HCL match (25 overs):
Dunabogdany CC vs Genpact
Sunday
13th July 2008 at Dunabogdany Sport Club
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| Just as it looked like Genpact were going to put up a massive total, however, Ashok was removed by an astounding running catch at deep point from DCC's star American fielder Brandon Krueger. DCC skipper Yusaf Akbar soon brought his quicks back on, and DCC did well to run through the rest of the Genpact order relatively quickly and reduce them to a total of 156 all-out, helped chiefly by some excellent bowling from McLeod in particular, and some hugely improved fielding in general. Krueger took another sharp catch on the boundary, and Rob Smyth held on to a bullet at deep mid-wicket, while Adrian Zador rounded things off with an absolutely superb direct hit run-out, whipped in with the one-stump target from backward point. Also worth mentioning is the wrong 'un that leg-spinner Akbar bowled to remove the tenacious Pant! Dunabogdany began their reply with high hopes of causing an upset - despite their rather long tail... Having made a slow but steady start, they lost both opener Smyth and skipper Akbar, before Latham, and then McLeod, Zador and Krueger, steadied the ship and gradually took DCC up to the century mark. Sadly, the departure of Zador for 15 was soon followed by a mini-collapse as Krueger and Marshall fell to successive balls from Dinesh, and after McLeod fell to one that kept low from Ashok, only keeper Anthony remained with any realistic chance of pulling off an unlikely victory. Sadly, he, too, fell for a duck to another one that kept low from leftie David Garbutt, and the innings wrapped up a few overs afterwards. (A word of congratulations to American tail-ender Nathan Johnson, who defended well and managed a couple of runs in his first ever cricket match, and was removed only by a spectacular diving catch at fly slip from Amit that ended the match.) Pick of the Genpact bowlers was Ashok with 3 wickets, slow bowler Parminder, who was admirably tight, and quick left-hander Garbutt, who though wayward at first, troubled the batsman bowling from a wide approach around the wicket. Both captains agreed to name Dunabogdany's Angus McLeod Man of the Match for his excellent spell of 3-31, and top-scoring 27 runs. With a little more support from the lower order, who knows - the match might very well have gone down to the wire. Unusually, due to pitch damage at one end, all overs in the match were bowled from one end - by agreement between the captains. The match was also self-umpired, due to no neutral umpire being available, but went off in the very best of cricketing spirit, with no excessive appealing or dissent, and only the very best of sportsmanlike behaviour from everyone. All in all, it was a closely fought and competitive match played in great spirit, and a credit to the Hungarian league! Man of the match: Angus McLeod |
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Winning the toss on a hot and humid day in Dunabogdany, Genpact skipper Ashok Bhattacharya elected to bat. DCC opening quicks Angus McLeod and John Marshall (guesting from Phoenix) made good early inroads, removing both Genpact openers cheaply. Unfortunately for DCC, however, this brought Ashok to the crease, and he and Nitin Pant put on 70 or so runs together, with Ashok in particular clubbing several big sixes off the tiring DCC spin bowlers. 
