Kai Tak vs. Tartars - PKVR2 - 5th November 05

Kai Tak 182 for 8 off 35 overs

Tartars 186 for 4 off 31.3 overs

Tartars win by 6 wickets.

Saturday dawned fine and unexpectedly warm for our clash with Tartars. With Kai Tak looking to maintain our momentum from the week before we had everything to play for - it wasn't to be!

Off to a good start winning the toss and choosing to bat. Ward was out early but Elliott and Brown put together a fine partnership some fine shot making from Brown and steady accumulation from Elliott. 1 for 100 off 15, great start! Their first change bowler was none other than Afzhar Hader, Hong Kong opening bowler who had Dave caught behind first ball. Not a good omen. Ellis arrived at the crease and proceeded to watch from the other end while Hader destroyed our middle order. Inswinging yorkers delivered at good pace had 5 batsmen bowled or lbw for virtually no addition to our total, and lots of ducks in the runs column. Ellis was desperate for a partner to put some back-bone into the innings. Belcastro arrived at 10 and looked superb from the very first ball. Mixing solid defence with dashing boundary hitting we crept towards the 35 over mark desperate not to lose any more wickets. In the end we managed 182, a bloody good effort considering we were 8 for 110 but not not nearly enough runs on this small fast ground. Brown top scored with 59, well done, Ellis 39 n/o and a fantastic contribution form Belcastro 37 n/o.

We took to the field feeling we had the initiative - Tartars being disappointed  not to have rolled us for 120 odd. Enter Williams, opening bowler extraordinaire, up all night flying back from Colombo but proceeded to trap their opener lbw first ball - great start, everyone cockahoop! Ward opened at the other end with his off break darts delivered with great accuracy, saw their runs coming at only a trickle. Another couple of quick wickets, one each from Ward and Williams saw us well on top after half a dozen overs. Their number 5 started to threaten but was accounted for with a great low down caught and bowled chance by Williams. 4 for 70 at the 17 over mark we could feel a famous victory in the wind. With the 'one man team' Hader still at the crease, it wasn't to be. With a succession of dropped catches, Tartars were not to lose another wicket, reaching our total with 15 balls to spare. Williams finished with 3 for 52 off 9 and Ward 1 for 38 off 8.3.

All in all a very disappointing result. We had the man power to win this match easily, but allowed one standout player on the opposition to totally out psyche us. We will come up against other teams throughout  the season built around one player. Next time we have to play smarter cricket - keep the good bowler out and score off the guy at the other end.. Massive batting collapses and dropped catches lose matches. That was the story of the day.

Steve will be running the next match on the 19th against HKU. Good luck in that game fellas, and let's take the lessons learnt from this match and get back to our winning ways in a fortnights time.

Dave

Go the Tak!!!