Saturday July 16th 2016, Week 11, Middlesex Championship League – PPCC v. NLM
Riding on the back of a tremendous win against Burhani Guards in the previous week, the PPCC boys were raring to contest against the best team (so far) in the league – The North London Muslims (NLM). Priory knew they have to play extremely well to beat the unbeaten league opposition.
The men got in early to set up the kitchen, prepare the boundaries and ran other chores before getting some training time in the middle. The pitch looked well rolled-in and ready for a belter with the Cavendish temperature soaring to mid-30s.
The opposition arrived on time and the first few minutes were spent calling (read waking-up) the designated MCC match umpire who was finally ruled out of the game.
Bad omen meant PPCC lost the toss and were put out to field first on a hot summer day. Notwithstanding the scorching weather, PPCC started bowling with great intent. Hamayoun and Kuni gave it all they had, to get two early wickets. The first change bowlers Dave and Junior gave full support. Following that, the boys saw a quiet phase of play with opposition only managing about 3 runs an over. Along with the runs, the wickets were few and far between when PPCC 5th bowler Rama took a brilliant caught and bowled, breaking what could have been a dangerous partnership between 4th and 5th NLM batsmen.
PPCC continued to show discipline on the field not giving away easy runs and bowling brilliantly to the mid/lower batting order. The score was 124 for 7 after 38 overs. Dave continued to bowl superbly on what appeared to be a batting wicket taking two more wickets (disturbing the furniture on both occasions). Finally when the last pair of batsmen were on the crease, Priory skipper Sandeep wanted to mix it up and called for a change in bowling – introducing Tejas and Sabs into the attack.
Sabs bowled 2 overs without a wicket and Tejas could only bowl 1.3 dismissing the last batsman stumped by Sandeep. NLM ended up scoring 136 runs in 45.3 overs. PPCC bowlers with Hamayoun picking up 4 wickets, Dave 2 wickets and rest of the bowlers all getting 1 wicket each. At one point PPCC felt they could have had the opposition for lesser if there was a neutral umpire and those LBW appeals were judged with fairness.
Ganesh provided a wide spread of snacks and tea which was a treat to a well-deserved fielding side. The home team came to bat with a sense of contentment that the target could be achieved with Priory batsmen batting sensibly and developing partnerships in the middle.
Tejas started off with some cracking drives and Ganesh held his nerves against some brilliant bowling by the NLM speedsters. With both batsmen in their double digits the home camp got the start they needed. Soon after, Tejas was caught out trying to pull a quick/high delivery. Next in was Sabs – he defended most of the straight deliveries but couldn’t resist a full length ball which swung and edged straight to the safe hands of the NLM keeper. Next in was Gaurav – who and Ganesh played sensibly for a 20 run partnership. Gaurav played some nice shots hitting consecutive boundaries but missing a straighter delivery which shattered his stumps.
Skipper Sandeep was brilliant with his keeping gloves but wasn’t so lucky with his batting ones. He was out for 0 by a superb reflex catch taken by the bowler himself. NLM had to rely on their bowlers to defend their low score and their bowler had risen to the occasion, bowling with discipline and extreme accuracy. Rajiv-the-doc was next in, he played some nervous shots as the bowlers found their rhythm giving Priory absolutely nothing to score off. Rajiv was out bowled by their Numero Uno bowler Farooq hauling his fourth wicket.
By now, the NLM fielders were roistering around the PPCC batters shouting for everything (literally, even for a boundary hit against their bowlers) sensing a chance to win their 7th match on a trot. Dave Persaud, aka, Rasmalai, BK, Champion (… and God knows what) came to the middle and immediately calmed their nerves playing some text book defensive shots and occasional singles.
Ganesh played well for his 27 but succumbed to their off-spinner’s looping delivery and was caught. Dave persisted for a few overs, then played one of this ribs which ended up in the air and easily taken by a fielder at mid-on. What was a well fought 24, PPCC’s second highest score of the day.
Hamayoun and Rama tried holding the PPCC fort but they perished trying to inch towards the target. PPCC were 98 for 8 after 40 overs, with still 7 overs remaining in the match. NLM needed two wickets to win and PPCC’s hopes of winning got slimmer by every ball. PPCC knew if they don’t lose all 10 wickets, they could clinch a draw. Mehul-Junior-Patel did just that, showing nerves of steel, respecting the good balls and punishing the bad ones. Junior stayed on till the end scoring 15 runs, whilst Kuni, the last Priory batsman played (missed) some quirky shots when survival was key.
Eventually NLM were short by 1 wicket and PPCC were 28 runs short of target. The match ended up being a draw. It was an eventful day and a fantastic game of cricket. A lot of lessons to be learned from this match. Illustrious performance by all PPCC bowlers, they were disciplined in the field with 4 brilliant catches and 2 stumpings. However, the poor batting performance led to a losing draw yet surviving a loss against the best team in this division.