ME Online - Match Reports

ACC Trophy, UAE 15-24 November 2000

It was an enthusiastic Hong Kong side that assembled at Chek Lap Kok on 11th November. The touring party had been joined by our keeper Mark "Davo" Davies. The other than the three youngsters from UK were going to meet us in the arrival hall in Dubai, they too were flying in the same night. We were all ready to board CX 731 to Dubai and no sooner than arriving at the check-in-counter were told that there was a visa problem with regard to Jawaid Iqbal and Sher Lama. There was an individual in Dubai with the same name as Jawaid (not uncommon in Pakistan and India... but with the same spelling... that is an uncommon spelling), whose father's name also matched with Jawaid "Veggie" Iqbal, and so did his hometown in Pakistan. Lama's case went a bit further, in as much as his passport number matched with that of a resident "Nepalese Sher Lama" in Dubai. Unbelievable... so our two boys were left behind only to join us the next day with their entry permits sorted out.

Prior to boarding the flight there were obvious sweepstakes concerning the alcohol consumption capacity of a certain gentleman on the tour. Figure of 4 drinks to 30 drinks were registered with the coach... the actual tally was 15 drinks (only). Eamsey won it... but donated the money to towards the team dinner... a fine gesture indeed.

We checked into the Holiday International, not too be mistaken with the Holiday Inn. Though admittedly the cabbies from Dubail almost always got it wrong. Nice hotel in heart of Sharjah. One catch - no alcohol allowed. One had to travel to Dubai (20 mins) to catch a beer. The practice sessions started in all earnestness on day two, with a stretch in the pool that was followed by an intense two and a half hour practice session at the Sharjah Stadium. We got our first look at the huge ground with 85 yard boundaries... it is a fantastic setting... beautiful lush green outfield with wickets that can be used as vanity mirrors. The practice facilities were excellent,with the wickets closely matching the centre track.

The coach (Adam Hollioake) in the first team meeting had given each touring member a slip. On this slip of paper was scrawled "moustache, sideburn, shave head, goatee, headband". Every one had to adhere to what they got... this writer was asked to sport a goatee after he declined to shave his moustache claiming superstition as a reason for not doing so. This was clearly an exercise in team building and a brilliant one at that.

The first game against Malaysia was always going to be tough and a close one... but we were silently confident. The coach had really inculcated in us the self belief and the ability to play to a game plan, and more importantly, how to stick with it. The game as we all know had serious ups and downs. The first bad news was the skipper was suffering from a viral attack and looked out of sorts... but the events tell us differently... the first 15 overs of the Hong Kong innings (Hong Kong won the toss and elected to bat) were executed to perfection. 85 for 2 with Saleem "Hollywood" Malik belting the bowling to all corners of the field, with a six over point standing out (he got an excellent fifty)... then disaster struck... Rahul "Huls/General" Sharma and three other batters were back in the pavilion for the addition of only 16 more runs. Hong Kong was staring right down the barrel of an early departure from Sharjah. It is then the skipper, Stewart Brew, found a willing partner in the baby of the team, Alex French. They set about repairing the early damage slowly. The recovery was brilliantly fought, the pair put on 90 runs. After their departure the tail did not wag and we were all out for 209. A very good score considering the state of the wicket, which was keeping low. Our bowling spearheaded by Mohammed "Zubs" Zubair, Brewy, Lama and Jawaid was excellent and controlled without being brilliant. Organised bowling with good fielding saw us sitting very pretty with Malaysia at 120 odd for 7. Then an uncharacteristic error by Zubs, who dropped Imran "the javelin thrower" saw them recover to a stage where only 45 were needed off eight overs. Then Brewy struck in his second spell by getting rid of the so very dangerous Imran "the javelin thrower", having him caught by Eamsey, who by the end of the tour had perfected the art of how to juggle and take a catch at ankle height. Zubs got rid of the other danger man, Muniandy, and soon we romped home by 17 runs. An excellent start. Brewy deservedly got the Man of the Match award for his excellent fifty and three crucial wickets.

