Two highly anticipated One-Day Premier League matches were played on Sunday 18 October, but both turned into low-scoring affairs as ball dominated bat.
HKCC v KCC KARP
At the Hong Kong Cricket Club, KCC KARP bowled themselves into the competition final by thumping hosts HKCC by nine wickets.
HKCC elected to bat first after winning the toss but they were soon on the back foot after losing opener Raag Kapur in the third over. Excellent bowling by the KCC opening attack of Najeeb Amar and Adil Mehmood tied down the HKCC top order, with Najeeb conceding just four runs in his first five overs, including four maidens. The pressure soon told and wickets started to fall as the HKCC batsmen got frustrated. Scott McKechnie was second to fall as he top-edged a pull shot off Adil Mehmood and Dan Pascoe took a stunning catch at deep mid-wicket after running back and diving full length to grab the ball just inches off the ground. Mehmood then trapped Isaac Poole LBW to leave HKCC in a hole at 3/15 in the 12th over. Worse was to follow for HKCC in the 14th over as Imran Arif grabbed the wickets of Nizakat Khan and George Clarke to leave them reeling at 5/28. Najeeb had Miles Richarson caught and bowled, Arif bowled Simon Cook and Dan Pascoe snared Courtney Kruger as HKCC wickets continued to tumble in the face of KCC’s determined attack. Giacomo Lamplough hit a couple of well-struck sixes but his was the last wicket to fall, LBW to Dan Pascoe, with the total on 82. Embarrassingly for HKCC, sundries were the top scorer with 18. For KCC, all the bowlers enjoyed success – Imran Arif was the most successful with 3/27 but none bettered Najeeb Amar who claimed 2/18 from ten frugal overs, with five maidens.
KCC’s reply started and finished before the scheduled lunch interval. Irfan Ahmed struck six fours and one six in his 27-ball 33 but he looked vulnerable to the short ball and was eventually bowled by Miles Richardson after bottom edging a pull shot onto this stumps. Ninad Shah struck three fours and a six to finish unbeaten on 29 as KCC wrapped up the match in just 14 overs.
At HKCC: HKCC 82 from 28.1 overs lost to KCC KARP 1/85 from 14 overs by nine wickets.
DLSWCC Prism v PACC
There was an equally one-side result at Mission Road where DLSWCC Prism thrashed PACC by seven wickets. As if mirroring the match at HKCC, PACC won the toss and elected to bat first but they too found themselves in deep trouble after slumping to 5/35 after 15 overs. Left-arm speedster Niaz Ali did the early damage, trapping Qasim Khan (0) and Skhawat Ali (1) lbw while having Ahsan Abbasi caught by Anas Kahn for 7. Tanwir Afzal scored 8 but his innings was cut short with Anas Khan taking his second catch, this time off Waqas Khan. Aizaz Khan (20) and Mohammad Ehtesham (30) stemmed the carnage with a 44-run partnership for the sixth wicket but the remaining wickets fell quickly once their pairing was broken. Ehsan Khan mopped up the middle and lower order batsmen with a spell of 4/20 from six overs as Pakistan Association capitulated for 94.
The DLSWCC Prism reply began brightly with Anas Khan hitting four boundaries in his 17-ball stay at the crease that contributed 18 runs. Jangzeb Khan (29) and Waqas Khan (17) also made useful contributions before Babar Hayat saw DLSWCC Prism home in the 23rd over with an unbeaten 28.
At Mission Road: PACC 94 from 31.1 overs lost to DLSWCC Prism 3/95 from 22.1 overs by seven wickets.
The outcome of the two matches determined the teams for the One-Day Premier League final. DLSWCC Prism will face KCC KARP in the grand final to be played at Mission Road on 31st October 2015 while HKCC and PACC will play in the 3rd/4th place play-off match on 25th October 2015.