NCC vs MCC - League Game 05.06.2016

After getting a good wakeup call in last match against POCC, our next game was against MCC who had some good results. The weather forecast was looking bad and there was prediction of thunderstorm late in the day. However special credit to MCC who were willing to travel all the way despite of such weather forecast

It appeared that MCC brought the good weather with them as it stopped raining and we were able to start the game on time. Finally we won the toss and this time elected to bat first, it was a tricky decision as the pitch was wet but keeping in mind the weather it was risk worth taking.

In the absence of Umer, we went with our old opening partnership of Ali and Naveed. We had a good start and our first wicket went down at the score of 50 after 10 overs. Ali was looking good but he got out when the total score was 82. On the last ball before break we lost our 3rd wicket when Rafiq got out. At the end of 20 Overs mark we were 91/3.

After the break Shakoor was holding one end up and all the batsman made good contributions however no one was able to really get a big score. With some later order hittings from Adnan we managed to score 212 runs after 40 Overs for the loss of 9 wickets.

We were confident that we had put up a decent total and was looking to defend it. However the opposition captain had some other plans. He dispatched our leading wicket taker, Asher, for 3 sixes in the very first over and they made 20 in the very first over.  But Asher came back and struck in the very next over and got Weston out. Adnan also followed the trick and got their other opener out as well. Soon afterwards they were 50/3 when some great piece of fieding from Adnan had Altman stranded away from his crease. 

With the rain clouds looming, the opposition put the foot on pedal and started hitting big shots. They managed to beat our score at 20 Overs mark but in the process had lost their half of the team with the crucial one of Khalid at the stroke of break, LBW to Asher. At the break MCC was 104/5 after 20 Overs.

With the game delicately poised, we were just praying for the rain to stay away. After the break Rafiq, Fawad and Abdul put the stranglehold on opposition and made the scoring very hard. After 26 Overs MCC were 123/6 and at the same point we were 122/4. The scores were neck to neck and with the wondow of 30-40 minutes before the heavens were expected to open up, we were desperately trying to get their remaining wickets and take the run rate calculation out of the equation.

Finally the relentless pressure broke down the MCC resistance and they were all out for 150 runs in 31.4 Overs. We won the game by 62 Runs and put our league campaign back on the track, As soon as the MCC left, once again rain started and did not stop till late on in the evening.

It was a good win for us, the whole batting unit put up a good show although no one made huge score but everyone contributed and we batted out full 40 Overs. Our bowling also showed great stength and recovered well from early on slaught and clawed their way back in the game. The team played how the team should play and backed each other. We should keep this team spirit. Now we are on the last turn, let us keep the momentum and keep on winniing the games.