By: Clive Rogerson
PCC Press Secretary
The PCC’s second match of the league was at home, Pattana Sports Resort (PSR), against Marina CC from Bangkok, on 14 Feb 2021.
This match began very evenly but swung towards Marina during their middle overs due to a superior run rate. PCC made a spirited come-back aided by some great batting from Matt Harkness and some dropped catches from Marina, but in the end, PCC was 15 runs short of the target.
Marina won the toss and chose to bat. Murali Krishnan and Arjun Vijay opened against Matt Harkness and Andy Emery. Both were scoring boundaries fairly easily and pushed the score along at nearly 8 per over until a bowling change saw Andy replaced by Simon Wetherell. Simon’s first over had Arjun caught at deep mid-wicket by Matt Harkness for 7 in the 4th over. Kandeeban pushed the score along but lost Murali (30) caught by Simon Philbrook at deep long-on off Sid Varma’s bowling and Rajashekar went very quickly for 1 – LBW to Ian Liddel (Reds). 67 for 3 after 10 overs. Ian Liddel was PCC’s tidiest bowler with 11 runs from 5 overs, but Sid Varma was the most expensive at 43 for 2. However, Sid managed to get Kandeeban (42) caught by Matt Harkness at deep mid-wicket. Captain Krishnan managed 27 from 27 balls before being run out off Reds’ bowling. 126 for 5 off 17 overs and doing well. PCC continued to ring the bowling changes and Marina continued to score quickly. Bernard Lamprecht had good and bad overs but finally bowled Rajesh for 19 for their 6th wicket at 150, but his 4 overs had cost 31 runs. Sadish scored a quick 12 before being bowled by Matt Harkness, his first wicket and also expensive at 40 for 1. Andy Emery took the last wicket, that of Hansie (25), a runout, by some good fielding from Sid and wicketkeeper Luke Stokes. Andy went for 40 for 0 from 4 overs. At least PCC had moderated their usual extras total with just 24! Marina CC finished their innings on 192 for 8 and a very defendable score.
PCC would have to play well to get 193 to win. They started well with Wez Masterton and Matt Harkness at the crease facing Sadish and Arjun. Matt was hitting singles whilst Wez blazed away with boundaries and scored 19 from 5 strikes until he was LBW to Arjun. Wez walked but he couldn’t believe the decision. Luke Stokes had an off day and went for a duck, caught when he skied a ball to mid-wicket off from Sadish. Sid Varma didn’t last long either, bowled for another duck by Ajun. Arjun and Sadish were quick and accurate, despite Sadish’s 7 wides, they managed to take 3 wickets for 50 from 10 overs. Simon Philbrook arrived and kept the score ticking along with Matt until Simon was caught for 13 by Krishnan off Hansie. By this stage, PCC was 80 for 4 in the 14th over and the run rate required was nearly 10 per over. Trevor Moolman didn’t help. After 5 balls, a huge swing and a miss saw him stumped off Krishnan for his first of 3 wickets. Andy Emery took the crease and proved good support and strike rotation, whilst Matt took Hansie and Murali to task with plenty of 6’s – 5 in all. Andy was Krishnan’s second victim, caught for a spirited 21 and PCC were 137 for 7 with only 4 overs remaining. Bernard got 6 off 3 balls before being bowled by Krishnan, but by then the game was up. Matt finally fell for 75 in the last over, bowled by Kandeeban and PCC finished on 177 for 8. The Mariners won by 15 runs.
The man of the match was awarded to Matt Harness for his stoic 75, two catches, and one wicket. Captain Krishnan deserved an honorable mention for his 27 runs, a catch, and 3 wickets.
The next match is against Bangkok Cricket Club at PSR on 21 February at 1 pm. Come along and watch – there is food and drink on the grounds.
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