The overnight rain had left the ground fresh, and a nice breeze greeted both teams for the eleventh match of the Phuket Cricket League.
Poor results early in the season for Patong meant that another loss for the Black Horses would all but end their chance of reaching the Phuket Cricket League final. Both teams were scrambling for players before the game and neither had 11 players at the ground.
The coin toss fell the way of TCT and their captain Andrew McMillan choose to bat first against a 10 man Patong side.
The choice backfired when Pir Sami had McMillan out caught in the slips in the first over 1/4. Mudasir Rehman was joined in the middle by Garry Lane, aided by 14 extras, the two put on 53 runs in 7 overs before Lane slashed at a wide ball and was caught by Paddy Morton at point off the bowling of Justin Swart.
Rehman (21*) was joined in the middle by TCT’s in-form hitter Hico McDonald. The pair added 78 runs in 55 balls before Patong captain Seemant Raju ended Rehman’s lucky spree, caught by Morton for 58 (54). TCT were 3/151 at the 20 over drinks break.
Raju, Sami and Simon Wetherell all picked up wickets in the next 3 overs as TCT slumped to 6/164. Alex Runhaar and Hossain Sylar guided TCT to 6/204 at the 30 over drink break.
Shortly after the break, TCT lost Sylar 25 (27) and Runhaar 29 (37), TCT 8/224.
Patong brought the opening bowlers back on to clean up the tail. In the process the TCT tail of Paddy Ledeboer 20 (17) and Martin Hill 16 (25) were able to add another 36 runs.
Hill was Sami’s third wicket of the day from his final delivery, Paddy Ledeboer had his poles knocked out of the ground a ball later. TCT 10/260 from 39.1 overs, (Rehman 58 runs, McDonald 44 runs, Sami 3/55, Raju 3/66).
After a feed at the Bondi Beach Bar, Patong set about the task of scoring 261 runs to stay in finals contention. TCT’s swing bowler Sylar made the task harder for the Black Horses when he took a wicket in his first over, 1/4.
Patong captain Raju 8 (18), missed a straight one from Sylar just as his side was starting to score freely. Imtiyaz Mushtaq and Stuart Hamilton guided Patong to 2/49 at the drinks break, 34 runs behind TCT at the same time.
Mushtaq enjoyed the extra pace of TCT’s bowling change with Rehman coming from the lake end. Patong added 43 runs in the next 5 overs but Rehman found the edge he was looking for with the last ball of the 15th over, PCC 3/92.
The first ball of the 16th over brought the small crowd at the ACG to their feet. Key wicket Mushtaq 53 (44) sent a full pitch delivery from Sylar out in the direction of the mid-wicket fence, the ball looked to be carrying over Ledeboer who had taken a few strides in but at the last second he took a step back, jumped high and plucked one of the finest and luckiest one hand catches seen in any form of cricket.
Patong’s middle order pairing of Wetherell and Morton batted on with a degree of caution. Patong hit just 3 boundaries between the 15th-25th overs.
Needing 141 to win from the last 20 overs, the pair scored only 25 runs in the next 5.3 overs before Wetherell was caught behind off the bowling of McDonald.
Boundaries were hard to come by and a 6th wicket in the 30th over tipped the balance of the game firmly in TCT’s favor. Wickets fell quickly after the last break.
The last man in Izhar Mohsin showed resilience with a smart knock of 23 runs from 16 balls. Patong 9/224 from 36.4 overs, (Mushtaq 53 runs, Morton 42 runs, Sylar 3/45).