United CC's
Discount Panel & Paint Reserves took the field with nine players against Karaka at Bruce Pulman Park and managed to get the semi-retired
Gary Hamilton to join them later. Batting first, the Karaka openers took advantage of the unmanned gaps in the field to add 31 in 6 overs before
Adam Dunn foxed Cory (16) to drive uppishly to be caught at cover by
Deepak Bhakoo.
Michael Chapman had the other opener, Jarred (9), caught by Adam Dunn to make it 2/44 in the 10th over. With the introduction of in-form skipper
Homi Mistry in the 13th over, 2/47 soon became 4/49 with the help of
AJ Stewart's brilliance behind the stumps - Homi's fifth ball was declared a wide, but the keeper exhibited his quick reflexes by gathering the ball and effecting a stumping in one motion with the batsman, Stevie O'Callaghan (2), just a fraction short of the crease. The next ball was not wide, but seemed more or less like an action-replay of the previous ball as AJ's brilliance saw Karaka skipper Van (0) grab a golden duck. When drinks were taken after 20 overs, Karaka were 4/70, but they adopted an aggressive approach after the interval with Robbie (65) and Andrew (39) taking the score to 130 before AJ Stewart dismissed left-hander Andrew through a return catch in the 32nd over. Robbie was joined by hard-hitting Navjot Sran (34no) and the two added 72 runs in seven overs before the tired-looking Robbie gave Homi a return catch, which was duly accepted. Navjot took ten runs off the 40th over to have Karaka finish strongly at 6/213.
United's innings started with a good first over (3 runs) from Navjot Sran, followed by a wayward over by Van (13 runs) which prompted him to bring in Alex in the 4th over, who bowled a couple of wides at
Shane O'Neill (7), who chased the third wide in frustration only to see the edge being accepted in the slips to make it 1/24. Both Navjot & Alex kept bowling brilliantly in tandem, neither of them giving the batsmen any room to score. Navjot took a wicket each in his 3rd, 4th & 5th overs and finished his spell at 6-0-18-3, with United at 4/44 from 12 overs. The introduction of Navjot's replacement Andrew in the 14th over plunged United into further trouble as he bowled an envious spell of 2.3-1-7-4, while Josh ended skipper Homi Mistry's resistance from the other end. With a batsman short, United folded for a paltry 57 in the 17th over, Homi being the top scorer with 20 while four batsmen had a duck against their name.
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