The 2's were looking for their first win since June and fielded a strong line-up against the team coming 3rd in the comp vs our 7th. Mark lost the toss but their skipper Abhi surprisingly put us into bat. The Kallang pitch was devoid of any grass and it looked like a day for the spinners to shine. Earlier in the season we had racked up 290 off 40 overs at Kallang and our opposition replied with 230-odd all out.

Justin Leavey & Corbon opened and looked untroubled by MUCC's pedestrian openers, working the ball around the gaps and hitting the odd boundary. But at 24 without loss there were calls of "yes, no, yes, no" and Corbon was back in the sheds run out for 12. A bowling change brought immediate success for MUCC as Juzzy (13) tickled one to the keeper and next over Pete was the victim of another senseless run out. At 3-for-41, Westy joined 2's debutante Harmeet at the crease and both batted steadily until the rain brought the covers out, reducing the match to 35 overs each. The delay didn't help Westy who was out soon after the restart but Harmeet wasn't troubled by the variable bounce and he began started to find the boundaries despite the soggy outfield. Drhuv was at the other end and also started to let loose after a cautious start. Harmeet was closing in on 50 and the partnership was approaching the same number when Drhuv (22) looked to up the pace and was bowled. The pair had put on a valuable 45 runs to advance us to 5-115 with 8 overs left. Harmeet brought up his half-century but his fine innings came to an end when he was bowled for 62. Mark then swatted a quick-fire 16* and we finished on 9-152 off 35, probably 40-50 runs short of where we wanted to be but very defendable. 

After a 10 minute turnaround we were back on the field. The plan was for Mark & Clive to open up before quickly making way for the spinners. It was looking good after 4 balls when their opener retired after Mark's sandshoe crusher. At the other end Clive began to give a free lesson in swing bowling. Actually it wasn't free for the MUCC batsmen as four of them paid for it with their wickets. The wily veteran was getting some prodigious swing, removing the other opener caught by Lats at mid-off and totally bamboozling their 1st drop who spooned one to Westy the very next ball. A few overs later Clive was at it again swinging the ball back from way outside leg to shatter their #5's castle. Then their capt misread another outswinger and lobbed one to Harmeet at square leg. Unfortunately Clive couldn't get his "Michelle", finishing with 4 top order wickets for 24 runs off 7 straight overs. After 15 overs MUCC were still scoring at the required rate but we were tightening the screws. It was now spin from both ends as Lats had earlier replaced Mark & Drhuv took over from Clive. Lats first over went for 10 but he bounced back strongly. His next 6 overs went for a miserly 10 along with 2 wickets, the second of which was previously injured opener who was bowled first ball back. Drhuv also chipped in with a wicket and we were looking good at 6-72 with 13 overs left. MUCC's lower order then staged a fightback with 40 runs off the next 6 overs before Amar broke the partnership (and the off stump) with a looping leggy. Twenty runs later Westy got their other pinch hitter to lob one to Mark at mid-off and next over Koushik finished it off with a well-deserved stumping off Corbon's second ball. MUCC all out for 132 in the 31st; ANZA win by 20 runs. 

Great performance by Harmeet with the bat and Clive with the ball. Special mention to wicket keeper Koushik who let through only 1 bye on a deck with very inconsistent bounce.  

Our next match is on 21st Sept.

Mark C