Scorecard

Bank Of England v Phoenix Cricket Club Phoenix on Sat 28 Jun 2008 at 2.30pm
Match was Drawn

Match report
In the third year of their reign Ptolemy, encouraged by his advisers, assumed sole control of the government and drove Cleopatra into exile. In Jason's third year in reign nothing of the sort is envisaged but could Jason's Argonauts be encouraged by recent performances and continue to drive forward.

The red caps, in the absence of the Saverimuttu Brothers, were led once again by Sanj who assumed charge of the Phoenix ship on their travels to Roehampton for their match versus Bank of England (BOE).

It is one of the quirks of history that the Bank of England was founded by a Scot, William Paterson, who became involved and proposed a scheme to establish a commercial settlement in Panama - the Darien Scheme. The first expedition was established there in 1698 but the project had collapsed by 1700, a victim of Spanish and English intransigence and of disease and bad planning. It was in the aftermath of the financial collapse of Darien, that the Act of Union of 1707 was negotiated. This paid compensation to those who had lost money in the Darien scheme.

A beautiful ground, a perfect batting track and a warm day welcomed both teams and on winning the toss Phoenix were asked to field first. With short square boundaries and conditions suited to batting Phoenix had to be disciplined in the bowling and fielding. Unfortunately for Phoenix this was no to be as misfields and dropped catches plagued the side.

At the loss of the first wicket, BOE had made fifty four runs with the opener gone for only two runs. Phoenix were enthusiastic but were never clinical as at key stages of the game they let themselves down with lack of concentration. The BOE batsman punished Phoenix as a result of this especially Austin who powered to an excellent ninety four but who should have been back in the pavilion when on just ten runs.

At tea, BOE had amassed two hundred and fourteen runs with forty eight coming from extras. As this was a time game, Phoenix had thirty five overs or so to win or draw the game. Phoenix came out to bat with confidence but this ill discipline continued and now plagued their batting as soon after opening the innings Phoenix were on the verge of re-enacting the Darien scheme and creating a collapse of their own.

Phoenix had fallen to fifty five for six after fourteen overs - the question on everyone's lips was that could Phoenix get to the final twenty overs.

Shiv and Farhan soon settled in from the off and broke the highest 8th Wicket partnership record by scoring fifty two in five overs. Shiv playing some sublime stokes made a excellent forty one (which included nine fours) and Farhan clobbered his way to twenty eight (which included two sixes and four fours). Could a win be possible?

Alas not as Phoenix hopes of a win were extinguished as both Shiv and Farhan were out in consecutive overs trying to up the run rate. But could Phoenix create their own act of union by negotiating the final nine overs to draw the game with the final pair batting. Indeed they could as Vishal and Sanj closed up shop and batted with pure defence in mind to frustrate the BOE fielders as they managed to sneak a draw scoring just three runs in the final eight overs.

Shiv batted with responsibility as he batted sensibly to allow Phoenix both the chance of either winning or drawing the game and for this reason he is named Man of the Match.

Well done to both team for battling out a draw and a special mention to Bank of England for being great hosts where cricket is played in a great environment.

As for Phoenix, even with the lack of discipline displayed at times they showed a fighting spirit that enabled them not to lose the game. So back to nets to improve what needs to be improved as defined by the mistakes we made. To quote Steve Ballesteros (Legendary Golf Player) "To give yourself the best possible chance of playing to your potential, you must prepare for every eventuality. That means practice."

Bank Of England Batting
Player name RunsMB4s6sSR
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 6 wickets
0
214 (0.0 overs)		     
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Phoenix Cricket Club Phoenix Bowling

Player NameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
Shaunak Bhide12.0244144.003.67
Farhan 'Rowdy' Nabeel8.0048316.006.00
Vishal Nehra6.00818.001.33
Sanjeev Kumar7.0142142.006.00
Tushar Ilwahdi3.002300.007.67
Varun Ghai2.002000.0010.00

Phoenix Cricket Club Phoenix Batting
Player Name RMB4s6sSRCatchesStumpingsRun outs
extras
TOTAL :
 
for 9 wickets
0
135		        
Tushar Ilwahdi Not Out  3
Shaunak Bhide Caught  15
Imran Khursheed Caught  4
Amrit Toor Bowled  0
Varun Ghai Stumped  25 1
Yazdan 'Jazz' Karbhari Bowled  4
Shiv Sud Bowled  41
Inderjit 'Indi' Jassal Caught  8 1
Farhan 'Rowdy' Nabeel Caught  28
Vishal Nehra Not Out  2
Sanjeev Kumar Not Out  1

Bank Of England Bowling

Player nameOversMaidensRunsWicketsAverageEconomy
No records to display.