PATTAYA, Thailand – Pattaya travelled to the Terdthai Cricket Ground on Sunday 15 March to play the Thai Cricket Club, a semi-professional team, who are currently top of the BCL Premiership division. After last week’s disaster, it was hoped that PCC could pick up a few pointers and they did, but life in the premiership is hard and you have to be good to win. PCC showed plenty of energy in the field, but their bowling was poor and their batsmen could not cope with the unerring accuracy of the TCC bowlers. The result being that PCC had to chase 232 to win and were all out for 104. To add insult to injury, literally, Andre Human dislocated and split open his thumb and will be unavailable for the last match of the season.
Andy Emery lost the toss, again, was asked to bowl. PCC took the field without Harry who late, and opened the bowling with Andre Human and Glenn Roberts against Chaloemwong and Sorawat. The bowling was tight but TCC were running quickly between the wickets. Andre struck early when he bowled Sorawat for 3 in the 3rd over, 11 for 1. Not to be out-done, Glenn bowled Chaloemwong for 8 in the next over and PCC were on a roll at 19 for 2 after 4 overs.
Then everything went pair-shaped as Andre had to go to hospital and the two new batsmen, Yodsak and Akshay, took charge. Despite PCCs energetic fielding they could not stop the quick singles and the batsmen offered very few opportunities for dismissals. It didn’t help when Andy reclaimed his Captain Butterfingers title when he dropped a fiercely driven shot with Akshay. Akshay went on to score 73. Glenn bowled well but lacked any support from the middle order bowlers as Andy, Harry and Sadish all leached 13 or more per over and several wides.
TCC passed the 10th over for 68 for 2 and accelerated through to the drinks break by adding 65 in 5 overs. After drinks, Aditya and Terry managed to slow down the run rate and Terry took two wickets. The first was Yodsak for 73, caught by Glenn at Mid-on when he miss-timed a shot, 177 for 3 in the 20th over. In the 22nd over Terry had Akshay superbly caught by Luke above his head whilst running round the Long-on boundary for 78, 190 for 4. Piriyaphong and Narawit added another 40 in the final overs, including 20 off the last over by Harry as TCC finished on 231 for 4.
PCC has had some big scores to chase but this was several runs too far and it did not start well. Luke and Harry opened the batting against Wiraphan and Chaloemwong. Both bowlers were extremely accurate and hard to get away. Harry did some swinging and missing and after scoring 1, skied a ball from Wiraphan to Sarawut at Short extra cover, 2 for 1 off 3. Glenn and Luke made slow progress at about 2 runs per over. Narawit took over from Wirapahan in the 6th over and Chaloemwong got Luke to hoist a ball to Yodsak on the Mid-wicket boundary for 11, 16 for 2. Disaster.
Sadish went for 1, caught by Sorawat in the Gulley off Nirawat, 19 for 3, off 8 overs. The required run rate was already at silly numbers (12.5) as Jainish has a rush of something to the brain and went out swinging and got bowled for a 2nd consecutive Duck. 25 for 4 and the wagon was missing some wheels. Deepak Pandey offered some stiff resistance and was lucky when dropped by Sorawat, but he had already lost Glenn bowled by a ball that kept low for 11, 38 for 5. Adam didn’t last long for his Duck as the slow pace of the wicket caught him out, but at least Deepak was scoring, but he was next to go for 22, PCCs top scorer, caught by Sarawut, bowled by Nirawit. 57 for 7 in the 13th.
Andy, Aditya Gosavi and Terry then provided some much-needed resistance as PCC passed drinks and made their way to the 20th over with only the loss of Andy, bowled for 15 by Phanuphong in the 18th over at 80/8. PCC passed the 100 mark in the 22nd over as Aditya was the last to go for 19, caught by Yodsak on the boundary at 104 for 9. As Andy was hurt, that was The End and PCC lost by 127 runs. TCCs bowlers, with the exception of Sarawut, had been extremely economical. They are not unbeatable, but they are at the top of the division for a reason.
PCC would like to thank their sponsors, the Outback Bar, the Magic Bar and the PSG for their assistance and support.
