United Cricket Club (Counties Manukau) Incorporated

Playing at Bruce Pulman Park, United CC captain Deepak Bhakoo won the toss & elected to bat first. With Karaka taking the field initially with only seven fielders (they had a full team later), Owen Ford & Liam Jackson were asked to open the innings to try & hit over the top & take advantage of the situation & they obliged with a 46-run partnership in just 5 overs. Owen Ford was the first to go having made 36 from just 22 balls & Liam departed a couple of balls later after a mostly swing-and-miss 2 from 10 balls, making it 47/2. Lee Ter Huurne (32) & Josh Anderson (6) took the score to 75 from 9.1 overs before Josh was caught by Brad O'Callaghan to give Michael (5-0-42-2) his second wicket. Lee & Jonathan Lawrence (18) then added 41 for the fourth wicket, when Lee, going for a big one, got caught in the deep by Brad O'Callaghan off Morgan (9-1-30-3) & Jonathan fell soon after, making it 119/5 from 17 overs. Deepak Bhakoo (0), unaware of the fine leg fielder being moved to deep square leg, hit Devon over the square leg fielder, only to be snared by Steve O'Callaghan at the boundary to make it 122/6. Next man Rajat Malhotra (12) started with a flurry, scoring 12 runs from 7 balls before playing a bit too early to a slower one from Devon only to be caught by Joel Hope & was followed soon by Ian Adamson (9), with the score reading an unsatisfactory 147/8 from 23.2 overs. This brought Ronit Ghaiee (28) to the crease, who added 21 runs for the 9th wicket with Callum Jude (11) and then 24 with Michael Gordon (6 not out) for the last wicket to take the score to a respectable 192 all out from 35.4 overs. Ronit's 28 came from 38 balls, featuring five well-executed boundaries & a very mature display of batsmanship.

United's defence started with some erratic bowling from Liam Jackson (7-0-45-1), conceding 23 runs off his first 2 overs, while Callum Jude (7.2-1-31-3) was steady at the other end, providing the vital breakthrough in his second over, removing the dangerous Zach Hope (23) with the total reading 30/1. A demoralised Liam volunteered to be taken out of the attack, but skipper Deepak persisted with him & offered a few words of encouragement, which lifted Liam & he justified the confidence reposed in him by not only conceding just 5 runs in his next two overs, but also sending the highly-rated Cody (21) back to the hut through a very well judged catch by Rajat Malhotra, to make it 52/2 from 7 overs. It was smooth sailing for Karaka till the introduction of Rajat Malhotra (4-0-23-0) in the 12th over saw Stu Hope (60) hit one straight into the hands of Michael Gordon at point, only to be dropped by the fielder & extending Stu's stay at the wicket by 11 overs in the long run. Owen Ford (8-1-35-4), introduced from the other end in the next over, did not need any help from the fielders in removing Michael (5) in his first over & trapping Stephen (4) in front of the wickets in his second, but his best was still to come as his third over was a double-wicket-maiden, removing Devon (0) & Morgan (0) to leave Karaka tottering at 99/6 off 17 overs. At this stage, Stu was joined by his son Joel Hope (3) who stuck around to allow Stu to go after the bowling. When the pair had added 36 runs from 6 overs, skipper Deepak took a gamble by introducing the non-regular spin of Michael Gordon (4-0-11-2) into the attack & the move paid-off immediate dividends as the change of pace resulted in the removal of Karaka's mainstay Stu as he tried to launch into Michael's second ball & ended up top-edging it to Josh Anderson, who gladly accepted the offering. Three balls later, Michael made Joel join his dad in the pavilion, getting him to play one to a deepish mid-wicket, where Lee Ter Huurne took an outstanding catch on the run, making it 135/8 from 23.5 overs. This brought together the two O'Callaghan brothers, Brad & Steve, who took the score to 157 before Callum Jude removed Brad (11) in his 7th over & then the last man Shaun (0) in his next over to have Karaka all out for 160 off 33.2 overs. Steve O'Callaghan remained not out on 9, while Ronit Ghaiee (2-0-9-0) was the other bowler used by United before the introduction of Michael Gordon.

A good win in the end by United CC as a result of a thorough team effort, some individual brilliance & good ground-fielding, although the catching could have been better.