Match 1: T25
Pakistani Rockets 161 all out (Ani 40, Asmat 25, Michael 11, Ed 3/26, Brian 3/42, Cam 2/17)
Defeated by 3 runs
SUPARCO Rejects 158 all out (Khalil 82, Asmat 4/38, DougBez 2/19, DougTH 2/34)
Match 2: T10
SUPARCO Rejects 5/99 (Dave 14, Sheryaar 11, Adnan 5, Felipe 2/1, Hamza 1/1)
Defeated by 18 runs
Pakistani Rockets 2/81 (Felipe 14*, Marina 5*, Nick 2/5)
The cricketing gods smiled upon us on Saturday when the clouds parted after 2 weeks of bad weather, and it turned out to be a cracking day for cricket at our typical stomping ground, the São Fernando Polo and Cricket Club.
In the dramatic first match of the day, the Pakistani Rockets, led by Cam Hall won the toss and bowled against the SUPARCO Rejects, led by Doug Berryman. The teams were named in honour of our long-time player Asmat, who informed us he was leaving Rio, then informed us on the day that he still had some time left here after all!
The first few overs were an indication on what was to come, with 3 dropped catches off Dan in the first few overs before Hamza left a straight one and was bowled in the 4th over. Ani and Doug steadied the ship with some quality batting before Ed and Brian came into the attack and tore through the Rockets with 4 quick wickets to leave them at 5/97 at drinks.
DougTH and Asmat once again turned the momentum in favour of the Rockets, before a sharp caught and bowled by Cam lead to another collapse, with Ed and Adnan finishing off the tail to bowl them out for 161.
The Rockets had an explosive start with Brian running himself out in the first over, before Dan kept marching his way towards history with his third golden duck in a row for CCC, all involving DougTH.
The Rejects quickly fell to 5/55 after some quick wickets by Asmat and DougTH, before Khalil continued his blistering form by passing his 50 in 29 balls, and with some fantastic support from Ed, brought the game into life – with 53 runs off 12 overs required at the drinks break.
Khalil fell shortly after drinks for 82 off just 52 balls from a classic catch by Hamza, running across the boundary and taking a beautiful tumbling catch to turn the game back in favour of the Rockets. Ed and Dave dug in to keep the Rejects in the fight, however when Ed fell with 28 runs remaining and 2 wickets left all hope felt lost. But no one told the man coming in next.
Enter Michael.
The man from Ukraine who didn’t know what cricket was 12 months ago came into bat and made a good start by quickly getting off the mark. With 9 taken off the next over including a beautiful boundary from Michael, we were feeling that we could be in for an incredible finish.
Dave and Michael whittled down the runs til just 7 was required, before Dave was undone by a cracker of a ball by DougTH. Once again, the momentum swung. Up strode Adnan to try and bring us to victory, and they managed to get just two runs behind when Asmat bowled Adnan with a brilliant ball to bring up his 4th wicket of the match and lead the Rockets to victory in his (not) final game for CCC.
After a quick burger and beer, the Rockets won the toss and sent the Rejects into bat for the second game of the day, this time a 10 over match.
Different opening pair, same result for the Rejects as Michael was involved in another early run out before Adnan and Sheryaar batted well, before Dave came in at the end to finish the innings off nicely, ending up with a score of 99 from 10 overs. Felipe was the destroyer with 2 wickets while only conceding 1 run off the bat. Well done to Marina for a fantastic catch at cover as well, in her 2nd ever game of cricket (1st being that morning).
The Rockets innings started poorly due to our incredible Mr President, who wound back the clock to take 2/5 off his two overs, with only the one wide which he only mentioned about 10 times that afternoon. After the Macciocca show, Felipe and Marina hit back with an unbeaten 64 run partnership to get the Rockets close to the target, however tight bowling was enough to get the Rejects over the line on this occasion.
Well done to everybody for a fantastic day of cricket, and thanks to Abel as always for giving us an impeccable ground to play on, and a delicious churrasco to feast on after the cricket was over.