MCC didn’t have to wait long to have the revenge game against Serendib after the former’s defeat in the away game on the previous weekend. This time it was home game against Serendib who was missing their star player Roshan. Most of the team arrived on time and was waiting for captain Toke to show up with the ground keys. MCC won the toss and decided to bat which wasn’t a surprise at all given the nice sunny day.
Openers Arun and Mahmoud countered the uneven bounce with relative ease and got off to quick start. Partnership was broken in the 8th over with 38 runs on the board when Arun was adjudged LBW to a ball which kept significantly low. The uneven bounce continued and the new batsman Rahul lasted for two balls dismissed to a rising delivery caught behind. The pitch was playing some tricks and cautious batting was the need of the hour. Mudussir and Mahmood battled for following 6 overs playing with great restraint and accumulating 1’s & 2’s to keep the scoreboard ticking. At Stroke of Drinks break, MCC lost opener Mahmoud to another “gazunder” and Varun Deshpande who was deceived in flight by the crafty Prabash taking the score to 86 for 4 in 20 overs. Club Member and GCTV cameraman Jabez was interviewing players along the sidelines while telecasting the match proceedings live on Facebook with live commentary.
Pakistani Duo, Mudussir and Obaid, resumed the play after drinks with quick singles and an occasional boundary. Mudussir bought up another well constructed fifty for MCC by smashing 20 runs from Prabash over. Just when the partnership was threatening to take the game away from Serendib, Mudussir was dismissed for a well played 56 in the 27th over. Obaid and Shashi departed soon after to send some jitters in the MCC camp. Thankfully Prafull and new recruit Zeeshan steadied the ship and stopped the fall of wickets. They were however not able to up the scoring rate at more than 6 runs an over. MCC was able to play out the 40 overs and post a respectable total of 191 after 40 overs.
The posted total was formidable score especially given the uneven nature of the new Flicx wicket. MCC was hoping to get rid of the star player Milan, who smashed 140 runs in the previous encounter. New MCC recruit Pierre Du Plessis responded in the very first over to get the price scalp caught by Mahmoud who was waiting at mid wicket for this catch. From the other end Maiwand was working his way into hostile spell combined with good speed and accuracy to take 2 crucial wickets. Mahmoud and Mudussir were bought as first and second change respectively continued the good work by bowling accurately. Mahmoud snapped three wickets while Mudussir took one wicket in his first spell in which he switched from bowling sharp in-swingers to loopy leggies! Injured Serenbid captain Peter started to stich a good partnership by hitting Prafull and Zeeshan for some boundaries just before the drinks break taking the score to 107 for 6 in 20 overs. Captain Toke decided to bring back his main bowlers ,Pierre and Mudussir, which yielded in immediate results. Pierre got the dangerous looking Peter caught at midoff by fellow pacer Maiwand while Mudussir polished the tail with some sharp in swingers to restrict Serendib to 127 runs in 25 overs. After round of interviews for the GCTV the MCC retired to the Fraulein Grüneis for a quick round to celebrate what was a good win at home.
Match Summary
MCC won the toss and elected to bat
Mudussir 56 out caught, 3 for 15 in 7 overs
Mahmoud 32 lbw, 3 for 25 in 5 overs
Pierre , 2 for 27 in 6 overs
Maiwand , 2 for 26 in 4 overs
MCC won the game by 64 runs
Man of the Match : Mudussir Ayub
PT
