Kai Tak Vs Mainlanders

Saturday 27th January Kai Tak confronted a youthful Mainlanders side at Po Kong Village Road.

Mainlanders were fresh off a win the previous weekend but as it transpired the architect of that win decided not to play after all, instead choosing to mentor his young side from the sidelines.

The Tak finally won a toss and duly decided to bat first, the plan to score heaps and take pressure off our severely dented bowling attack, both Williams and Morley out due injury,Belcastro unavailable.

Patidar and Campbell opened the innings and immediately started causing problems for the bowlers with most of the bad balls being turned into runs. Both were very comfortable and after 10 overs the score was on a very respectable 75 for no loss. Campbell had found the sweet spot on his bat and was putting it to good use. Unfortunately his decision to play straight proved Patidar's undoing as he smashed a delivery back at the bowler who managed to get his fingertips on the ball which proceeded then to crash into the stumps at the other end, Patidar well out of his ground while backing up for 39 runs. Anyway a good lineup to come so no worries thought the skipper. Then things started going pear shaped. 3 wickets fell for only 6 more runs added, Brown....caught square leg, Gordon....LBW, and Haskett...bowled and now after the addition of only 18 runs Kai Tak went into the 17 over drinks break on 93 for 4. Resuming play the Tak needed to keep wickets intact for a final over onslaught. Campbell and Bester continued some good batting the former really taking the attack apart. Bester kept ticking it over until he fell caught for a handy 19 runs and it was up to Hawke to stay with Campbell. Both played well with some big sixes from Campbell until he skied one to be well caught at mid wicket. On his return to the hut he then found out his score was 98 !!!. The pace really dropped off then and the 230 score originally planned was completely revised, Symington, Rattigan and Parker being removed cheaply. HP Odendaal and Hawke(21 not out) took us to the full 35 over mark with the Tak scoring a below par score of 205 for 9.

With such a score to defend the bowlers would now have to step up and get it right, 205 to chase at PKVR 1 is not too hard and so the plan was to cut off the boundaries and just let the run rate go up and see what the youngsters would do. Parker, Odendaal and Sy'sounds like pie'mington did just what was required. All three bowled out thier ten overs for the first time in a long time and apart from 29 wides were simply too good for the opposition. The pressure mounted and along with some outstanding fielding, namely by Hawke in the covers, the wheels came off for Mainlanders. The run rate kept rising and wickets kept falling. Mainlanders only managed 103 runs off the bat and along with 29 extras finished up on 132 for 9, Kai Tak winning the game by 73 runs.

Parker: 10 overs 2 wkts for 43 runs

Odendaal: 10 overs 1 wkt for 39 runs

Symington: 10 overs 4 wkts for 35 runs

Hawke: 4 overs 1 wkt for 13 runs

Haskett 1 over 0 wkt 2 runs

A good 12 points in the bag and a really good day out..Well done guys!!