The second match against Singapore was played at the Dubai Cricket Council ground. This was a green patch literally in the middle of the desert. Both the Cricket Council grounds (there are two adjacent to one another) were made ready in three months with the grass and the groundsman being imported from South Africa. Quite astonishing, given that the outfield was good and the wicket excellent. There was one change to the team, Ravi "Cornelius" Sujanani came in for Eamsey. Brewy again won the toss and we batted. A point to note was that the coach, after inspecting the wicket, told us to play to a different game plan... we were to preserve wickets till the end and launch an all out attack in the last 10. Manoj Cheruparambil was promoted to open with Saleem. Manoj was back in the hut in the fourth over. Huls went in, with both the ball and the wicket doing a bit. Saleem too was very watchful and both looked at building an innings. From 5 for 1 in 4 overs the score moved to 126 for 1 in 31 overs when Saleem was out for his second successive fifty. Another top effort by our burly opener. With Brewy in, and the General beginning to get his footwork and timing right, the runs began to flow. The General was dismissed at 176 with his personal score at 95 when he played a rather lazy shot, clean bowled. The flood gates had opened and Brewy, Ravi, Lama and Jawaid all joined in the run feast. Brewy made exactly 50 off 42 balls (the fastest fifty of the competition, that was kind of ignored by the awards committee after the final... but acknowledged later on) 90 runs were scored of the last ten overs. We ended up with 270 for 8 in 50. Singapore batting was always going to depend on their Aussie imports Andrew Scott and Joshua Dearing, and on the rather large shoulders of captain Yohan Perris. Brewy again saw to it that we got of to a great start by capturing the first two wickets in his opening spell. The raised seam of the balls and the gloss helped Brewy's banana out swingers a lot, he was just fantastic. Zubs too was quick but a tad wayward, setting the tone for what was to be one of the longest overs bowled in international cricket, ever. Taking nothing away from Zubs, he was suffering from a strained hammy. Dearing and Scot set about building the innings and taking the early initiative away from us. The ball was then given to Jawaid and Frenchy, both of whom showed what class bowlers they really are. Frenchy for his 19 years bowled beautifully, varied his flight and spin wonderfully. He is a star in the making. Jawaid is perhaps one of the most difficult bowlers to get away and the Singaporeans struggled with the exception on Andrew Scott. Dearing and Despande played usefully but never really threatened to take the game away. 2-0 to Hong Kong. The General got the first of his two Man of the Match awards for his well compiled 95. We had qualified for the semi's.

There was a well deserved two day break in between the last game against Kuwait, who had beaten Singapore in their opening game chasing a formidable total of 265 and lost in the final over to Malaysia. Again the coach put the team through an intense practice session on both days. The coach time and again told everyone to do the basics well... bowlers to bowl in the tram line, batsmen to play to a game plan and fielders to watch the ball and communicate. The social activity centred around lazing by the pool, beers in the evening in Dubai and dinner at Pak Kazi the favourite dining place of the subcontinent Mafia (for those of us from that part of the world... this was real "Dhaba" food).

The final group game against Kuwait was a rather tame one sided affair. This after the Kuwait captain had promised Hong Kong a tough game. Kuwait won the toss and elected to bat on a damp morning... not rain... it was the desert dew. Except for Nawaz their opening batsman no one got a score over 15. Zubs in his four overs conceded 15 wides. Brewy got another wicket to take his tally to six in three games. But the real pressure came from Jawaid and Frenchy who bowled 20 overs for 47 runs and snared 4 wickets between them. Jawaid 3 for 30 and Frenchy 1 for 17... the General got into the act by taking 2 for 3 off 2 overs. Kuwait 128 all out. Saleem and Manoj got of to a flying start. Saleem got his third successive fifty in the tournament and Manoj finally had some runs under his belt. The runs were knocked off in 22 overs. Jawaid was adjudged the Man of the Match by Match referee Kiran More.

Hong Kong was one match away from qualifying for the Asia Cup... and the final. We were looking a real professional outfit... thanks to the coach.

