TCT captain Simon Wetherell won the toss and elected for TCT to bat first after chasing meager totals in the past few weeks.
Alex Runhaar and Andrew McMillan got TCT off to a steady start with McMillan the first wicket to fall 61/1 in the 8th over. Laguna captured another wicket and restricted TCT to 66/2 at drinks.
After the break Alex Runhaar opened up and lifted the run rate to 7.14 before losing his 3rd batting partner.
TCT's Hico McDonald then took over the role of aggressor with 6 overs remaining in the innings. McDonald bludgeoned 31 runs from 20 balls before he was caught on the fence. TCT finished on 155/5 from their 20 overs (Runhaar 54* (53), McDonald 31 (20), D.Vaigankar 3/35).
Laguna had surpassed 160 runs twice this season and with the addition of batsman Sameer Khan into their team they should have been confident of chasing down the TCT total.
Laguna scored freely in the first 3 overs but lost their highest run scorer of this season Arif Mushtaq to a catch on the boundary in the 4th over. At 25/1 Phuket's biggest hitter of the cricket ball Ali Khan walked out to try and capitalise on the fielding restrictions.
A.Khan was Anthony Dupont's second victim, only managing one boundary in his 7 ball innings. Laguna made it to drinks without losing another wicket but needed 87 off the remaining 10 overs to win. The tough ask become tougher in the 11th over when the leagues highest wicket taker Simon Wetherell picked up the wicket of Sameer Khan (27 runs).
Another couple of tight overs from TCT put the game well in their favor. Laguna played out the remaining overs without challenging the 155 run total.
Laguna finished on 126/7 from 20 overs ( S.Khan 27 (18), W.Bashir 26 (30), A.Dupont 2/16, S.Wetherell 2/19).
In the second game, Phuket Asian Cricket Team (PACT) took on Patong Cricket Club. The game was important for both teams, particularly for Patong who were looking for a big win to leapfrog Thalang CC to the top of the table, while PACT were hoping for their first win of the season and to avoid the dreaded wooden spoon.
On a hot, humid and windless afternoon, PACT won the toss and chose to bat first. D. Bagdal and Manish Sadarangani opened the PACT innings in aggressive style looking to post a large total. The tight line and length of the Patong opening bowlers paid off in the second over when Bagdal (12) was brilliantly caught by Justin Swart in the deep off the bowling of Mohnish Chandawaskar. Swart had to make a lot of ground to his left and held onto a great sliding catch. S. Singh (2) strode to the crease in confident fashion only to walk back to the clubhouse two balls later, another great catch in the deep by Henno Jordaan sealing the batsman’s fate. The saying “catches win matches” is perhaps a cliché, but after two excellent efforts in the deep, confidence among the Patong team was evident.
Ventrapatti (0) was the next man in, but his visit was brief, being judged LBW first ball by Seemant Raju. Patong were turning the screw with stifling bowling and fielding. Elisha (4) was next, but he too was trapped LBW off the bowling of Chandawaskar, playing across the line to a straight delivery. Kandolkar (8) innings lasted a lengthy 26 minutes; however, he could not take control having his middle stump disturbed by Neil Quail. Kishor Sadarangani (14) joined his brother and opener Manish, who had been witness to the fall of wickets, joined in a valuable 19 run partnership before opener Sadarangani edged one to keeper Anthony Van Blerk – his being the only innings of note, having scored 36 off 60 balls and over one hour at the crease.
Two quick runs outs followed K. Sadarangani (14) and S. Singh Rathore (5) leaving B. Amit not out (2). The PACT innings closed at 106 runs for 8.
With a relatively low total posted, Patong were confident, but having fallen short in their run chases in previous games they were determined not to be complacent. Chandawaskar opened the batting in his final game for Patong before relocating back to his native India, together with PCC captain, Raju. Perhaps the pressure of the final game was too much as Chandawaskar was clean bowled by Bagdal for just a single run. In form batsman Henno Jordaan (0) got a beauty of a delivery first up by Bagdal, a big in-swinger beating the defensive shot of Jordaan and clipping the top of off stump. A perfect start for PACT, and Patong needed to consolidate.
Stuart Hamilton was next in and his first task was to see off the hat-trick ball. Managing to successfully negotiate this delivery, Hamilton (9) looked to attack in his usual style, but was bowled by a flighted delivery off part-time bowler K. Sadarangani – a very valuable wicket indeed. Raju then followed being bowled by S. Singh looking to attack.
At this stage, PACT seemed in a very comfortable position with Patong well behind the required run rate and with the danger men back in the clubhouse already. Experience was required at this time and came in the form of Van Blerk and Dave Thomas.
Van Blerk in-particular playing an exceptional innings, playing every ball on its merit. Poor deliveries were ruthlessly dispatched to the boundary and together with Thomas, the pair amassed a partnership of 34 runs until Thomas (11) was dismissed edging a full toss straight to mid on, bringing Quail to the crease. Van Blerk and Quail saw the innings out with Quail 7 not out and Van Blerk finishing on 49 not out, unlucky not to reach a well deserved half century.
PACT had played well with a few players short and pushed Patong, who were always playing catch-up in this game. The win still leaves Patong second on the table behind Thalang due to an inferior run rate with PACT in last place.
Games are played every Sunday at the Alan Cooke Ground in Thalang (www.acgphuket.com) with start times at 10am and 2pm, respectively.
Dave Thomas and Andrew Macmilan.