Penang Finishes Second in Group A

Day 1 Penang Vs Sarawak Match Summary 

(28th March 2015)

Both teams were greeted with typical sunny and partly cloudy weather at the Kinrara Oval, Kuala Lumpur. The wicket looked like a beautiful batting track, but unfortunately the Penang skipper Darvin “dolly-dropper” Muralitharan lost the toss and as expected Sarawak had no hesitation in electing to bat first especially with National skipper Faiz Noor back in their starting XI.

Penang came out to the field pumped up and ready for battle! The first two wickets fell in quick succession with the score at 5 and 6 respectively. Opening bowlers Kavin “guns blazing” Kumar (6-0-16-0) and Baz Zaka (15-4-29-2) provided Penang with the perfect start. A gutsy decision by the Penang think-tanks who brought in the ever-so deceiving Harvindran “swinga” Rajendran (11-0-29-2) took two crucial wickets in his spell, the first coming in his very first over. At this stage Sarawak were reeling at 43/4 with Maxwell Stephen joining Faiz Noor in the middle. The introduction of Thevan “Mr Reliable” Raj at this stage further slowed down the scoring rate with a fantastic spell of 15-0-38-0 with an economy rate of 2.53 an over. Mr Reliable was unlucky not to pick up a wicket even though he frequently troubled the batsmen who got away with playing a few false strokes.The only noticeable partnership was 143 runs between Faiz and Maxwell. 

Faiz remained not out with a brilliant 114 runs while Maxwell Stephen chipped in with a edgy 67, frequently playing in the ‘A’. Keithan "air ball" Goona (12-0-33-0) was brought into the attack but proved to be just as useless as Kevin Pietersens talks of a return. Vinay "Marilyn Manson" Singh (11-0-35-3) came on later in the day to claim 3 quick wickets to help reduce Sarawak to 208/7 in their 75 overs.Due to Penang's extremely good over rate, they were required to bat out the last session of the day. 

Openers Varun ".98" Nadesh and Harven "silly" Kumar put on a solid partnership of 73 before Varun was out followed shortly by Harven with the score reading 79/2. 

Nightwatchman Baz who went in at one down was joined with Harinder "satay-man" Sekhon who provided a calm and cool Dhoni like presence out in the middle to ensure Penang did not lose anymore wickets. The day ended with Penang at 91/2, still 117 runs behind.

Day 2 Penang Vs Sarawak Match Summary 

(29th March 2015)

It was another good day for cricket as the sun was shining down on the Kinrara Oval, Kuala Lumpur. Continuing where they left off from Day 1 Baz and Harinder gave Penang a good start by picking up singles. 

A bad call from Baz left him stranded mid-pitch and a cheeky bit of foul play saw him given out “obstructing the field”. In came Keithan who didn’t last as long as she’d like, getting out on 5.Darvin then chipped in with a quick and confident 20 before getting caught at cover to Penang’s utmost surprise and horror Harinder was stumped the very next ball for 22. Vinay Singh (27) and Pavithren “monstah” Nadesen (31) then helped Penang revive their innings with a partnership of 41 runs with Pavithren smashing two huge gayle-like sixes to keep Penang well in the chase. 

After putting up a good fight Vinay was bowled and Kavin Kumar joined Pavithren in the middle with Penang needing 10 runs from the last over to gain a first innings lead. Unfortunately Pavithren and Kavin (01) both got out and Penang were three runs short of gaining a first innings lead. Sarawak then started their second innings by losing an early wicket to Kavin Kumar with only 18 runs. 

The Penang bowlers bowled very well considering it was their second consecutive day on the field and took regular wickets. Varun “.98” Nadesh picked up 3/54 in his 14 overs, Vinay Singh picked up 2/23 in 5 overs and Thevan Raj, Kavin Kumar and Baz picking up 1 wicket each to leave Sarawak at 220/8 before the umpires called off the game as no result besides a draw was possible due to the time. 

Result:
The game ended with a draw, although Sarawak led by 2 runs in the first innings.Congratulations to all the Penang players who fought hard and never gave up till the very end! 

By,

Harinder S.

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