That night saw the "Duck Pond Fiasco" take place at the Irish Village... this writer not being present at the event shall leave it those to narrate who were in fact there. The next day saw a court being held at the team meeting with a severe sentencing for the five miscreants.

Another two day break saw us put in real hard work at the nets and prepare for the semi final against Nepal, a side that had done remarkably well in the other pool. Their only loss was to the pool leaders UAE, by one wicket, in a match they put down no less that eight catches and muffed two run out chances.

We all knew that the semi finals and the finals were going to telecast live by ESPN/Star Sports and as such a protest was lodged with the coach that all players be allowed to return to their original appearance. After some protests the coach relented after realising that we were all going to be on TV and were not a pleasant sight to behold.

Brewy lost the toss and we were asked to bat by Nepal. Don't know what really prompted that decision, but it seemed a right one with Hong Kong 11 for 2 off 8 overs with both openers back in the changing room. The ball was definitely moving around and there was the imminent need for putting ones head down and play through till the 35-38 over mark. Brewy and the General, better known as Huls (Rahul), did just that. Error free batting saw them put on 126 runs for the third wicket when Brewy, who had completed his third successive fifty (did not bat against Kuwait), had a sudden rush of blood charging down the wicket to the leg-spinner only to be smartly stumped. This signalled the start of the Hong Kong onslaught in the 39 over. Huls, after being given "a life" on 55 set about demolishing the Nepalese attack in the company of Mark Davies who very successfully rotated the strike. The last 10 overs saw 118 runs being scored, with 73 coming in the last 5, and 26 in the very last over of the innings. The General and Davo had put on 136 runs in 72 balls. General 145 n.o. off 136 balls and Davo 36 n.o. off 33 balls. The Nepalese were left ruing the missed opportunity. All this showed in their rather hasty approach when chasing Hong Kong's formidable score of 268. Brewy's first five overs saw him take 4 wickets proving he was one of the best swing bowlers in the competition. It was a different story at the other end... Zubs bowled that never ending over conceding 18 runs. Nepal 25 for no loss of two overs. Then Brewy struck and match was all but wrapped up in ten overs. 25 overs Nepal all out for 89 with only one batsman getting a double figure score save extras. Hong Kong were going to the Asia Cup. Man of the Match... the General for his 145 n.o.

That night was a huge one, most boys got back at 9:00 am... at least the sub continent Mafia definitely did. This writer was the first to bed at 5:00 am. Ravi "Cornelius" Sujanani always leads from the front here. He has always been the tour social events co-ordinator, and an excellent one at that. I am sure the boys would vouch for it. The coach wanted eight of the boys to go for training at midday. An excellent effort by some of the lads considering they got back to the hotel at 9:00 am.

The coach gave us both days off and told us to take it real easy before the final.

The toss was won again and Brewy chose to bat. There was one change to the team, Eamsey was back in place of an injured Roy Lamsam. Again we did not get off to a great start. 15 for 1 in 4 overs and 22 for 2 in 5, again Brewy and Huls had to reconstruct the innings, a much bigger ask than against Nepal. UAE were a much better bowling and fielding side. Very tight bowling saw the batsmen struggle on a very responsive Sharjah pitch that supported the medium pacers. Brewy, who had been nursing a strained side, succumbed to a rushed pull shot and Davo who played a neat little knock pulled one straight into the hands of deep square. The General found an able partner in Frenchy putting on 48 valuable runs with youngster before a spate of run outs saw Hong Kong struggling to 135 for 7. Another stand of 40 with Lama got Hong Kong to a fighting 186... probably 30 to 40 runs short. For Hong Kong the most disappointing news at lunch was that their best bowler, Brewy, was unfit and would not open the attack. Sher Lama took up the challenge with Zubs. Zubs, who had been completely lacking in confidence showed his true class by snaring the first three UAE wickets in five balls. UAE 29 for 3... game on. A very close LBW shout and a couple of very streaky shots saw UAE slowly creep towards the Hong Kong total. 2 wickets in 6 runs suddenly saw Hong Kong back into the game at 134 for 6, with Zubs on fire again, but Mehmood Pirbaksh and Miraj Khalik saw to it that UAE attained the total with the loss of only one more wicket and overs to spare. Well done UAE. Nonetheless an excellent performance by Hong Kong who silenced all their pre tournament critics.

