The glorious Thai Polo Ground was the venue for Pattaya Cricket Club’s inaugural cricket Super 8’s tournament held over the weekend on May 31-June 1. The tournament was held in conjunction with Pattaya Sports Club and saw PCC compete against the BCL Premier League champions the Southerners, Siam CC and the British Club of Bangkok.
Saturday was the day for an 8 over a side league format where all the teams played each other to determine the rankings for the semi finals on the Sunday. The Southerners announced their arrival in convincing fashion with a comprehensive 26 run victory over the local PCC team. Siam CC completely outplayed the British Club to win by 38 runs and PCC improved significantly to inflict a second defeat of the day on the British Club with a 20 run win.
Pattaya Cricket Club’s Hamza (right) bowls against British Club during the first innings of the Plate final.
The Southerners proved too strong all day with resounding victories against Siam CC and the British Club to finish top of the league table whilst the British Club finished bottom after losing all three matches.
The Saturday results meant the semi final would be the Southerners v the British Club and PCC v Siam CC.
It was no surprise to witness the Southerners defeat the British Club with nearly four overs to spare, with Biju smashing a 14 ball 35 not out. Siam CC obviously had an early night as Brett (37 no) and Nahim (31 no) dispatched the weakened PCC bowling to all parts of the ground as they knocked off the challenging 106 target with 2 of the allotted 10 overs remaining.
Andrew Purser hit a rapid-fire half century to put the Southerners in control against Siam CC in the tournament final.
Final time and with the sun at its hottest the British Club elected to bat first against PCC in the Plate Final. Duncan (30) and Haroon (28 no) scored at a healthy run rate early on but Dale (29) gave the innings the boost it needed to ensure the British Club posted an imposing 116.
In reply John Speirs (26) gave PCC the solid foundation to build on and with club captain Simon Philbrook adding a 19 ball 35 runs PCC were close to pulling off an unlikely run chase. Dan Nicholson (15 no) continued the innings momentum with some excellent running between the wickets until PCC finally needed just one run from the final ball for victory. Dale bowled, Dan swung, Dan missed, Hamza Khan was run out, match tied, cup shared. It was a fantastic finish to a very entertaining game that the packed spectator enclosure thoroughly enjoyed.
The Cup Final saw the Southerners bat first against Siam CC. Biju edged his second ball to be caught behind for naught. Andrew Purser (35 no) then gave the Southerners the control they needed with Nathan (11), Gaurav (20) and Mehul (14) continuing the onslaught. But four catches in the deep in the space of 5 balls, three by Nahim, reduced the Southerners to 107/7 and meant Andrew could return to the crease. This was the game changing moment as he then proceeded to hit a further 26 runs from only 6 balls and The Southerners posted a massive 10 over total of 133.
Brett (24) and Nahim (39 no) made a valiant reply but wickets kept falling until finally Siam CC were restricted to 112 and the Southerners were crowned the Super 8’s Champions. Andrew must have been left wondering what he had to do get the Man of the Tournament award, which went instead to Nathan Kincaid for his consistent all round performances.
The event was a huge success and PCC would like to express their gratitude to the Thai Polo Club and the club’s many supporters and sponsors, most importantly the Pattaya Sports Club.
Note: Anyone interested in being involved with PCC, either as player, official or supporter, is encouraged to visit the club website www.pattayacricketclub.com or contact us via the club Facebook page.
Pattaya captain Simon Philbrook hits out during PCC’s thrilling run chase.
