Kai Tak Vs SCC Vampires, M.R
SCC 143 C.Williams 7-3-23, D.Belcastro 7-3-46
Kai Tak 1 / 144 M.Naqvi 79*, S.Campbell 45*
Well what can i say but finally our batters got it right!!!!
Turning up the the ground 1 hour early i was bewildered by the fact there were already 5 guys in whites and blue caps already out there doing catching practice. Now i thought i had the wrong ground but alas it was our DB contingent who had obviously got their ferry timetable stuffed up and turned up quite early!!! A good sign none the less!!
Sent into bowl first with the "Man" Chris Williams running a bit late, saw big Duncs thrown the new ball with Fidel. Off to a couple of scratchy overs, Duncs getting a great wicket in his 2nd over off what can only be described as a shocker of a delivery. Duncs claiming it was his plan all along?????? Fidel not getting into his stride early but delighted us with a LBW to one of their danger men!! Chris finally done his hair and make up and was ready to take the field and bowl and true to his form of late bowled a great line and length from ball one!!! The Captain deciding on rotation of the bowlers saw many changes but the plan paid off to some extent with constant wickets falling. Mike Evans finally got his rhythm and his persistence finally paid off with middle peg sent tumbling. Mike had stuck to a strange plan of bowling about 6 wides first and then surprise the batsman with a legal delivery....hhhmmm effective though!!! Al Noble with the gloves provided one of the highlights of the day with a remarkable catch to his right, the ball showing most of itself but Al did a great job of keeping it in the gloves for a great wicket. The fielding i might add was superb, Hao Tsang stopping everything that came his way and Alton Carmine again proved his skill in covers!!! Then they started to get away with it a bit and the Captain with the scars of the previous week still throbbing in his head turned to the bowling of Chris Williams and Mohsin to peg em back. And peg em back they did, Chris getting a well deserved 3 for and Mohsin bowling 4.3 overs for only 11 runs, great stuff!!!!! Fidel also chipped in as usual and got his standard 3 for, a little bit expensive today but he got the wickets. The only glitch in the field came when Dirk was bowling. The batsman skied one to mid on where the Captain, who rates himself with his catching made an absolute meal of it, the first real "Teflon" award for the season. Duncs and Poodle both agreed though it would have required a John Dyson at the SCG effort to have even got near it, but hey, i will cop it on the chin!! I will add i caught a very good catch off Chris later on but ya think anyone remembered that later....nahh!!! So another great bowling effort to get the opposition all out and for only 142 runs, so far so good!!!
142 was still a target and with our batting in all sorts of late i was not going to take any chances. Stacking up the top order with batters who had performed of late, i was going to make sure of the points for this one!!! Mohsin and Fidel got us going and looked good against an ok bowling line up. With score on 26 Fidel holed out for only 7 runs. I decided not to drop myself down the order this week, again learning my lessons, and the plan with Mohsin was to just tick the score along in a boring fashion. Lots of singles and a very uncharacteristic patient knock from the both of us saw us to drinks with 81 on the board for only one down. Still, so far so good. (Campbell 13 off 30 balls...no 6's!!)
That was about all we could handle, with their openers off, their bowling was exposed and we knocked off the next 60 runs in only 5.4 overs, Mohsin getting a well deserved 50 and thankfully knocking Nick off the Top 5 No 1 spot!!! I got my first not out of my career and finally got my 6's in the 2nd last over, phew!!!!! It was a very good and sensible batting display and Mohsin held back his calypso cricket for as long as he could to see it through with a not out aswell. A 118 run partnership, one of the highest we have had for a while!!
So a valuable 12 points guys, considering we only had 3 Yes and 3 Maybe's at the start of the week, i'd like to thank you all for getting us there in the end. Chris would also like you all to thank Don Guinea when you fly with him, as he helped Chris in a swap to get to the game!!! Thanks to Hao, Alton and Poodle who didn't get a go but in true Kai Tak spirit didn't mind and happy to just see us there!!!
A good crowd at Stauntons after the game was also a great effort. Vinnay the manager was there and glad to see us all. The general banter was good but mainly focused on my very difficult chance, again Poodle being very sympathetic to me!!! (NOT!!)
Man of the Match: Mohsin Naqvi
Teflon award nomination: Steve Campbell
Mug of the Day: Dirk Grobler (for bowling a great over when the skipper said to him: "more than 2 wides you're off and i'm coming on"!!)
Looking at the results today, looks like we jump up to 11th with only 5 points between us and 8th spot and a shot at the Cup!!!! Lets keep the effort going lads, only 2 league games left, both must wins and the next one against Laguna Gully will be a real challenge, but we are on a winning streak now of 1 so lets keep the momentum going into the finals.
Have a very merry Xmas to you all and your loved ones!!!
Go the TAK!!!!