We had the official team dinner at the Ramada roof top restaurant that night. We arrived at Chek Lap Kok to a rousing and a completely unexpected reception organised by the HKCA. Lots of press, officials and children from the Happy and Genius Cricket Clubs made it worth our while. It was real happy moment for this writer to see such a response by the local Chinese cricket community.

- Rahul Sharma

Social Cricket - 5th November 2000

Last Sunday saw the first social cricket match of the season being played at KCC. A number of late withdrawals meant there were not enough players for a full match, so a KCC VI took on a Kowloon Rugby VI, in a 20 overs per side match played over two innings. The youthful rugby players took no mercy on the KCC team outscoring them 100 & 119 to 63 & 82 - a winning margin of 74 runs. Both teams enjoyed a BBQ at the poolside afterwards - after an excellent, if somewhat tiring game of cricket.

The KCC VI was Travis Pittman, Shiroy Vachha, Charles O'Brian, Arjun Kirpalani, John Berry and Shabbir Bharma.

JP Robinson Trophy -
Result: Under 40's prevail in sweltering conditions

In a fine all round effort the "unders" convincingly beat the "overs" on probably the hottest day of cricket played by 2 KCC teams in history. Highlights:-

Destructive bowling spell by Green negated good start by opener Dave Arthur
ex COC claimed a duck in perhaps his last innings for KCC - he claimed it was "a la Bradman"!
Jardine won catch of the day for a fine diving effort measuring 3.5 on the Richter Scale
TR topscored with a swashbuckling 40 and Green didn't waste any time either for his 30
Ravi's effort of running out non striker with a direct hit from fine leg was "Jontylike"
Anurag won the "sauna award" for keeping in 35 degree heat for 35 overs
Yorgi and Dinesh carried half of the bowling duties and pitched in with a wicket each
Brewbags bowled his "dibbledobbly's" bravely, but was given stick by TR and Green.

At KCC: Over 40s - 152 for 9 off 35 overs (Arthur 40ish, Nimkar 30ish, Kilroy 20ish, Green 3 for 19) beat Under 40s - 156 for 5 off 21 overs (TR 40, Green 30, Correa 30) by 5 wickets

Kowloon CC v. Royal Bangkok Sports Club (Interport) - 25th March 2000
Result: RBSC won by 49 runs

RBSC made their bi-annual pilgrimage to KCC in late March - coinciding their visit this time with the Rugby Sevens weekend in Hong Kong (a cunning stunt indeed!). Not surprisingly, the KCC was able to put out their best team against the visitors, though there was still sufficient talent on show to ensure a competitive game of cricket.

In fine, warm conditions, RBSC skipper, Ravi Sehgal, a veteran of 30 Interport matches between RBSC and KCC, won the toss and elected to bat. This left KCC skipper Travis Pittman (standing in for Yarman Vachha, who had hurt his back whilst on his second honeymoon…) with the task of sorting out his team, which at that stage only numbered 9 with three recognised bowlers and no wicket-keeper! The ever-reliable Rahul Sharma was thrust into the opening bowler role alongside Eddie Tse, whilst Mark Eames donned the pads until the last-as-usual Ray Brewster appeared around the 8 over mark.

The unusually warm temperatures took their toll on the bowlers and fielders alike and the early performance by KCC in the field was lethargic to say the least. The RBSC openers, Sanjeev Sehgal (cousin of Ravi but not related to Robert) and Anil Tanwani (not related in anyway), had little bother with the KCC attack but had little interest in scoring quickly. A mere 23 runs came off the first ten overs, of which perhaps 8 were attributable to fielding errors. It was at this stage that the batsmen finally decided to increase their scoring and with an off-side field sporting the likes of Shiroy Vachha, Burji Shroff, Papu Butani and Rob Wilkins (not the most mobile quartet at KCC) the runs were fairly easy to come by. Papu Butani was introduced into the attack to break the opening stand but to no avail, as the openers reached their 100 partnership in the 23rd over.

