Finals hopes still intact and PDCC somehow manage to pull out a miracle
- Shamsul Kazi
- Jul 15, 2018
- 4 min read
PDCC 9/233cc (50.0) def Valley Blue 230 (45.4)
M Boys 34, D Muraliharan 21, J Corrigan 25, A Panju 60 & 2/39, S Kazi 2/31 (9.4), N Gunawardena 5/15(9.0)
Alright ladies and gentlemen, I know I say this a lot, but you really do have to strap yourselves in for this one. Now I know what some of you may be thinking, Sham, you wrote one of these just last week, surely, I’m not obligated to read another one for another week? And my dear reader under normal circumstances you would be right, but the cricket enthusiasts over at Valley Blue talked to our cricket enthusiasts and we decided that we’d make up for our washed out round three clash.
Backing up from a brutal week was always going to be tough, but it only got tougher as we had a full roster change to go along with it. Out went Jain, Tahir, Barker, Shahid and Captain Corrigan. In came Boys, V Sharma, Gupta, Muraliharan, Gunasekara and Gunawardena.
New week meant new venue and at such short notice, we were back at everyone’s favourite southside park, Kianawah. With Captain Corrigan out of the way, the responsibilities fell on the shoulders of yours truly and under the pressure of my first test, succeeded in winning the toss and electing to bat.
The opening pair once again switched, with Boys pairing up with second year Muraliharan. The two went on to make a formidable combination as they saw out the new ball and accumulated runs before Muraliharan fell for 21 just before drinks, getting caught playing across the line in front of the stumps. Leaving the Doctors at 1/51 at the first drinks break.
Jo Corrigan went in at his new position and took off where Muraliharan has left it, and with Boys would make another 40 runs before Boys would succumb to the spin of the opposition captain, hauling out at cow corner for 34.
The old opening combo of Corrigan and Panju would reunite in the middle and continue to tick over the scoreboard falling just short of the 50 partnership as Corrigan hit one back straight to the bowler before the second drinks break.
At this stage, with only three wickets down and 16 overs to go and a strong batting order to come, the Doctors were in a prime position to launch. The man for the moment was Chaudhary with his reputation for big hitting, and the pair quickly made 40 runs, but unfortunately couldn’t go further as a lofted sweep ended the cameo early.
The middle order then chipped in alongside Panju who at this point had gone past his 50, but his attempt to accelerate the innings just after the 40th saw him stumped. The lower order then wagged adding another 30, forcing a compulsory closure of the innings at 233.
The bowling effort didn’t start as well as the batting. Boys and Kazi opened but were unsuccessful in obtaining a wicket, Kazi so off-line he reverted to spin, which worked to good effect, without that wicket. The introduction of the ring-in, Gunawardena, just before drinks did the trick though as he trapped the opener in front, claiming the first scalp after 62 runs. He took another two overs later and a third the over after and a comeback was on the cards.
However, a combination of wayward bowling, dropped catches and sensible batting saw Valley power away in the middle overs reaching 175 for the loss of no extra wicket at the second drinks break.
Now I like to think it was the angry pep talk that I gave in the huddle before we went back out there, but that’s probably not true, but I’m writing this, so it can be anything I want it to be.
But Gunasekara came on and broke the pair up just short of their 100 milestone, as they sat at 185, still comfortably in control.
Then the spin king, Panju popped his head up and took two quick wickets bringing them to 6/190. The chase was on.
But the revival was to be short lived as the seventh wicket pair looked to push on and squash any dreams. Something drastic needed to be done.
Step one in the plan was to bring back the big weapons. Gunawardena was back as was Boys. But this wasn’t enough. Panju and myself ran off the field between overs and switched the keeping role. There was something about that moment that became the spark.
It’s always controversial when the skipper the brings himself on and this wasn’t any different. But it paid off as the 7th wicket fell at 225. Gunawardena’s next over would prove the key with his troublesome bowling taking the stumps of one batsman and then catching the edge of the next man in to claim his five-wicket haul. And try as he may to get his sixth, it wasn’t to be.
At this point, the equation couldn’t get simpler. One wicket, four runs, five overs, actually that last part probably isn’t relevant. But what is, is that cricket truly is a game of millimetres. In setting the field I made an active choice to move square leg to a very fine leg to stop any byes from the arm ball speared at the stumps. “Trust me!” I said, as the team protested, “I’m not going to bowl it there” as I then went on to bowl there, and if the batsman has gotten a little more on it, it would have been game, but in the end, it resulted in no run and a single two bowls after and the final wicket with the fourth bowl. Leaving Valley three short and the Doctors season still alive.
Join us next week for the third game of super July as we come up against Old Dogs and look to cement our spot in the top four.