PATONG WINS NAILBITER!

Sunday, 21^st February 2010 – PCC V’s LCC. – This weeks Island Furniture League match saw two sides who are very evenly skilled battle out the day in possibly the best cricket match ever played, certainly the best in Phuket anyway.

Patong started the day off well when captain, Raju Seemant, won the toss and elected to field first however the Laguna openers were intent on sticking around and played strongly to be at the drinks break with the loss of only one wicket.

Laguna’s next session was a strong one with runs flowing freely and some wayward bowling causing Patong’s wickie, Martin Foster, all sorts of problems behind the stumps.  Controversy soon arose when a clear caught behind was taken and match umpire Vikki’s vision claimed to have been obstructed by the bowler.  A quite loud appeal was made and after consulting 2^nd umpire, Bernie, batsman Ravi showed good sportsmanship by walking.

Rollie Cooper managed a solid score of 38 runs without losing his wicket and captain Stuart Reading also posted 28 to round off their innings at 223 runs off the full 35 overs.  Again, Patong’s wayward bowling contributed 62 extras to the Laguna total, something that the boys will have to improve upon if they are really serious about contesting the finals.

Set 224 runs (at a run rate of 6.4 per over) to win, the Patong opening batsmen set about the task well, Martin Foster and Richard Desmond ticked over the scoreboard at around 7 runs per over to meet the task before both fell to some good bowling by Bruce Whitehead and Fazil Hamid.

Ian Lenton and Anthony Van Blerk were next in and steadied the ship with some nice stroke play and good running between the wickets.  At drinks Patong had reached 69 runs with 2 wickets down.

After the break, Ian was clean bowled by Bruce Whitehead with a nice Yorker, which brought the experienced Scarfy to the crease.  Runs continued to be scored well but slowly the run rate was increasing as the Patong batting was slowing down.

New recruit Matryn showed some good bowling for Patong but was also bowled neatly by Sameer Khan for a duck.  Skipper Raju then came to the crease and brought with him is renowned big swinging batting style.  After a short settling period, Raju started scoring some boundaries but also at the other end of the crease the Patong wickets continued to fall.  Dave Thomas was given out LBW, even though he was half way down the pitch, and Patong was looking in trouble at 7 wickets for 144 runs, still 70 short of the total required.

Roger Talbot was next in and also tried to settle into bat.  Some nice singles were scored however the required run rate had risen to over 9 and a loud prompt from the team mates saw Roger hitting the ball over the fence for six on the very next ball.  He managed a good score of 21 before being caught by Veroj off another Sameer delivery.

The Patong team were now very much into the tail ender batsmen when pace bowler Anil came in.  Most teams would have felt a little uneasy at the task ahead but Patong stuck to its guns and managed to get to the final two overs with only 18 runs required.

Both Anil and Raju took every opportunity that Laguna game them and were also helped by some more wayward bowling by Bruce Whitehead.  The tension was building and the crowd at the ground started to become vocal, cheering on the Patong boys for a huge victory.

Skipper, Raju managed to make the final runs with only 1 ball to spare giving Patong a remarkable victory and outright lead in the Island Furniture Cricket League.

The Village V’s The Liquid Lounge Lizzards

This weeks match saw a spirited game battled out with tremendous enthusiasm shown by the Village team’s captain Kevin Quilty with his half time speech firing up the troops for the bowling onslaught to come.

Unfortunately for the Village boys, who chased down every ball possible, Dave Kellaway, who came in 3^rd, belted an unbeaten 94 runs off 64 balls to secure the victory for the Lizzards.

Sean Raine displayed some fine bowling and was rewarded with 5 wickets for the Lizzards while Indian import Adrian gave a solid all-rounders performance with an unbeaten 41 runs off 33 balls and managing to take the only wicket for the Village.

Man of the Match points went to:  Dave Kellaway 3pts,  Sean Raine 2pts and Arian 1 point.

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Phuket Cricket Development Club V’s Kingfisher Island Cricket Club

Last Sunday saw the 2009 season champions, KICC take on the youthful enthusiasm of the PCDC in a very entertaining match.

The PCDC captain continued his good form with the coin and won the toss and in a change of tactics decided to bat first.  Maybe he saw some runs early in the wicket available in the early overs of the day, who knows, but the decision paid off with the Youth team showing that they really do know how to swing the bat.

Captain Mack, off some quite good bowling, managed to smash some boundaries including a magnificent six driven down the ground.  In a man of the match performance, however K. On showed Bradmanesque skills by poring on a magnificent 74 runs.  His innings was a pleasure to watch with shot after shot being guided into gaps especially between gully and the slips. Congratulations to K. On for a great display of batting and everyone hopes he can continue with that kind of form.

At the end of the innings the PCDC were bowled out after 33 overs for a very credible 152 runs, a high score for the kids.

When KICC openers came out to bat the ground was buzzing with excitement at the thought of a massive upset, however it wasn’t to be and the runs were amassed in only 13 overs with the loss of only 1 wicket.

Fasial Mir was top scorer for the KICC with 68 runs.