PATTAYA, Thailand – PCC traveled to AIT University to play Trailblazers CC in their fourth premiership match on Sunday 22 Feb on a roastingly hot afternoon. Several players were unavailable but Sadish Sivaji and Adam Hitchcott made their debut appearances aided by the return of Mike Gerits, Aditya Gosavi and Sree Kuttan. PCC needed to redress their 1W-2L record and they did so in style with a solid effort from Luke Stokes with 92 and Aditya with 3 for 25 from 5 overs.
TCC made a robust start off the pace bowlers whilst the PCC spinners constrained the run rate a little. TCC were in a reasonable position by the 16th over when there was a middle order collapse where 5 wickets were lost for 25 runs in 4 overs. A tail-end recovery and some loose bowling lifted TCC to 181 for 9.
Andy Emery lost the toss, again, and was asked to field on a wicket that had some turn and a fast outfield. Andre Human opened the bowling against Praveen Dagle and Imom Dilshan whilst Andy took the other end. The openers were scoring at 7 per over and had reached 37 for 0 off 5 until Harry Archer and Sadish entered the attack. Sadish struck first on 43 when Praveen skied a ball to Mike Gerits at Mid-on for 19. Imon went soon after when he chanced Aditya’s arm and was run out at the bowlers end by Harry for 25. 55 for 2 after 9.
Capt. Raul Jangir and Nishant Grover made steady progress with Nishant being dropped by Luke who couldn’t hold a diving catch to his right. This rare drop allowed the batting pair to reach 87 at the 15th over. Then the TCC wheels fell off in the 17th. Nishant went first, run out by an excellent throw from Andre who had been fielding well at Square leg/Point. Gone for 32 at 102 for 3. Gaurav Singh went in and hit a 6 off the first ball and was bowled the next by Aditya, 108 for 4. A short lull until the 19th over saw more wickets fall as Raul was bowled by Aditya for 20.
Kanchan Shashtri went next ball, LBW for a Golden Duck to Aditya who was on a hat-trick. 123 for 6. Aditya Metta was the next to depart for 16, bowled by Sadish and the next over saw Archis Parab bowled by Andy Emery for 2. TCC then stood at a wobbly 131 for 8 off 20 overs and a very early finish looked likely. However, Aman Singh had other ideas and smashed 37 not out off the last few overs from Andy, Sadish and Sree. Kishore was the last wicket to fall for 9 on 174/9, run out by Sadish, the 3rd run out of the day. TCC completed their innings on 181 for 9, a defendable but chaseable score.
PCC would have to apply themselves to the chase, but in this instance, they were aided by poor fielding by TCC who dropped Mike Gerits three times on the way to his 49 not out and Luke once in his 92. On the other-hand a diabolical decision by the main umpire had Harry out “handled ball”. Nonetheless they batted sensibly and won with 3 overs and 3 balls to spare.
Luke and Harry opened the batting against Raul and Kanchan. Kanchan bowled the better of the two as PCC passed 30 for 0 off 5 overs. Harry was the first to go in the 8th over having scored 29. The ball hit his hand as he dropped his bat and was deemed to have handled the ball. An outrageous decision, 41/1. Mike went out and Luke started to swing the willow with 18 off Kanchan in the 10th.
PCC passed the 10 overs with 66 for 1 and the 15th over at 99 for 1, some 12 runs ahead. The big difference was that PCC didn’t collapse as Luke and Mike scored at 12 per over from the 15th to 20th. Luke was finally bowled by Imom in the 20th for 92 having hit 72 in boundaries (8 6s and 6 4’s). Adam Hitchcott proceeded to give good support to Mike who retired 49 not out at PCC scored 182 for 2 in 22.3 overs and a win by 8 wickets. PCC had found their winning mojo with a good all-round performance.
The MotM was Luke for his 92 who was present with his medal by umpire Tamim Chowdhry and was given a bunch of red roses by Kishore from TCC!!!! I’m lost for words.
PCC would like to thank their sponsors, The Outback Bar, the Magic bar and the PSG for their support and encouragement.
