A beautiful autumn day with clear blue skies and the temperature just above 20°C awaited us for the last game of the season at the picturesque Hirschanger. Captain for the day Rabbani lost the toss and MCC were asked to field. Club captain Weston stayed only long enough to take some video films then had to leave to change into his toy boy kit for an excursion to the Oktoberfest. Naveed and Matheen opened the batting for Pak Orient and faced Scott and Blades. The run rate was kept under control, the score being 32 for 0 after seven overs but, significantly, 11 of the runs were wides. The two openers fell in the ninth and 13th overs respectively but numbers three and four both scored rapidly and turned in the highest scores of the match. One of them, a new player on the scene, went under the glorious name of Sher Khan and was the cause of many Kipling quotes. Khan finished on 54 from 61 balls before being caught by Fudge off Rabbani`s bowling and his partner, Sheraz, scored 64 from 51 balls before retiring. Fudge had taken an excellent catch in the deep having earlier treated us to a beautiful ballet dancing sketch – at least that is how Sestan defined it – also on the boundary while missing another catch completely. Basit, playing again for Pak Orient, made 31 not out but none of the other batters made any significant scores. After 35 overs Pak Orient were 243 for 8 including 51 extras leaving MCC needing only seven an over to win.
Fudge had provided the teas and as it was the last game of the season we decided we would offer teas to the opposition too. They promptly ate everything and Fudge had to leave for the supermarket again to purchase some snacks for the MCC players.
Palfrey and Veser opened MCC`s innings, Palfrey giving only a single chance in his innings on the third ball he faced leaving MCC on 0 for 1 after three balls. Sarma replaced him and he and Veser put on 69 runs for the second wicket, Veser going for 35 from 32 balls in the 12th over. That, unfortunately for MCC, was it with only Sear of the remaining batsmen reaching double figures. A couple joined in the duck race and MCC were all all out for 102 after 25.4 overs. The main destoyers were two slow spin bowlers, the infamous Sher Khan (1 – 18 from 7) and Hashim (5 – 14 from 7).
Palfrey 0, caught
Veser 35, bowled
Sarma 26, bowled, 1 stumping
Hobbs 0, caught, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 31 runs, 0 wkts
O`Meagher 1, run out, 6 overs, 0 mdns, 38 runs, 2 wkts,
Sear 12, bowled, 6 overs, 0 mdns, 50 runs, 0 wkts, 1 catch
Fudge 1, LBW, 4 overs, 0 mdns, 26 runs, 0 wkts, 1 catch
Rabbani 5, caught, 3 overs, 0 mdns, 17 runs, 1 wkt
Sestan 1, run out, 1 over, 0 mdns, 17 runs, 0 wkts
Blades 2, caught, 5 overs, 0 mdns, 26 runs, 4 wkts
Scott 0*, 6 overs, 0 mdns, 34 runs, 0 wkts.
MCC, 102 for 10, lost to Pak Orient by 141 runs.
MCC MOM Veser