Report:
Wides rule as RCC beat MCC to reach the Semi-finals. QF1: MCC v. RCC Date:
September 17, 2005 Venue: Gastonia, NC Result: RCC won by 7 wickets. RCC reached
the semi-finals of the MACC tournament for the first time in their league
participation by beating MCC at the Gastonia ground on Saturday. MCC won the
toss and after a 5 minute discussion involving the entire team, decided to do
the obvious i.e. bat first. RCC started the match by making immediate in roads
into the MCC middle order. Samay dismissed the opener Dennis caught behind and
followed it up with two beautiful swinging yorkers in his next over to reduce
MCC to 20 for 3. The remaining bowlers adopted a chalk and cheese bowling
policy, by bowling some good deliveries with some huge wides (aided by the windy
conditions of course!). They kept Keyur P, the stand-in keeper busy throughout -
diving down the leg-side. Ashish M dealt the two knockout punches to the MCC
batting line-up; first by uprooting Wasif’s stump, and then inducing a top-edge
from the dangerous Qaisar Mahmood that was comfortably held by the wicketkeeper
Keyur P. RCC kept bowling well in spite of conceding a lot of extras and reduced
MCC to 88/7. But a rear guard action from the MCC lower order took their total
to a healthy 143, especially because of Ejaz, who managed to connect once every
four bat swings to make a plucky 24. Extras did their lion’s share too by
contributing a whopping 39 to help the final tally. Satbir and Ashish J. opened
for RCC. The MCC bowlers choked the runs as they knew exactly how wide to bowl
outside the off stump without being called for a wide. Qaisar bowled an
exceptional spell but was left frustrated as Ashish chose to leave anything even
remotely outside the off stump. After a crawling start, Satbir and Ashish slowly
started ticking off the runs via singles, twos and the occasional boundary as
the MCC bowlers showed signs of fatigue and toil without reward. The RCC openers
put on their second consecutive fifty plus opening stand before Ashish fell LBW
to Ejaz trying to play across the line for a score of 21. The next line of
bowlers for MCC started the all too familiar procession of wides down the leg
side. Satbir miscued a pull and fell for a well compiled 33 while Samay’s knock
was cut short by a brilliant catch by Omar on the extra cover boundary. Keyur P
and Chirag made sure there were no hiccups and carried RCC closer and closer to
the victory target. Fittingly, RCC won the game with four wides down the leg
side as MCC’s tally of extras eclipsed RCC’s. Chirag and Keyur P remained
unbeaten on 23 and 14 respectively. RCC now travel back to Gastonia next weekend
to play the top seed CLCC in the semi-final game. Many thanks to Ron Knight and
Manzoor (HPCC) for umpiring the game. MOM: Samay Vithlani
The Great Mr. Time