In the first match of the day, the Goan Panthers won the toss and elected to bowl first. The winner of the match would play table topping Patong CC in the final later that day.

The Misfits sent in Manish Sadarangani and Stuart Hamilton to opening the innings but the opening partnership was quickly broken as Hamilton 1(5) was caught by Mayur Deuskar from the bowling of Anoop with the MIsfits at 5-1 after 1.2 Overs.

#3 Sameer Kahn and M Sadarangani took the score 28 before Sadarangani 11(13) was caught behind by Balesh Dessai from the bowling of Arun Virdikar on the penultimate ball of the 5th Over.

Michael Thomas was the next man in but lasted just 1 ball as Virdikar knocked him over to reduce the Misfits to 28-3 after 5 Overs.

#5 Sami Pir 6(6) was the next wicket to fall, bowled by Deepak Naik and the Misfits were struggling along at 43-4 after 7.2 Overs.

Misfits Captain Mudasir Rehman was the next man in and he and experienced campaigner S Kahn got the Misfits back into the game thanks to a very well put together partnership of 82 runs. The partnership was eventually broken by D Naik when he had Kahn 46(43) caught behind by Dessai. The Misfits recovering to find themselves at 125-5 after 16.1 Overs.

The big hitting Ali Kahn came in at #7 at the perfect time to boost the Misfits total and got into his work quickly dispatching the ball to various parts of the ground.

Unfortunately for Kahn, Rehman 42(30) fell bowled to Deuskar with the score at 152-6 and then #8 Sohail Ahmed was also bowled the very next ball by Deuskar to leave Kahn as the last man standing with 2 Overs still to bat.

The Panthers managed to tie down Kahn 30(17) toward the end of the innings before Deuskar picked up his third wicket thanks to a catch from Rishi Sadarangani to bowl out the Misfits for 158 with 3 balls to spare.

Panthers opening bowler Virdikar was at his economical best with figures of 4 Over 2-14 while Deuskar finished with 3.3 Overs 3-29.

In reply the Goan Panthers got off to a tremendous start reaching 77-0 after 8 Overs leaving the Panthers with 82 to win from 72 balls with all 8 wickets in hand. At that time the computer model predicting a 88% chance of victory for the Panthers.

The next ball however had the danger-man R Sadarangani 62(33) on his way back to the clubhouse. Sadarangani, who had accumulated nine 4’s and three 6’s was caught behind by his cousin M Sadarangani from the bowling of opener Rehman who had brought himself back on for a second spell in an attempt to pick up the vital wicket before it was too late.

The very next ball and #3 Ravi Naik fell to the same fate, caught by Manish from the bowling of Rehman as the Panthers fell further to 77-2 after 8.2 Overs.

After a 44-run partnership from opener Sarvesh Kandolkar and Dessai brought the Panthers within 38 runs of victory things began to fall apart for the Panthers. First, Dessai 16(19) fell caught behind to captain Rehman from the bowling of Hamilton, the Panthers 121-3 after 14.3 Overs.

Then M Sadarangani really took over the match with the ball, as the last 5 wickets of the match, Deuskar 1(2) caught behind by Rehman, Virdikar 0(1) caught by Sohail, Anoop 5(9) caught behind by Rehman, D Naik 0(1) caught behind by Rehman and finally the opener, S Kandolkar 28(41) bowled, were all claimed by him as the Panthers scored just a further 9 runs to be bowled out for 130 after 17.5 Overs.

A 28-run victory in the end for the Panthers who stormed into the afternoon final on the back of M Sadarangani’s match winnings 3.5 Overs, 5-18 performance with the ball, just the second five wicket bag of the entire season (Ike Bekker 5-17).

After a short break, the Misfits were sent straight back into the field as Patong won the toss and elected to bat first.

Openers Michael Flowers and Captain Seemant Raju got Patong off to a solid start seeing off the dangerous opening pair of Rehman and Pir bowling with the wind at their back.

First change bowler Ahmed made the first break thought just clipping the off-stump bails to remove Flowers 11(17), Patong 25-1 after 4.2 Overs.

After an excellent partnership between Raju and #3 Justin Swart in quick time, A Kahn made the break though removing Raju 25(17) caught by Hamilton with the score at 77-2 after 8.4 Overs.

