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Played at Victoria Park, pitch 3
Report by Hassan Khan
To quote Charles Dickens, "It was the best of times, it was the
worst of times." August 14, Pakistan Independence Day, is always
special and a strong Pakistani contingent were determined to beat a
side vying for top spot in VPCCL's Division 2.
With a player
dropping out at short notice, public transport chaos and myself
delayed by 45 minutes, last minute replacement Steve Hamilton,
nursing a shoulder injury, won the toss and elected to bat.
Waseem Furqan and the ever-dependable Matt Wake got us off to a
flyer. When I arrived we were 68-1 from 6 overs. Hereafter, Matt and
Ilyas got tied down until Matt deliberately ran himself out.
However, the much needed innings acceleration was elusive, as we
limped to 124-2 from 16 overs.
A supremely confident Expats
side, backed up by effervescent supporters, coasted. The major
problem for us was attempting to restrict boundaries by spreading
the field and thus allowing an easy two runs almost every ball. We
tried varying the pace but Steve's shoulder restricted his usual
accuracy. Expats were motoring at 10 runs an over and required
around 50 from the last eight overs.
Our only chance was to
take wickets. Leg spin from Faisal did the trick. More importantly,
the fielders were brought in to stop the singles and Expats took the
bait. Wickets fell regularly and, in dusky twilight, out strode
their last man.
He had to face a hostile spell from Waseem
and held the bat like it was a sledgehammer. A full length ball and
a chorus of "howzat!" for leg before. Not out. Two balls later the
batsmen scampered a two. Expats had won with one wicket to spare.
Congratulations to the Expats and well played Fallopians. A
thrilling game of cricket.
Old Fallopians 2nd VIII 124-4 (16 overs)
Waseem Furqan c &
b James 48
Matt Wake† run
out (Burton*†) 33
Ilyas Mansha st
Burton*† b Hickson 17
Faisel Mahboob st Burton*† b Hickson
0
Umair Shahzad not out
0
Syed Hussain dnb
Steve Hamilton
dnb
Hassan Khan* dnb
Extras w 10, nb 4, b 1, lb
1: 16
Total
124
SMSK Kaulder 2-0-17-0
AH Hickson 4-0-38-2
NB Buckley 2-0-17-0
E James
2-0-19-1
HF Forth 3-0-22-0
CJJ
Jarver 2-0-17-0
Expats 125-6 (14.2 overs)
AH
Hickson c Hussain b Khan* 34
E James b
Mahboob 24
JDB Burton*† b Furqan 23
SMSK Kaulder c
Mansha b Khan*
4
HF Forth b Furqan 13
CJJ Jarver b Furqan 2
NB Buckley
not out 6
CDOS
O'Sullivan not out 3
Extras w 14, b 4: 18
Total 125
Shahzad 3.2-0-25-0
S Hussain 1-0-12-0
Hamilton 1-0-10-0
Khan*
4-0-39-2
Mahboob 2-0-11-1
Furqan
3-0-13-3
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