Penang bowled Sarawak for 162

Penang Vs Sarawak Match Summary 

(30th May 2015)

It was a gritty day for the boys as the bowlers were ready to shoot the balls to the stumps and the batsmen were ready to watch the opponent’s ball go pass the rope. It was them against the Sarawak which previously ripped KL apart. Penang skipper, Darvin Muralitharan had won the toss and decided to let the team feel the ball before they could start hitting it. The game had then started and the first wicket was taken in the 4^th overs. Later, one wicket kept falling and they resulted in a decent target of 163 runs for the Penang thunderbolts to chase.

The openers, Varun Nadesh and the skipper himself  gave a good kickoff of 19 runs. Unfortunately, Skipper  was bowled in the 7^th overs. 2 other important wickets, Keithan Goonasagaran and Harventheran Kumar fell after him, which was a horrifying vision for Penang. But still there was one of Lanka’s best, Madushan Ravichandrakumar  who started back the confidence for Penang and made a good partnership with Kavintheran Kumar together spiking 70 runs on the board. Then again started the falling wickets and resulted in 110 runs on the board which was insufficient to feed the target by 52 runs.

The main highlights for Penang was Madushan Ravichandrakumar who made 38 off 49 balls and Senal de Silva, who scored 20 runs off 47 balls. For Sarawak, there was Shafiq Sharif, who made 51of 81 balls and HIA Jayaratne with his 47 off 37 balls. Sarawak’s reliable DK Ranaweera was awarded man of the match for his marvelous 5 wickets. Also Thevan Raj took 3 wickets, Baazegh 2 and Kavintheran Kumar 2 which was really outstanding and glorious for Penang.

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Its Penang boys against Selangor this time

Penang Vs Selangor Match Summary 

(6th June 2015)

It was an important match for Penang boys against Selangor which was played at Kinrara on the 6^th of June 2015 because the Penang boys previously lost 2 and drew 1. It was a perfect day for cricket with excellent conditions as the Penang skipper, Darvin won the toss and decided to bat first.

The innings started off with our Penang Ponting, Varun Nadesh to open with our skipper, Darvin Muralitharan. The opening pair started off playing some defensive shots. Not to play anything outside the stumps. As Varun was dismissed in the second over itself, leaving only 3 runs on the board. Then, Penang most promising batsmen Keithan Goona was brought into action to bat with Darvin. Adding to add, as the ‘Brothers of Destruction’ were batting really well, but somehow our Keithan played a really unlucky shot and got himself caught at the boundary line by de Silva. Penang upcoming young star Kavintheran Kuamr was up next to bat. Just when the right hand left hand combination was starting to look well our skipper was out in the 9^th Over and added more pressure, putting the runs on the board.

Then Penang’s Chocolate boy Senal de Silva came into the crease, but he didn’t last long as well as he was bowled in the 11^th overs. As the run rate was very low and having so much to offer Penang’s new promising Sri Lankan talent Madushan Ravichandrakumar was next to bat. Just when a partnership was started to get going Kavin was unlucky as he got out for a lbw. Vinay Singh was in the crease this time and he didn’t last long as well as he was bowled by the Selangor bowler. Madushan and Shahul Hameed, who came in the 19^th overs started to hit the ball hard and made batting look easy. Shahul’s experience and Madushan’s ability with the bat helped Penang’s run rate increase. As both were busy hitting the ball out of the park Madushan was unlucky this time as he got caught by playing a silly shot at the 36^th overs. Bazeegh Zaka came into the crease to bat and was looking to put a great partnership with Shahul but it didn’t end up well as Shahul was out in the next over itself. Youngster Harventheran Kumar was at this time, but he didn’t stay long as well. He got caught at square leg as he tried to play a flick shot. The final and last batsman for Penang, Thevan Raj Kumar came in the 40^th overs but was bowled for a duck.

