Record scores, century-partnerships and play of the day (but no wins)

Our penultimate day of action saw us face Pak Barcelona for the first (and second) time. Shriram Bhosale lost the toss, and we were put into bat.

Game 1
Despite Imran Fareed falling cheaply early on, the second-wicket partnership of Anton Kritzinger and Ash Reynolds (31 off 19) was a good one, without them ever going completely mad. The dismissal of Anton (24 off 10) in the middle of the fifth over brought on a flurry of wickets, as we collapsed from 53/1 to 62/6. That sixth wicket brought Zeeshan Dildar to the middle and he alone got us up to a respectable score, after those quiet middle overs. The last over went for 31 despite Vishesh running himself out off what would have been the last ball of the innings but for it being a wide, as Zeeshan finished on his BICC-top score of 42* off just 12 balls. We scored 124/8 despite looking sketchy to reach much more than 100 before the last over. 
Once again, our realistic goal was to defend the total long enough to win a bonus point. Fortunately for us, Pak Barcelona didn’t seem overly interested in going for that point. Zain Bashir would get an early breakthrough, with a wicket off his first (legal) delivery with a diving catch by Umer Razi at point that would win the “play of the day” and almost have his trousers off. It would be the one and only real highlight of the innings though, as the next pair were pretty much always in control. They eventually knocked off the winning runs off the penultimate ball of Khyzer Nawaz’s ninth over to claim the win.

Game 2
Shriram finally won a toss and chose for us to bat first. Imran and Ash opened again, getting us off to a slightly better start before Imran played all around one and was bowled for 18. Ash and Anton came together again for the second wicket, and despite a slow start for Anton, went up through the gears. We reached 66/1 after six overs before the pair of them really accelerated, with the last four overs going for 25, 20, 17 and 25 runs respectively. When the last ball was hit for six by Ash (72* off 29), we passed 150 for the first time in ECS cricket and set our highest total. Anton too passed 50, finishing on 54* off 21 with the partnership unbeaten on 120.
With 154 needed to win we were in with a real shout. The shout turned more into loud talking after the first four balls went for six (and the fifth for four) but Zain would dismiss the batter into the next over. In a case of deja vu, the next two balls also went for six and eventually the powerplay would cost us 62 runs, although James Bentley would claim a wicket with the last ball of it. The next pairing formed a partnership almost identical to Anton and Ash’s. A slowish start for a couple of overs eventually turned into carnage and despite a significantly higher score, Pak Barcelona would chase down the target two balls earlier than the first game. In the end, the big difference game in the powerplay scores (34 vs 62). We did at least again claim the bonus point.

Just two games left for us in this tournament then, and they are against table-toppers and old frenemies Men in Blue on Tuesday.

Sam Phillipps