret their buttery fingers. A paltry 16 scored in the last three overs and a final score of 96 reduced to 71 for 5.

RST Vipers’ usual openers of Dan Allan and Chris Sizer were well contained in their 3 overs and could only manage 15 runs with Chris being caught and bowled by Jainish Parikh and then bowled by Jainish 2 balls later. Not a good start.

Matt Mann and Stuart Douglas fared no better as wickets continued to tumble, although there were wides aplenty.

Dimple of AAS faces a ball as Lee May and Charlie Rowe of RST Cobras prepare to field.
Dimple of AAS faces a ball as Lee May and Charlie Rowe of RST Cobras prepare to field.

Stuart was bowled by Trevor Moolman and caught by Edwin van Rensburg. 29 for 4 at half way and nothing between the teams.

Things got worse for the Vipers when Marcus Large and Nick Hitchmough took the field. They were restricted by 9 dot balls and Marcus was bowled 3 times; once by Richard Holt and twice in the same over by Matt Harkness.

Defeat was staring RST Vipers in the face at 29 for 7 off 9 overs and 25 runs behind.

The cavalry arrived in the form of Ryan Driver and Tim Jones and poor backing up by PCC led to 4 overthrows. Matt Harkness’ 3 dot balls in the final over meant 3 runs were needed off the final ball for a 1 run victory. Tim obliged and had clattered 27 and Ryan 14 from no loss to pull off an unlikely win.

Best bowlers were Jainish Parikh and Ryan Driver both with 2 overs 10 for 2. Best batsman was Tim Jones with 27 and MotM was Tim Jones.

In the second match, AAS opened the batting and as usual it proved to be a big hitting wicket fest.

Dimple and Bharat opened and made a credible start marred by Dimple’s 3 dismissals. The first was an unlucky runout where Bharat drove the ball hard at the bowler where it came off Will Howell’s hand and leg and clattered the stumps. Dimple was not amused. He was even less amused when given out LBW 2 balls later to a ball he thought was going down leg – it wasn’t. Poor Dimple was really miffed when he drove a ball back at Charlie Rowe for a caught and bowled – the first of 3 catches and 3 wickets for Charlie.

The match continued in the same vein with Happy and Rajish scoring a respectable 25 including a 6 for Happy, but too many wickets were falling. Happy was out twice to John Holland (bowled and caught) and Rajish was run out by Will Howell off Guthrie Miller.

The half way score was a sorry 33 for 6 and it didn’t get any better when Jatin and Ashwin arrived. Jatin got a good 17 but Ashwin was having a terrible day. He was caught twice in 3 balls by Will Howell off Charlie and then caught by Charlie off Guthrie. The situation was pretty dire at 39 for 9 from 9 overs. AAS’s saving grace was Happy (batting again as the 8th man) and Ravi. They added 35 plus 11 extras for Ravi bowled to John Holland and finished the innings on 130 reduced to 80 for 10.

RST Cobras responded with Pete Reeh and Guthrie Miller making 28 for 1 as Pete was caught behind by Ryan Driver’s first of 4 one handed catches. Charlie Rowe and Simon Forrester, a debutant, scored 35 but Charlie had the wrong contact lenses in and played around the ball twice to Rajish. Simon’s refusal to stop running on ignoring “No” from Charlie ended with a run out for Charlie. Simon managed a 7 with the help of the wall and an overthrow.

Bharat of AAS takes a swing as Will Howell of RST Cobras waits.
Bharat of AAS takes a swing as Will Howell of RST Cobras waits.

So, 57 for 4 at half way and a comfortable lead of 24. Just like AAS, it all went horribly wrong. Lee May’s bat wasn’t wide enough and he edged 3 behind to superlative catches by Ryan as well as being bowled by Bharat.

Luckily there were some extras to add and so RST Cobras advanced to 65 for 8, still 26 ahead. For the last 3 overs Happy, Bharat and Dimple managed 10 dot balls with tight bowling leaving RST Cobras needing 6 off the last over to win. 4 runs off 5 balls and AAS desperately needed another dot ball, but Cobras managed a 5.

RST Cobras 124 reduced to 84 for 8 and a win by 4 runs off the last ball.

Best batsman was Simon Forrester with 24 for 0 and best bowler was John Holland with 2 overs 9 for 3. MotM was Ryan Driver.

If you wish to know more about PCC visit www.pattayacricketclub.com