Success finally came for KCC in the 27th over when, after a tactical change in the field, Sehgal had a big heave at a Butani delivery and was bowled. Robert Lewicki came to the wicket and immediately increased the tempo by despatching the bowling, particularly from Tiku Patidar, to various parts of the ground. Pittman at this stage was having to carefully juggle his scarce bowling resources as the warm weather meant his bowlers could only work in 2-3 over spells. The second wicket was gifted to KCC when Tanwani on 98 failed to realise that Sharma had replaced Rob Wilkins in the short third man position and tried to sneak a cheeky single, only to be caught well short of his ground. Sharma was by now into his trademark spell of leg spin bowling and he was proving quite a handful for the batsmen. Unfortunately the KCC fielders were having a poor day and at least six regulation catches were spilled (though Tiku did take a blinder) with Lewicki the main benefactor. Sharma, who had seen five of the catches dropped from his bowling, was inconsolable and was taken aside for a quiet word (it didn't help). Lewicki was eventually dismissed for 60 off 51 balls and as they pushed for runs more wickets started to tumble. It looked at one stage like the RBSC total could be contained to 220-230, however their tail-enders had their own ideas and they pushed their final score to 273-9. It was not one of KCC's better days in the field but credit to the five bowlers who toiled in warm conditions. Rahul finished with 3-49 and Trupty Nimkar 3-59 from their respective ten over spells.

KCC opened their reply with Rahul Sharma and Trupty Nimkar facing Robert Lewicki and young Thailand tear-away Chalee Kader. Lewicki had immediate success when Trupty pushed the first ball he faced straight back to the bowler and was caught and bowled. KCC 1-1 after one over. Burji Shroff joined Rahul at the crease and played some elegant shots on both sides of the wicket. However he perished with his score on 22 and the total 59 in the 15th over. Ray Brewster similarly looked good until he fell to a mis-timed pull shot with his score on 19. 93-3 soon became 107-4 when Sharma was dubiously adjudged LBW (though Mark Eames thought he was out - and so did the umpire of course). His innings of 51 scored off 68 balls had been a mixed bag of aggression and caution.

If ever the KCC needed a man to steady a sinking ship, it was Eames. However today he and the rest of the motley crew were destined to get their feet wet. After looking the part for a while, Lewicki induced Eames to attempt a cut shot too close to his body and he was caught behind; three balls later Pittman was back in the pavilion having succumbed in identical fashion as Trupty; whilst Shiroy struck some good shots before falling for 19. The only bright spot in the latter half of the innings was a swashbuckling 41 by Tiku Patidar, who's 28-ball knock included 4 fours and 2 sixes and allowed the KCC innings to climb over the 200 mark. His innings came to an end prematurely when he was deceived by a slower ball from Kader and was bowled. Rob Wilkins played a couple of nice shots but the innings finished in rather comical fashion when Papu Butani was run out without facing a ball in the 45th over.

At the after dinner function Ravi Sehgal was glad to receive once again the Labhamel Sachdev Trophy (held by RBSC since 1997) and Anil Tanwani was awarded the Man of the Match for his chanceless knock of 98. For their efforts, the RBSC awarded each player from the KCC team a luxurious towel - attributable no doubt to the fact that they had just been given us a bath!

Scorecard: RBSC 273-9 (S Sehgal 46, A Tanwani 98, R Lewicki 60; R Sharma 3-49, T Nimkar 3-59) beat KCC 224 (R Sharma 51, M Eames 37, T Patidar 41; R Lewicki 4-39, D Mirchandani 3-46) by 49 runs

KCC team: Travis Pittman (Captain), Rahul Sharma, Trupty Nimkar, Burji Shroff, Ray Brewster, Mark Eames, Shiroy Vachha, Tiku Patidar, Rob Wilkins, Eddie Tse and Papu Butani

Many thanks to Arti Nimkar (Scorer) and Fahmy Jowharsha (umpire).