Penang boys had to defend their total which was 178 runs. For Selangor side, their skipper Suhan Alagaratnam and Shankar Shathish opened the batting. Senal de Silva opened the bowling for Penang and bowled 3 overs. He gave away 23 runs. On the other hand, Kavintheran Kumar, who bowled 4 overs with the economy rate of 4.5. As the batsmen were only using those attacking shots, most of our bowlers had no choice of bowling on the off side. A spinner was introduced to reduce the run rate of the opposition. Madushan Ravichandrakumar bowled 5 overs and gave away 28 runs with 2 no balls and 1 wide. Our Penang skipper had no choice but he had to bring us Evergreen Bazeegh Zaka into the bowling attack. He bowled 5 overs really well and didn’t give away as many runs as we thought he would. Darvin Muralitharan our skipper with his experience wanted to bowl a few overs by himself, which turned out to be costly as well. He also introduced another leggie which was Varun Nadesh but he bowled 2 disappointing overs as he gave away 24 runs just in 2 overs. Penang dependable left hand, orthodox, Thevan Raj bowled a few overs well and got a wicket on the 17^th overs. Unfortunately, he got smacked as well by Selangor batsmen and he ended up with the economy rate of 7.94.

Finally, as the was two balls to spare in Thevan’s 6^th overs, he got hit for a four and a six and the match ended in the 25^th overs. The player of the match was rewarded to Tharanga from Selangor.

By,

Harven K.

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Penang kicked off Malaysian Premier League 2015

Day 1 Penang Vs KL Match Summary 

(23th May 2015)

Penang finally kicked off their Malaysian Premier League Tier A campaign when they hosted Kuala Lumpur at the Penang Sports Club on Saturday (23rd May 2015). Due to overnight showers and an overcast morning, the start of the match had to be delayed due to the pitch being damp. The delayed start resulted in the match being reduced to 42 overs a side.

Upon winning the toss, Kuala Lumpur put Penang in to bat. Penang’s innings got off to a sluggish start as the openers fought valiantly to weather the storm of KL’s opening duo of Neville Liyanage and Nazril Rahman. Harven Kumar’s dismissal in the 9th over with a mere 4 runs on the board brought Penang’s Mr Dependable, Keithan Goonasagaran to the crease. Keithan, along with Kavin Kumar put up a partnership of 89 runs off 22.1 overs which put Penang in a commanding position and on the course of a score in excess of 150. Kavin was run out in the 31st over followed by Keithan’s own downfall 3 overs later. Keithan made a fluent 63 which set up the innings nicely. 

However, the run rate slowed and wickets started falling regularly once he was dismissed. Madushan Ravichandrakumar’s 11 runs and Thevan Raj’s brisk running due to enhanced aerodynamics with his head ensured that Penang put up a total of 138-9 off their allotted 42 overs, 20 runs or so short of what would have been ideal on the turning wicket. In Kuala Lumpur, skipper Neville Liyanage picked up 4-13 off his 9 overs. Nonetheless, the Penang team was pumped up and determined to fight all the way.

Bazeegh Zaka opened the bowling for Penang with his customary in-swinging leg cutters and at the other end was Senal de Silva with his tricky pace and swing. The Kuala Lumpur batsmen managed to keep the scoreboard ticking as they were comfortable with the ball coming on to their bats with the extra pace of Senal. A bold move by Penang’s captain in bringing on Harvindran Rajendran paid off handsomely as he removed Fikri Makram, Virandeep Singh and Manjula de Zoysa within 4 overs, reducing KL to 31-3 after 11.5 overs. KL had a minor revival, but when Madushan was brought into the attack, KL suffered another collapse. He bowled Syed Aziz in the 20th over, bringing the score to 61-4 and subsequently got the wickets of Prashan Wickramasinghe and Nazril Rahman in the 24th and 26th overs respectively, leaving KL reeling at 84-6. Neville Liyanage and Hassan Ghulam then shared a partnership of 28 runs to put the game right back in the balance, but Madushan had other ideas as he dismissed Neville in the 30th over and bowled Shahrulnizam Yusof around his legs in the 32nd over, leaving KL 8 down for 118 runs. 

