PRESS RELEASE:
Welcome back to the PCC match reports. The last report was one of a win against AIT back on 24th March, which took PCC to 3rd place in the Bangkok League. The Songkran festivities forced a temporary cessation of cricket matches and the final match of the League stage against the Young Thai Sikhs Association was forfeit to PCC. The “win” took PCC to 12 points in the table and by virtue of a higher Net Run Rate, into second place above the Asian Stars and behind the Bangkok Blues CC.
With the table being completed and having reached 2nd place, PCC were scheduled to play the Bangkok Blues CC in the Qualifier. Success would lead to the Final and a loss would lead to a semi-final against PCC’s nemesis, Asian Stars. A win in that match would take PCC back to the final and leave the Asian Stars in 3rd place where they belong.
This report pertains to the Qualifier that took place at the AIT University in Bangkok on the 5th of May in the searing afternoon heat and a fairly fast outfield. The umpires, Harminder Singh and Tauseef Khalid, witnessed the toss by Andy Emery (PCC) and Shantanu Tambe, which Andy won and decided to bat first.
The usual suspects were sent in to open the batting, Ryan Driver and Luke Stokes against the pace of Vivek Yadav and Monish Devadiga. The bowlers had the upper hand in the first 4 overs with only 17 runs. Luke was dropped by the keeper and a fielder at short mid-off in the 4th over, before a fiercely driven shot came off the bowler’s foot, Monish, and was caught by Predeep Maurya for just 3. It was unclear if the ball had hit the ground at any point.
Needless to say, Luke was not amused. 11 for 1 in the fourth over was not how PCC wanted to start. Roshan Perera joined Ryan and the run rate picked up with occasional boundary 4s from both batsmen. Monish struck again in the 10th over with the score on 59 when Masud Anwar caught Ryan on the long off boundary for 28. Andre Human joined Roshan and immediately had an impact with several boundaries against Ajay Tak and Kamlesh Singh and indeed became the mainstay of the middle order.
Roshan went for 18 in Ajay’s first over, the 11th, caught by the 12th Man, Vimlesh Yadav at mid-wicket. 66 for 3. Jainish took the crease and provided good support with a quick 21 in 21 balls faced, whilst Andre took the lead. Ajay and Kamlesh took a bashing as the score moved steadily onto 97 without loss and drinks at the 15th over. Shantanu bowled one expensive over before removing himself from the attack.
Masud struck in his 2nd over when he bowled Jainish for 21 in the 18th over. This brought Habby Singh to the crease and a change of pace as he took Kamlesh to the cleaners with 3 sixes in a row, one of which could have been a 9. It didn’t last long as Kamlesh got his revenge, when Monish caught Habby for 36 after just 14 balls. 171 for 5 in the 22nd over and a much better score beckoned, but three more wickets fell in the last three overs. Andre for a hard earned 48, Terry Paiva for 4, run out, and Ben Walter for 7, thus PCC concluded their innings on 191 for 8.
BBCC had bowled reasonably well and their ground work in the field had been good, but they would have to bat well to win.
BBCC’s innings began with Vidit Mishra and Abdul Rehman at the crease whilst Ryan and Andre opened the bowling. Again, both openers were fairly economical and took an early wicket. In this case Vidit was making most of the runs, but his partner, Abdul, fell to Andre, bowled with an inswinger for 6 and the score on 23 in the 4th over.
Vinay Rao replaced Abdul and Andre was replaced by Ben, a right arm off-spinner, who had Vinay stumped by Jainish for 9 in his first over with the score on 34. Kamlesh took the crease. You know what they say, “Where there’s one wicket there’s 2 or 3”. Ryan’s next over forced the retirement of Vidit when a ball hit his ankle and he was replaced by Capt Shantanu.
In the same over Shantanu was bowled by Ryan for a duck and PCC were on a roll at 34 for 3 in the 7th over. Manish Sexena only lasted 3 balls before he lost his wicket to Ryan, bowled for 1 in the 9th over with the core on 36. Ryan finished with an excellent 5 overs 2 for 24. This is where the game changed as Kamlesh had got himself established and Pradeep took the crease.
Both batsmen quickly asserted dominance over Steve Christie and took occasional double figures from Ben, Habby, Terry and, in particular, Andre’s last 3 overs for 47. When the batsmen arrived the run rate was less than 5 and over with BBCC being 11 runs behind PCC at the same stage. By the 15th over and drinks, BBCC were 104 for 4 and 7 runs ahead and needed 8.8 runs/over. They scored at 11 runs/over and finished with 2 overs to spare.
Pradeep batted extremely well, with 7 fours and 9 sixes from his 105 not out and was ably supported by Kamlesh who was 45 not out. They gave nothing away and although PCC fielded well and kept their extras to a very reasonable 15, they could not contain Pradeep.
There were some sorry bowling figures with Steve Christie’s 4 overs 0 for 42 and Andre Human’s 5 overs 0 for 60. Ben Walter did well with 3 overs 1 for 16. BBCC scored 193 in 23 overs and won by 6 wickets. PCC will indeed play Asian Stars on Sat 11th May.
PCC would like to thank their sponsors, the Outback Bar, the Magic Bar, and the Pattaya Sports Club for their support and assistance.
