Jain five not enough to keep the Doctors alive
- Shamsul Kazi
- Aug 6, 2018
- 3 min read
Macgregor Vibrants 168 def PDCC 135
M Boyd 42, J Sharma 34, N Jain 5/10, A Panju 3/50
All right ladies and gentlemen, let’s do this one last time. I wish it could be on better terms, but which great farewell has been right?
It was do or die and 3rd vs 5th, the winner would go on to the semis, the loser done for the season. It didn’t bode well when Chaudhary and Boys had to pull out just before the game. In came Gupta and Barker, solidifying the bowling, but leaving the top order without the buffer of reliability and hard hitting.
It didn’t bode well when we lost the toss and got sent in to the field, having not won a game this season chasing a total.
It didn’t bode well when an early catch slipped past the fingertips of a diving Panju at point.
But Nilay Jain isn’t a man that cares about the omens. He just swings it a mile and gives batsmen a headache. Panju had a bit more time the next time it came to him as he clamped on to the first wicket of the day. Mitch Boyd would show his hunger as he grabbed it out of Sharma’s hand at first slip for the second and the very next ball he’d have one of his own as the ball collected an edge of the way through.
In his opening spell Jain would take 5-8 from 8 overs. I’ll just let that sink in.
At drinks it was 5-40 and things were starting to bode well. But like many a game the middle overs were waiting and even if we were aware of the danger, we were helpless to stop the inevitable. The Macgregor middle order dug in and only lost one wicket in the middle overs adding a further 60 to the total.
After drinks wickets tumbled, Panju picking up three along the way and it seemed like the tide had turned once again. But a last wicket hack show proved to be a thorn in the Doctors efforts, with Macgregor going from 9-120 to all out for 168 as an angry Shahid came in to rattle the wickets.
The batting innings started off shaky with Douglas and Sharma struggling to score against line and length bowling in the opening few overs. Douglas was the first to crack after 6 overs with the score on 7 and Panju soon followed somewhat controversially as he got given out caught behind.
Things became dire when Shahid played an errant shot across the line and Prakash followed the next ball leaving the doctors 4/20 before the first drinks break.
Former housemates Sharma and Gupta would unite for the first time in the middle and provide some stability taking the total to 56 before Gupta inadvertently tried to turn the ball around the corner and instead sent a leading edge to mid-wicket.
The score would slowly creep to 77 before the quick wickets of Kazi and Barker would again turn the tide away. But in true Doctors fashion, there’s no point in time to give up. Boyd was joined by Pham at the wicket for the second last wicket and the two of them would show the rest of the line-up how it was done as they ticked over the score board and but on a 53 run partnership, bringing the game right back in to a battle.
However, with only one wicket left in the shed, the required 35 from three overs proved to be too much, the Doctors falling 33 short of the required total, killing the season.
That’s all from me folks, I’d say until next time, but this is probably it. We’ll be going through a bit of a restructure over this off season and to be honest, there is a possibility we may not be back. I’ve had the pleasure of writing these reports for the last three years and I’ve been continuously surprised when people tell me they actually read it. I appreciate the comments and the support over the years and I've had a lot of fun writing, it’s been an outlet away from medicine that I’ve truly enjoyed and it’s all because you’ve allowed me to, so thank you.