Kowloon CC v. Royal Bangkok Sports Club (Friendly) - 26th March 2000
Result: RBSC won by 3 wickets

In the Friendly encounter, played early on Sunday 26th March 2000, RBSC once again took honours with a three wicket victory. Set an imposing target of 258 off 35 overs, the RBSC got off to a flyer, taking 16 runs off the first over (no respect for the President) and never looking back. They eventually posted the winning runs (with a little help from Sher Lama) in the 34th over for the loss of 6 wickets.

As if to rub salt in to the wounds, the KCC players in this match were also awarded towels thanks to another bath (either that or they think we stink).

Scorecard: RBSC 259-7 (R Lewicki 86, G Brown 47, S Lama 67*; A Correa 3-46) beat KCC 258-9 (R To 37, G Jardine 67, R Sujanani 35, S Vachha 28) by 3 wickets

RBSC 259-7 (R Lewicki 86, G Brown 47, S Lama 67*; A Correa 3-46) beat KCC 258-9 (R To 37, G Jardine 67, R Sujanani 35) by 3 wickets

Kowloon CC v. Singapore CC (Interport) - 18th March 2000
Result: SCC won by 3 wickets

KCC hosted Singapore CC in what was the first Interport between the two Clubs since 1993. However it has not been through a lack of trying that the two Clubs have failed to play - a pre-season tour to Singapore was arranged in 1997 but was cancelled at the eleventh hour due to the heavy pollution caused by the haze that affected the area at that time.

The main Interport match kicked off at 10:45AM on the morning of 18th March 2000 in mild, cloudy conditions. KCC skipper Bharat Gohel won the toss and elected to bat first on what looked to be good batting strip and with a batting line-up bristling with talent. Openers Rahul Sharma and Travis Pittman faced an opening attack of Rex Martens and Mark Patel. Singapore had immediate success when Sharma drove at the third ball of the innings, edging a regulation catch to former KCC member Zubin Shroff at second slip. Damian Green joined the fray and set about the bowling in his usual no nonsense manner. He was initially troubled by the tall Patel who was getting the ball to stop and pop on the softish track, but sorted that out and cracked a couple of trademark 4's to the boundaries square of the wicket. He took his score to 15 when he received a superb delivery from Martens that swung late, knocking his off stump backwards. Martens, who was acclaimed as one of the best bowlers in Asia during the 1980's, had apparently 'retired' from the game the previous season at the tender age of 39 and was playing in his first match for almost a year. However he bowled with aggression and accuracy and had the batsmen in a lot of trouble throughout his spell. KCC were in a little trouble at 28 for 2 wickets with their two top batsmen back in the pavilion. Left-handed TR Kalyanaraman came to the wicket and fended at his first delivery, hitting it straight to point, where Prasad dropped a straightforward catch. The let-off gave TR a bit of a wake up call and he got his head down and was much more respectful of the bowling after that. Pittman meanwhile gained in confidence and hit Patel for a couple of boundaries, one over mid off and the other a sweet dab to third man, which resulted in the bowler being rested. TR struck a few boundaries but upon reaching 21 was dismissed by the new bowler Ian Kohler, when trying to cut a ball that was too close to his body, only succeeding in gloving a straightforward catch to the keeper. 79 for 3 soon became 88 for 4 when Pittman, on 28, didn't get on to a drive from Martens and was caught at mid off. Martens finished his ten over spell with the excellent figures of 3-49.

