By Neil Quail
In a match that saw the T20 finalists face each other following ICC’s fall from grace having won the competition in September, Patong’s players were hoping to exact retribution, but it was the Islanders who claimed victory by a solitary run and two overs to spare.
Patong’s new pace bowler, Wasim Bhatt, combined well with Imtiaz Mushtaq to stifle ICC and have their batsmen reeling at 3 for 21 by the end of the seventh over. Indeed, both Bhatt and Mushtaq finished on almost identical figures of 4-27 and 4-26, respectively from their allotted eight overs.
Desperate for stability, Shah Ullah (45) and Ravi Naik (37) put their heads down and notched up a partnership of 108, but both were fortuitous that Patong’s fielding was particularly dismal.
With the score on 129, Naik and Ullah both lost their wickets to Patong’s openers, which brought the ever threatening Pir Sami to the crease. His quick-fire 22 off 23 balls helped boost the total to 8 for 163, before Neil Quail wrapped up the ICC innings with two wickets from three balls in the 39th over.
Chasing 168 to win, Captain Seemant Raju and Mushtaq’s start offered promise, but the game was soon thrown into controversy when Sami clean bowled Mushtaq — the Patong batsman indicating his concentration was broken by comments made during the bowler’s delivery.
Following a few stern words from umpire John King to several ICC players, the game resumed with Stuart Hamilton (26) going on to support his skipper in a partnership of 70 and taking Patong to a score of 77. ICC’s captain, Anand Chand removed his Patong counterpart bringing Paddy Morton (14) to the centre,
Hamilton’s resolve ended three runs later, which brought the pairing of Quail (32) and Morton who took the score to 100 when an uncharacteristic loose shot gave an outside edge for wicket keeper, Junaid to easily take and send Morton back to the clubhouse.
Justin Swart (8) and Quail hoisted Patong’s tally to 132 before Naik caught Swart in the deep off the bowling of Chand. The same combination combined to then remove Quail 12 runs later.
The partnership of Bhatt (13) and Mike Khan (6) yielded another 16 runs before both succumbed to the bowling of Sami, but with two wickets in hand and only 8 runs to seal victory, ICC’s fate looked certain.
Fate, however, had not read the script and once Anthony Van Blerk brought the score to 166 before lofting a catch to Junaid, Patong’s tail-enders offered no resistance and they fell one run short of ICC’s total.
The adage of ‘catches win matches’ will certainly be haunting Patong’s post-match deliberations; in total, seven opportunities were put down along with the added disappointment of handing 38 extras to the opposition.
Man of the Match was awarded to Ravi Naik by virtue of his batting and fielding performances.
Next week’s game (December 21) will see Village CC take on Laguna CC before the league breaks for Christmas until January 4.