The match was played on a hot and very sticky day at Horse Shoe Point on Sunday 5 Feb 2023.
A very controlled and clinical approach by PCC gave them the second victory of their delayed season. PCC lost their Captain early but Ryan Driver and Luke Stokes dominated the scoreboard and the rest of the team limped to a sub-par 195 for 8 on a very damp outfield. The highlight of the day was a magnificent 100 from Ryan. TNCC was never allowed to get going due to very tight bowling and good fielding from PCC, which resulted in a 71-run victory.
Shrek and Wez did the toss with the umpires, Dave Samways and Clive Rogerson. Wez won and decided to bat first as the ball was going to deteriorate on the wet outfield which it duly did. A change to the normal openers saw Wez and Ryan take the field to face Nagoor Meeran and Rameez Raja. As usual, Wez took an aggressive attitude, but when he doesn’t give himself time to get his eye-in, things can go pear-shaped. They did.
After some swings and misses a ball from Raja is kept low and Wez has trapped LBW for 2. He was replaced by Luke who adopted a more conventional approach and he had a partnership of 133 runs with Ryan. Luke had a little luck along the way when he was dropped at Long-off with the score on 46 and Nogoor lost the chance to get on the scoreboard. The run rate progressed at 7 or 8 per over with 100 being reached in the 12th and drinks were taken in the 15th with a score of 131 – which would suggest a score of 210-220.
Tariq was the first to strike for TNCC in the 18th over with a score of 137 and Luke 2 short of his 50. A big hit to the mid-wicket boundary saw Mohirdeen take a routine catch and Luke was replaced by Trevor Moolman. Ryan continued to assault the TNCC bowlers, taking 24 from Jarnal Arsath in one over, only to fall for 100 to another catch from Mohirdeen off the bowling of Maharoof. 162 for 3 from 19 overs. At this point, there was a mini-collapse at the hands of Tariq and Maharoof.
Normally, Trevor and Jainish Parikh would continue to bash the bowlers, but Tariq and Maharoof always had fielders in the right places and it was not long before Trevor fell to a catch by Annon Ansari off Maharoof for 8. 177 for 4 from 22 overs. More PCC batsmen gave up their wickets cheaply as Tariq and Maharoof carved their way through the PCC lower order. Jainish went for 5, Steve Christie (Crunch) was stumped for 3 off Tariq’s bowling, Andy Emery went for 8 having been bowled by Tariq who did the same to Simon Philbrook in the same over and that was it. PCC had lost the last 7 wickets for 58 runs to conclude their innings on a sub-par 195 for 8. Tariq finished with 4 for 21 from 5 overs, while Maharoof finished with 3 for 19 from 3 overs.
TNCC began their run chase with Nagoor Meeran and Syed Hussain against Ryan Driver and Chris Lindop. Captain Wez was the wicketkeeper as Harrison was unavailable. Ryan was bowling extremely well with a little extra bounce that gave the batsmen pause for thought and only 1 off the first over. Chris was still finding it hard to get a consistent line and was withdrawn after two overs. Ryan took the first scalp when Syed got a thick, lofted outside edge to Trevor Moolman at Deep 3rd man and TNCC was 1 for 7.
Maharoof took the crease but found runs hard to come by as Steve Christie (Crunch) entered the attack and Ryan bowled all his five overs to keep pressure on TNCC. Steve struck quickly in his first over when a top edge floated its way to El Chapo at Square Leg and 17 for 2. Ryan and Steve kept things tight and in Ryan’s last over, his 5th, he had Maharoof caught and bowled. The next ball had Jarnal Arsath out for a Golden Duck as he nicked a ball behind to Wez and Ryan finished on 5 overs 3 for 7.
TNCC was in trouble and Annon Ansari and Captain Shrek tried to provide a little resistance. By this time Andy Emery had entered the attack and his first ball removed Annon’s off stump and he departed for 6 runs with TNCC 31 for 5 after 10 overs. Mohideen actually made progress against PCC bowlers when he hit Andy for 16 in 3 balls and Jainish Parikh came in for some punishment. TNCC almost lasted until drinks without losing another wicket but Andy got a ball through the open gate left by Mohideen who went for a creditable 32. 76 for 6 and about 40 runs behind in the race. Shrek and Ramiz Raja pushed the score along at about 6 per over but they needed 12 and it was not long before another victim fell.
This time it was Captain Shrek who hit a screamer of a ball off El Chapo to Jainish on the deep Square leg boundary and he went for 14. 91 for 7. Mark Johnson entered the fray with immediate success as a ball was skied to Ryan driver at Short forward point and Ramiz left the field with 18 runs to his name, but Mark was not finished. The last ball of the over trapped Muralrdharan LBW for 4 as he tried to sweep a ball. 111 for 9 by the end of the over. Jameem Ali scored a quick 12 before being bowled by Andy Emery and TNCC was all out for 124 after 23.3 overs. Andy finished with figures of 5 overs and 30 for 3. This was quite a performance by PCC – I cannot remember when they have taken 10 wickets in 25 overs and they did not drop one catch.
The Man of the Match award was presented to Ryan Driver for a superb all-round display of 100 runs, 3 wickets for 7 runs, and 2 catches.
PCC would like to thank their sponsors at The Outback Bar, Pattaya Sports Club, and Ayen Bar for their support.