Patong batsman/wicket keeper Anthony Van Blerk came in at #4 and continued his poor run of form picking up just 1 run before being dismissed from the bowling of Rehman, caught by S Kahn to reduce Patong to 92-3 after 10.2 Overs.

Sajal Gaur joined Swart who was batting superbly and was given the instruction to “stay there” by Swart. Unfortunately for Patong, Swart was unable to follow his own advice as he was bowled by the man of the day M Sadarangani for a very well made 55(38) with the score at 113-4 after 13.5 Overs.

Craig Morgan who finally woke up and joined Patong batting at #6 played an important role to continue moving the score in the right direction after doing a “Willie Beamen” before Gaur 13(21) was stumped by Rehman from the bowling of A Kahn, Patong 150-5 with an over to go.

#7 Tyler Whateley 0(2) continued his poor run of outs as he again fell bowled to a cross batted shot against the speedy bowling of Pir.

#8 Shivam Bhattacharya 1*(1) still hampered with a hand injury joined Morgan 29*(21) briefly as Patong finished the innings with a mediocre score of 156-6. A Kahn was the pick of the Misfit bowlers with figures of 4 Overs, 24-2.

In pursuit of 157 for the title, M Sadarangani and S Hamilton began well before Hamilton 14(13) was caught behind by Van Blerk from the bowling of Swart, the Misfits 25-1 after 3.5 Overs.

The big hitting Kahn 0(2) didn’t last long as he blasted one to Flowers at mid-wicket off the bowling of Raju, the MIsfits in some trouble at 30-2.

S Kahn 2(7) was the next to go, Flowers taking another catch at cover from the bowling of Gaur, the Misfits now struggling at 46-3 after 7.2 Overs.

#5 Ahmed finally picked up some runs for the MIsfits contributing to a valuable partnership of 60 runs with M Sadarangani before Whateley struck bowling Ahmed 14(22). The Misfits lifting the score to 106-4 after 14.5 Overs but still in need of almost 10 runs per over.

#6, Captain Rehman 8(5) picked up a few runs before falling victim to Gaur who bowled him to pick up the big wicket at 115-5 after 15.4 Overs.

Pir better known for his bowling came to the crease needing to help Sadarangani get the Misfits over the line and the pair took the game to the 19th Over with 22 required off the last 2 Overs.

Disaster struck for Patong on the first and second balls of the 19th Over as Raju and Gaur made crucial fielding errors to concede boundaries costing Patong 5 or possibly 6 valuable runs.

Requiring 8 off the final over and then 2 from the final two balls, Patong committed yet another fielding error with Morgan sending in a ball to the bowlers end which was missed by Raju and Whateley as it hit the wicket and allowed the Misfits to return for the winning run with a ball to spare.

Man of the Match yet again, M Sadarangani played a terrific and intelligent innings of 80*(60) to lead his team to victory. Swart was the pick of the bowlers with the impressive figures of 4 Overs 26-1 despite conceding the extra runs from fielding errors in the penultimate over.

Following the match, while the World Cup final was played in the Clubhouse, Van Blerk paid an emotional tribute to the departing John King who has been a big part of cricket on the Island for close to a decade primarily as the PCG's regular umpire and will be missed by all. John himself made a brief speech of his own and handed out 8-ball key rings to the winning Phuket Misfits.

Chairman Flowers awarded the Man of the Series to Patong’s Craig Morgan who averaged a ridiculous 248 for the series with the bat, took a handful of catches and also had a hat-trick with the ball. Honourable mention deservedly went to M Sadarangani who had a terrific tournament himself finishing with 245 total runs at an average of 81.66 and stole the show on Finals day as he was Man of the Match in both games (as previously mentioned).

Special thanks was also given to Umpire Steve Hackett and his partner Stephanie Leighton who drove all the way from Hua Hin for the final day of the tournament along with Khun Gae who served up a tasty buffet for everyone to enjoy following the final.

The ACG will now be closed for 3 weeks prior to the Jolly Wallabies tour next month as everyone recovers from an overdose of cricket action.

Written by Michael Flowers
Umpired by Steve Hackett
Photo courtesy of Michael Way
- Man of the Match M Sadarangani bowled J Swart to limit the Patong total before scoring 80* to guide his team to their inaugural title.