NCC vs CCB - League Game 08.05.2016

Finally we had our home game in NBG, the pitch was remarked on Saturday afternoon and fresh markings were done to avoid any time wasting. The game was on Sunday which was perfect day for cricket with temperature expected to touch 25°C.

The Home Captain won the toss and to the surprise of opposing team decided to bowl first. The idea was to utilize any moisture what so ever and get some early in roads. However these well laid plans were put to rest by Sembian who was very lethal on our bolwers. Apart from Bilal and Rafiq no one could contain them and by the end of power play CCB was 80 odd runs for loss of one wicket.

After the power play, captain unleashed his trio of spinners and managed to haul them back with Umer narrowly missing his hat trick thanks to some efforts from the wicketkeeper behind the stumps. With the runs choked NCC was sensing an early end to the CCB innings but CCB captain played sensibly. He and Habib played sensibly and then ushered some big shots to put a competitive score on the board. Habib was generously gifted three chances and he made full use of it by scoring a brutal fifty.

After lunch break where Arif Bhai entertained whole team with delicious Samosas and Chutney, he and Umer opened the batting. In the very first over Umer scored 24 runs and set the tone for the game. Unluckily Arif Bhai got out in next over. Maybe wanted to catch up with remaining Samosas. Arshad stuck around for some time and was looking good when he was bowled by an in swinger. Afterwards the two left handers, Umer and Naveed, started to build the innings. Umer was particularly severe on any bad ball.

Finally Umer was out after scoring 93 runs and team score 149 after 23 overs. He was very unlucky to miss his first hundred in BCV. Hopefully next time scores should remind him of upcoming milestone. But after that what unravelled could be classed as village cricket, with game seemlingly done and dusted we some how wanted to make the game interesting and found ourselves 180/8 after 31 overs.

None of the other bastman could handle the pressure or maybe took it very ligthly. Finally Fawad came to the rescue and showed maturity way beyond his age. He along with Naveed started reducing the deficit slowly. They were given some reprieve by opposing team as few catches were dropped.

Luckily at the end we managed to cross the line in last over and clinched the second victory. Hopefully in next League games we will try to play smartly and try not to make games overly interesting.