Well Saturday saw a new era in t

On a fairly warm September afternoon we all assembled at the Mission Rd ground to take on Centaurs. With the season captain away sunning himself in Penang (and playing bad golf) and last seasons captain doing 0.86 back from Seoul, it was left up to Mohsin and Nick to lead the team in the second game of the season. The spirits were high from the game the week before and the team was fairly strong in all departments. There was only one ring in due to the lack of commitment from some players. Hockey seems to be more important than cricket, not mentioning any names Fitzy.

The toss was won by the opposition which meant we would have to field a man short due to Tiku arriving late from Seoul. Even doing 0.86, getting a high speed approach and parking at E1 (not sure how he arranged that on a 777) we were without Hong Kong's latest squad player for the first hour of the game.

The Tak managed a good start with Chris Williams picking up a wicket in the first over, well caught by Mel behind the stumps. Chris would have had another in his next over but Bob Ward at 2nd slip couldn't hold onto a low catch to his right. Bob picked up the other opener who was slogging from ball one and we thought this was going to be easy. Sadly the next 2 batsmen hung around and even though the runs were coming slowly they managed to build a good platform from which to launch. Mohsin made the break through after drinks and the wickets started to tumble at regular intervals. 2 very good catches were taken on the boundary the first by Andy Bester and the second by Big Bad Bob. The ball Andy caught went so high that it would have brought down an aircraft on approach into the old Kai Tak airport. Bob's catch was also excellent running in and diving forward on the long on boundary is never easy. I'm sure Bob picked up a thing or two watching Zim beat Aussie a few weeks ago. (Sorry just had to mention that) The bowling changes and fielding worked very well, and in the end, we managed to restrict Centaurs to 220 for 8 in 35 overs.

Requiring 6.28 runs an over Tiku and Mohsin got the Tak off to a dream start going at 8 runs an over for the first 6 overs. Sadly the dream start ended when Mohsin was clean bowled by their opening bowler. Chris joined Tiku and things slowed right down due to some very tight bowling by the opposition. At drinks we were well positioned for the run chase at 80 for 2. There was lots of good batting to come. Unfortunately we lost wickets at regular intervals and never really built any partnerships. Andy Bester and Mel Brown were caught in the deep after they looked like they were set. Yours truly ran himself out for 0 (not sure the umpire got it right on the decision though). Tiku was out the very next ball, hitting a rank long hop down square legs throat. The middle order collapse meant the tail had to wag. It did wag a bit with Bob hitting some lusty blows along with Don Miller and Carl (sorry won't even attempt to spell the surname but he was the ring in and is South African) I think Carl is a good find for the Tak. He was a bit rusty but the potential is there.