Madushan finished with a brilliant 5-32 in his 9 overs. Senal was brought back into the attack and bombarded the batsmen with his pin-point yorkers, dismissing KL’s 10th batsman, Hafiz Khair with an accurate yorker on the stumps. At 123-9 off 34.2 overs, KL’s hopes laid solely on Hassan Ghulam but were left distraught when Hassan skied Kavin Kumar’s quarter-tracker and the catch pouched safely by Madushan at long off. KL were dismissed for 123 off 35.1 overs, giving Penang a 15 run win. For his outstanding performance in match, Madushan was deservingly adjudged the man of the match.

Penang’s win is a clear statement of intent and capability of going all the way this season as long as they continue to work hard as a team.

Day 2 Penang Vs KL Match Summary 

(24th May 2015)

A perfect day for cricket with excellent conditions as the Penang skipper, Darvin eventually left the toss to fall upon Kuala Lumpur hands which led Penang to bat first. The first innings commenced right away as Madushan Ravichandrakumar and Harven Kumar led the batting attack for Penang. Opening pair started off with a sloppy performance having over Harven Kumar’s early dismissal on the 2nd over, leaving likely with 2 runs on the board later on brought Penang’s promising batsmen, Keithan right into action. Adding into the agony was the disposal of Madushan’s precious wicket on the 3rd over for only a total of 5 runs collectively next having skipper Darvin to walk into the centre. Keithan alongside with Darvin lit up a partnership of 39 runs in 12.3 overs which actually had the scoreboard ticking for Penang. Keithan had a total of 22 runs to himself and eventually had his wicket thrown with the follow up of Kavin Kumar’s wicket to a LBW over Shahrulnizam Yusof’s bowling. As the trumping blow of wickets flew all over the park, a heavy load of pressure was to be carried out onto the middle order batsmen as runs were not progressive. 

Came into crease later on for Kavin was Chocolate Boy, Senal de Silva. Not long after, the dismissal of Darvin took place which had Penang’s keeper, Vinay Singh to take charge. Manjula’s incisive bowling allowed him to bag Vinay Singh’s wicket which had Penang with a total of 59 runs for 6 wickets in 22.4 overs allowed Bazeegh Zaka to unleash the beast in him. The partnership of 13 runs from Bazeegh and Senal gave Penang a composition of 72 runs. Bazeegh Zaka’s tip top batting was demolished by Hassan Ghulam as he had the ball hammering into the stumps having Baz with a total of 4 runs and right came along Senal’s wicket too. Bottom order batsmen threw off their wickets and left Penang all out in 30.4 overs with a total of 77 runs.

Bazeegh Zaka opened the bowling and at the other end was Penang’s Deadly Swinga, Harvindran. Kuala Lumpur batsmen were putting up runs on the scoreboard with a quick rate. However a quick change of Harvindran’s bowling to Senal paid off as Senal’s pitch perfect Yorker got Fikri Rosdi walking off to the stands on the 3rd over and also the wicket of Syed Aziz coming in shortly after. Madushan’s bowling that bagged him 5 wickets the previous day seemingly did not work much as he only managed to seal off opening batsmen Virandeep’s wicket who had a total of 11 runs of 40 balls faced. Later on Orthodox, Thevan Raj decisive bowling spells had him bag Hassan Ghulam’s wicket from a marvelous catch by Madushan. Kuala Lumpur were on 4-48 in 15.2 overs. Penang lit up on fire as the game was back on Evens Stevens. Manjula came in and hammered himself for a total of 23 runs, leaving Kuala Lumpur on 5-58 after his dismissal by Thevan Raj’s bowling and to a catch by Harvindran. 

However, PC Wickramasinghe and Nazril Rahman finished off the game and gave KL the victory after surpassing the target at 21.5 overs. Deservedly, Manjula de Zoysa was awarded man of the match.

By,

Vinay S.

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