Ray Brewster was joined at the wicket by Graeme Jardine in the 17th over and the two set about restoring some stability to the innings. Burly Grant Stanley had by this time been introduced to the attack with his left-arm orthodox spinners and he was extracting considerable turn from the track. The two batsmen struggled against his tight line and only one run came from his first four overs. Brewster's first attacking shot against Stanley resulted in a thick outside edge being spectacularly caught in the point region by SCC skipper David Jones, also a former KCC member. Ravi Sujanani came in and took a few overs to settle into his work. By this time, ten overs had passed for the addition of only ten runs and the loss of one wicket and a score of 200 was looking a distant target. Sujanani started to unleash the shackles with some excellent shots to and over the boundary. He struck a couple of big blows off Stanley's final over - the bowler finishing with the excellent figures of 1-20 off ten overs with eleven runs coming from his last. Lawes was introduced to the attack and had his first two deliveries despatched to the fence by Sujanani. However he got his revenge when Sujanani, on 32, failed to get over one and dollyed a regulation catch to the fielder at short mid wicket. With his very next ball, the incoming batsman Keith Lowcock played over the top of one and was clean bowled. Bharat Gohel survived the hat-trick ball and Lawes finished his first over with 2-8. With only a handful of overs to go, and Jardine struggling to get much momentum, Gohel decided it was time to take the long handle to the bowling. With a number of lusty blows and some unorthodox cricket, he smashed his way to an unbeaten 42 not out. Jardine finished on 32 not out having batted for an excruciating 33 overs. The final score of 212-7 looked about 40 runs too small to be competitive.

After a sumptuous lunch, KCC took the field knowing that they would have to perform extremely well to restrict the potent Singapore batting line-up. KCC opened with pace at one end from Chris Williams and spin at the other from Erle Pereira. The Singapore openers of Holloway and Lawes started cautiously, allowing the first 11 balls go without scoring. However a full blooded drive from the last ball of the second over saw Lawes fall to a stunning catch from Bharat Gohel, sticking out a hand to grasp the chance at shortish mid wicket. Pereira bowled beautifully to both batsmen, restricting any desire to lash out in the early overs. He was rested after bowling 6 overs with the excellent figures of 1-8 (he eventually went on to bowl 10 overs claiming 2-30). The bowling change brought instant success as Ian Kohler drove strongly at Bharat's first delivery, only to see Ravi Sujanani dive horizontally at mid off to snare a fantastic catch. Singapore's third wicket fell after another successful bowling change, with Damian Green snaring a return catch from Holloway for a patient 42. Singapore at this stage was 80-3 at the end of 24th over and starting to feel a little pressure. Zubin Shroff joined Whiting at the crease and the two batsmen started to build a solid partnership, though neither batsman was able to dominate the bowling. Whiting was slightly the more aggressive batsman and he was lucky to survive a straight forward chance to TR Kalyanaraman at long off when in his 30's. He went on to score exactly 50 before holing out to Keith Lowcock at deep mid wicket off Ravi Sujanani. His wicket fell with the score at 149 in the 40th over.

By this stage the run rate had crept up to over 6 runs an over and Shroff and Co. were struggling to get the ball away on the slow wicket. As the batsmen tried to increase the tempo, the inevitable wickets began to fall - Grant Stanely (13), David Jones (0) and Mark Patel (5), all bowled. But Shroff still remained. With 17 required off the last 2 overs, KCC were sensing a victory. Shroff was playing sensibly but he mis-hit the second ball of the penultimate over, skying it straight to Pereira at deep mid wicket. To the anguish off all the KCC players and supporters, he spilled the easy chance. Shroff made the most of his let-off, striking a further 12 runs from the over and seeing Singapore CC to victory with 4 balls to spare. Bharat claimed the game's best figures of 3-44 but it was Shroff's 79 not out which earned him Man of the Match honours.

Despite the relatively low scoring, this was an excellent game of cricket that went down to the final over. It was played in the best spirit - a credit to both teams. The Clubs now look forward to a return fixture in Singapore some time in 2001.

The KCC players were: Bharat Gohel (Captain), Rahul Sharma, Travis Pittman, Damian Green, TR Kalyanaraman, Ray Brewster, Graeme Jardine, Ravi Sujanani, Keith Lowcock, Erle Pereira and Chris Williams

Scorecard: Kowloon CC 212-9 (B Gohel 42*, R Sujanani 32, G Jardine 32*, T Pittman 28; R Martens 3-48) lost to Singapore CC 215-7 (Z Shroff 79*, D Whiting 50, R Holloway 42; B Gohel 3-44) by three wickets

Kowloon CC v. Singapore CC (Friendly) - 17th March 2000
Result: SCC won by ??

I can't locate the scorebook!!